GitHub Sponsors: a new way to contribute to open source

We are very excited to announce the launch of GitHub Sponsors beta testing - a new way of financially supporting open source software developers that we use every day. Members of the open source community create tools for each of us and GitHub Sponsors is a new way to help with the financing of their projects.

To start a new program and increase funding for the community, we also launch GitHub Sponsors Matching Fund . GitHub is ready to pay developers up to $ 5,000 for the first year of participation in GitHub Sponsors.

Become a sponsor
Have questions? FAQ

Today’s development world is tightly connected to open source. None of this would have been possible without a huge team of developers, designers, researchers, teachers, writers, and many others who are committed to developing technologies. Now, these extraordinary people, thanks to their GitHub profiles, can receive community funding related to their contribution to it.

No commission

The open source community is the heart and foundation of GitHub. Participants who support our shared digital infrastructure - make this community even stronger, and as a thank you for this valuable contribution, GitHub Sponsors does not charge them for using the platform. We are also ready to pay all fees for processing payments during the first 12 months of the program, in honor of celebrating its launch, and as a result, 100% of your money will be sent to the developer.

World team

GitHub Sponsors support payouts in every country where GitHub does business. We are all part of a worldwide software development team. Expanding opportunities to participate in this team lies at the heart of our mission, so we proudly provide this new tool for developers around the globe.

Any members are welcome.

A large number of contributions to the project are crucial for a well-functioning product, but unfortunately it is very difficult to trace in code. GitHub Sponsors was created to finance all types of open source software development work. Anyone who contributes - as a developer, writer, project mentor - is eligible for sponsorship.

Another way to contribute

GitHub Sponsors is another way to contribute to open source, in the form of financial support for the people who create and develop it. People’s cash rewards help them continue to perform important work, expanding opportunities for participation and giving developers the recognition they deserve. Starting today, any GitHub user can sponsor a developer participating program.

Everything in the familiar GitHub interface

Now you can sponsor developers without being distracted from the usual things. When a participant answers a question, processes an issue or merjit code, you can go to his profile or just hover over his name to express his financial gratitude.

With the help of a new pop-up menu, when you hover over the list of gateways, you can take a look at the people who worked on the code you are interested in. With just a few mouse clicks, it is possible to transfer money to developers whose products you use every day.

Open source projects can also express their funding methods directly in their repositories. If you add .github/FUNDING.yml to the master branch, a new Sponsor button will appear at the top of the repository. Pressing the button opens the menu of financing options from this file.

The YAML format is flexible, so contributors and project participants can specify the methods for financing the project themselves. You can specify one or more options: Open Collective , Community Bridge , Tidelift , Ko-fi, and Patreon, or custom links to alternative methods.

First step

At the beginning, GitHub Sponsors is small and simple, but our mission is much more ambitious - we want to expand the opportunities for participation and use of open source code. We are here to serve the developer community, and we look forward to your feedback on what else you would like to see in GitHub Sponsors.

We also convened an advisory group to study the operational problems faced by the teams. The group consists of managers of a number of open source projects, and we look forward to the opportunity to find common development vectors. After all, open source is a team sport. If you and your team want to be in this advisory group, or if you have ideas on how GitHub Sponsors can help the community, send an email to opensource@github.com .

Do you want to get sponsorship for your work as a participant or owner of an open source project? - Add to waiting list