OpenJS + Open Source Pledge

[chadwhitacre]

Hey, everyone! I am opening an issue here at @rginn's invitation, to introduce myself and start a conversation together about the Open Source Pledge. My name is Chad Whitacre and I am Head of Open Source at Sentry.

The Open Source Pledge is a new initiative from Sentry and other companies working to change the status quo in Open Source sustainability. Member companies pay at least $2,000 per year per developer on staff to the Open Source projects of their choosing, in addition to the code and gifts-in-kind that many of us also contribute. Pledge itself is not directly involved in any flow of funds. We want to encourage the existing ecosystem of maintainers, foundations, fiscal hosts, payment platforms, etc. Our primary goal is to see maintainers get paid, minimizing burnout and burnout-related security incidents such as XZ and Log4shell.

We soft-launched Pledge two weeks ago and we have a dozen companies on board so far. We are building up to a big marketing launch on October 8, which is where we could really use your help. Is OpenJS Foundation willing to be an official launch partner with us on this initiative? The ask is to publish a post in support of the Pledge on openjsf.org/blog on October 8, and comarket with us on socials into the future.

Is this something you all are interested in? Any obvious concerns? What questions can I answer? Robin has also add me to the Slack so feel free to ping me there, though I'll be distracted next week with OS Summit in Vienna (let's catch up in person if you'll be there :).

[tobie]

Welcome, @chadwhitacre! I’m a strong supporter and would love for OpenJSF to support this too.

[chadwhitacre]

Thank you @tobie! Looking forward to seeing what we are able to accomplish together through this initiative over the long term.

[ljharb]

Huge +1.

[mcollina]

+1

[UlisesGascon]

this is a great initiative! Big +1

[rxmarbles]

+1 As well, I know at GoDaddy we have often spoke of doing something like this in sponsoring individual repos/projects

[chadwhitacre]

Thanks for the warm reception, everyone! Again, our main ask is to publish a post in support of the Pledge on openjsf.org/blog on October 8, and comarket with us on socials into the future. We're aiming this week to start an email thread to coordinate the Oct 8 launch across all partners, I'll include @rginn on that thread. Who else from here should be on that?

I'm happy to try to join the next Sustainability Collaboration Space Meeting to answer questions, etc.

[chadwhitacre]

@vladh and I were able to join the call today. We're planning to join the CPC call tomorrow, and discuss there whether this requires explicit board approval. Thanks, all! 🙌

[tobie]

Notes from today's CPC call:

• @vladh introduced Open Source Pledge
• Pledge: Companies paying $2000 / year / engineer
• Ask: Oct. 8 launch blog post
• Agreement from the CPC to move forward with this.
• Next steps: @bensternthal + @chadwhitacre to sync with @rginn

[mcollina]

Well, the deadline passed and we did no blog post. Should we close?

[ljharb]

We could still join the initiative, even without being a launch partner (I’m disappointed we didn’t get this together in time)

[vladh]

@mcollina The OpenJS Foundation's support would mean a lot to us even if it's post-launch, so a blog post would be amazing. :)

And we'd love to feature you on our Endorsements page.

Is there anything blocking the blog post that I can help with? You'll probably find the Open Source Pledge Partner Kit helpful.

[rginn]

In an earlier OpenJS Sustainability Collaboration Space meeting, we didn't receive consensus to officially endorse the OSS Pledge. There are concerns from larger companies who already support OpenJS and our hosted projects through in-kind services, from free dedicated engineers to infrastructure services, in addition to their monetary funding (through membership, sponsorships and training/certifications). There was broad support for the spirit of the pledge, however some of these companies have thousands of engineers so it would be difficult for them to meet the pledge commitment.

[vladh]

@rginn Thank you for the update, I really appreciate you all taking the time to consider endorsing the Pledge!

This is valuable input — we'll do our best to make it clear that (1) we do celebrate non-cash contributions, but that (2) we believe that large companies also have a greater ability to pay maintainers, and they only stand to gain by doing so, because paying maintainers is the single best way to ensure the stability of the Open Source projects that companies get a great deal of value from.

[ljharb]

I’m confused why the foundation making the pledge compels foundation members to do the same?

[tobie]

Notes from this week's CPC call:

• Did not discuss