Sponsoring dependencies: The next step in open source sustainability | June 14, 2022 | Human Who Codes

"...Isn’t there some level of responsibility when a project receives funding to help all of the projects on which it is built? ...If you are the maintainer of a well-funded open source project, now is the time to step up. For too long, we have sat back and taken in sponsorships for our own use even as the projects that we depend upon have struggled to find funding. We have the power and responsibility to improve the situation for maintainers of all open source projects. ESLint14 and Astro15 have already established programs to donate to dependencies. You can join them in spreading the wealth around.

If you maintain a smaller open source project that needs funding, figure out if there are any well-funded projects that depend on your project directly and contact the maintainer. Feel free to ask for their financial support and reference this blog post. Make sure that you have set up both a GitHub Sponsors16 account and an Open Collective17 account to make it easy to accept donations. Don’t be afraid to approach these folks and ask for their help. They have benefited from your work for a long time, so you’re not asking for something in return for nothing; you’re asking for compensation for the value you’ve already provided.

If you are sponsoring an open source project, ask them what their dependency support program looks like. Sponsors are in a unique position to apply pressure on projects to distribute their funds appropriately. For the ESLint project, we have heard from sponsors that we were chosen over other projects partly because we were supporting our dependencies. As in any marketplace, the people with the money have an outsize effect on how the marketplace runs.,,,"