Got permission to share this, which I wanted to do for better transparency and to hear opinions.
Hey Patrick,Here at Bountysource we’ve been working on a new sustained funding platform
for open-source developers. This allows developers/teams to set monthly
funding goals, offer rewards, and (most importantly) have recurring
financial contributions come in from users and companies.A short while ago we launched our first project on this, Neovim
https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/neovim. This was a fairly successful
launch (as of this writing, it hit the second goal of $2500/month, from
300+ supporters) and we’re confident in the platform as we prepare to
invite more projects.Which is why I’m reaching out to you now. Would you be interested in having
an ongoing campaign for Whonix? At this point we have a good bit of
experience in launching and maintaining crowdfunding campaigns, and I think
your community would certainly rally behind a campaign to fund you.If you’re interested I’d love to work with you to get a campaign together
and launched. What do you think?David Rappo
Bountysource.com https://www.bountysource.com/ | @Bountysource
https://twitter.com/bountysource | #Bountysource (Freenode)
Hi Patrick,Great! We’ve made it so that you can edit / view your campaign exactly how
it will look when you go live, you can start messing around and adding
information here: https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/whonix (make sure
you’re logged in first). For the time being I’ve added myself as a
non-public admin so I can help out.Sorry for the wall of text, but here’s a rough outline of what should be
put together/planned before launch. It’s certainly some work to get it
organized, but worth it.Write your pitch.
- The text on https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/neovim can serve as a
good example.- You probably only need to spend one paragraph on what Whonix is,
assume that most people going here are at least somewhat familiar. Include
a snazzy screenshot.- Find some quotes from some high profile users / developers praising
Whonix- Talk about where you want to take the project – if you hit your
financial goals and had all the time in the world, what would it look like?Make a video! People love putting a face to a project and it’ll help them
identify better.
- I would say 60seconds is good, but you can go shorter/longer if you
want.- Don’t worry about production quality or flashy graphics (unless you
have a friend who is itching to do it for free). Webcam shot in your office
or a coffee shop is perfectly fine.Goals / Rewards:
- Come up with multiple financial goals and descriptions for each. Do
you want a bounty budget? do you want to set aside a day a week? 3 days a
week?- Rewards can be really simple, don’t make this a burden on yourself. No
handwritten letters, etc. I would suggest creating a Sponsors page on
whonix.org and offer name/url for 5/m, small logo / url for a larger
amount, etc.Think about how you can reach your current users:
- Something eye-catching on whonix.org
- Do you have a mailing list?
- Forum post/sticky
- FB/G+/Twitter posts – not just an announcement, but ongoing reminders
- Edit the GitHub description and the README
- Reach out to any blogs/journals that have covered Whonix in the past
- Know of any companies or organizations that would be interested in
sponsoring? (EFF?)Let me know if you have any questions. Looking forward to helping this come
together!
David