
I know this was already posted this week, but I feel I should clarify what's going on here.

If you're a GNOME user, GNOME needs your help. The past few years have been financially difficult for the GNOME Foundation. The last year in particular has been really challenging. We have re-launched our donation page with an explicit focus on recurring revenue:

[https://donate.gnome.org](https://donate.gnome.org)

Historically, almost all GNOME donations came from *maintainers*, not users. That's not just nuts... it's totally broken. Many of these folks grind 80 hour weeks, for years. Many of them are volunteers. They shouldn't be the ones *giving* the Foundation money, they should be the ones *being paid* by the Foundation (in the form of grants, contracts, etc). I argued to the GNOME Foundation Board this month that our revenue model was inside-out. They agreed.

In the near-term, we just need to make sure GNOME stays afloat. The GNOME Foundation supplies all of GNOME's development infrastructure (including GitLab and CI/CD), manages all development grants/contracts, runs Flathub, runs GUADEC, manages internship financing, and supplies travel grants for contributors. It would really suck if the wheels fell off ... because all of this matters.

But in the medium-term, the goal is for the Foundation to use recurring donations to really grow GNOME and push development harder than ever before. I want to see us absolutely crush the proprietary desktops and then win the mobile market. For that, the "medium-term" needs to happen sooner than later. That's why I'm so focused on recurring donations in my post:

[https://blogs.gnome.org/steven/2025/06/26/donate-less/](https://blogs.gnome.org/steven/2025/06/26/donate-less/)

Additionally, I want to be very clear that I'm being entirely sincere when I say "donate less." Donate with a floor, not a ceiling. Keep the number as low as makes sense for you. Because the goal is longevity, not single big donations, we really need you to donate a value that's trivial to you: the price of a coffee, the price of a frivolous meal out that you wouldn't think twice about buying. That sort of thing. Don't jeopardize your own financial comfort for ours — GNOME has millions of users who can potentially donate if you can't. We just need to reach them. (You can help us by linking to this post, if you want.)

Hope that clears things up! Feel free to ask questions if it doesn't.


Donate More by Donating Less