I am regularly in a position to control how funds for tech projects are spent. For example, choosing cloud infrastructure and such. I want to direct as much funding as possible to FOSS or FOSS friendly projects. The amount of money that I have control over in the company is way more than I could ever donate.

For example, I want to fund Linux kernel development, Postgres, language maintainers, etc.

I can’t convince companies to donate outright, but I could get them to buy a license or choose a different cloud provider or database provider.

I’m looking for ways to get money to people making a difference through legitimate channels that I can use to push internally.

EDIT:

Summary of my favorite options so far,

  • its_me_xiphos@beehaw.org
    6·
    14 hours ago

    Layperson who needs to learn more. But if I can use LibreOffice and Linux Mint so can any regular corporate user. Dip their toes in. Start with simple and familiar. Email client. Word processor, etc. If Linux, it has to look and feel like Windows, hence Mint. But my use and application cases are tiny. Let me offer two recommendations. Then a story.

    1. Steer money towards ditching applications people bitch about or are hard to maintain. I bet someone way smarter than me, out of anger, made a FOSS alternative.
    2. Donate to a FOSS specific funder that helps other nonprofits use FOSS. Trains them to replace Windows with Mint for instance.

    Story time on 2.

    When I was a professor, I worked with an institution that advised nonprofits. I would always ask to see their software costs. Not as bad as a corporate account probably, but saying, “How about zero here?” and firing up LibreOffice can help put money into programs and away from overhead. A small homeless shelter with 5 part time employees and one computer. Ditching a MS subscription saved them enough to do something like have better coffee in the morning.

    You have no idea how impactful better coffee is for people struggling with houselessness and the people working to help them. True story.