I wish that more FOSS / ethically licensed projects would be more forthright about asking for donations of help *outside tech stuff*.
There are plenty of people who value FOSS who have skills to contribute, be it legal, accounting, comms, marketing, graphic design, project management, and loads of other things, and plenty of projects which could benefit from some volunteering time in those areas.
Finding a match can be difficult, so seeing people asking for help is excellent.
@neil As a FOSS developer/jack-of-all-trades, I've always gotten stuck at the question of "where do I even ask". FOSS spaces are overwhelmingly developers, and I don't know of any obvious other places (or even hashtags!) to ask.
@joepie91 Yes, exactly this. I'd love to see more obvious spaces / hashtags, or even just individual projects documenting their needs/wishes somewhere on their websites.
@neil Especially the former in my case. "Asking for help on your own website" only really works if you already have an audience, which especially smaller projects often don't 😅
Yes, and even if it is on their website, I'd still have to think to go there to check.
@neil hi, I'm a trained technical writer (not anymore, but used to) and I totally agree.
@neil if any designers are following this thread the Open Source Design community have a jobs page to help find open source projects that need help, both paid and unpaid:
@neil most of my contributions to other people's projects are correcting typos or fixing broken links.
I'd love a movement of more (wiki) gnomes
@petejohanson I believe that’s right though @neil will know more. It has to be a legal person owning the trade mark. You could incorporate a company with a team of directors so you then become only a single voice among them.
@annehargreaves @jackyan @petejohanson
From the perspective of English law:
A limited liability partnership can own property, including a trade mark, but then one has the admin associated with a legal person.
A traditional partnership cannot own property, so in practice one ends up giving the list of all the partners. And, if there is only one person involved, there can be no partnership!
@neil @annehargreaves @jackyan @petejohanson
Scottish partnerships are legal persons which can own property though- s4(2) Partnership Act 1890
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/53-54/39/section/4
One could look at things like the Commons Conservancy (https://commonsconservancy.org/), which exist to tackle exactly this kind of issue.
But there are cons as well as pros, since neither you, nor a company that you control, owns the trade mark, which could be key to your brand.
@neil I do think some type of clearing house could be helpful. But it would only really work if the FOSS projects understood a bit more about what they were asking for. For example many teams want "better icons" when what they really need is UX design help
@scottjenson Yes, there is a degree of circularity here.
@neil maybe a FOSS "matchmaking service"?
@neil I fully agree. I would love to contribute to FOSS but I can’t code well enough. But I love documentation, engaging with people, and similar stuff. But all too often is “Code or GTFO”.
I don’t know which projects you’ve been talking to, but I can’t think of a single one I’ve been involved with that isn’t short of documentation people.
@david_chisnall @neil talk? I read the contribution guidelines, and they only talk about code. So those are the only contributions you want? Oh, OK.
@mauvedeity @neil That's the best moment to contribute to free software. You'll learn to code "well enough" thanks to your contributions. Start slowly, with small changes, people will help you find challenges and will mentor you until you are independent.
That's how we keep this thing rolling> we invest on people.
To my mind, this just reinforces a notion that "coding" is the contribution that people should be making, rather than bringing their own, valuable, skills to support the project.
@neil @mauvedeity Well, it was a way of saying that there's nothing like "well enough" if you want to improve on that.
I didn't mean to say anything else is not important. Because it is actually very important.
@ekaitz_zarraga @mauvedeity Ah, okay - I had read your comment differently! Thanks for the clarification.
@neil
I've been thinking recently about offering some time to support FOSS projects with User Research, documentation review, requirements analysis etc. but I hardly ever see any calls for that sort of work. I don't know if it's because it's not needed, or because it's something that's not even considered.
@neil I created https://oss-wishlist.com to do this, although it's currently focused on work funders impact. (https://oss-wishlist.com/catalog), it could expand to any volunteer skillet and already includes pro bono. I do want to see people get paid where possible though (by funders who benefit I mean).
At FOSDEM if anyone wants to chat on this topic.
@neil thankyou! my goal is to have 200 project wishes by end of FOSDEM so I can then go after funds and match practiiones (all an experiment, but hopeful it can help bridge).
@neil Hang on, Neil, while I angrily and violently misinterpret this toot.
Start with the most unlikely, least generous, interpretation, and then complain about the role of volunteering in FOSS.
While using the very software in question.
For example, @postmarketOS is looking for people who are
> versed or have an interest in accounting and financial matters, and would like to help us improve anything related to our financial processes or reporting
https://postmarketos.org/blog/2025/12/19/contributor-compensantion-and-financial-update/
Perhaps this sounds like you?!
@neil @postmarketOS Sounds like something I might be able to assist with!
@Codeberg is looking for volunteer support on a whole range of things:
* Bookkeeping, finances, taxes
* IT and company law (I offered but, being in the UK, I am of little use, sadly)
* Public relations
* Fundraising
@neil ...the current one on my mind (posted about this before, so I probably sound like a broken record) is a simple way to replace CATO. So clearly needs accounting experts.
@greenpike I don't know what CATO is, I'm afraid :(
@neil Ah yes! Bad assumptions on my part.
CATO = company accounts and tax online. Allows smaller companies to file directly to both HMRC and Companies House. Except it's being withdrawn soon... with nearly all options being paid-for cloud services.
@greenpike Ah, yes, with a lack of FOSS options :(
