Episode 213: Chad Whitacre on Sponsoring $500,000 to Open Source

Guest Chad Whitacre Panelists Richard Littauer | Abby Cabunoc Mayes
| Leslie Hawthorne | Justin Dorfman YouTube For this episode, we
also recorded video! You can watch here
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b3guhtE8-0). Show Notes In this
episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer is joined co-hosts Abby,
Leslie, and Justin to talk with special guest, Chad Whitacre,
co-founder of SustainOSS and Sentry’s Head of Open Source. Today,
Chad sheds light on Sentry’s contributions in open source funding
programs, the challenges, successes, and plans for progression.
Chad also introduces FOSS Funder, a platform encouraging companies
to give back to open source and shares his unique approach to
business cards that has left a tangible imprint on the community.
Hit download now to hear more! [00:01:47] Chad is introduced, we
hear his history with open source platforms and Sentry’s programs
for community engagement, compliance, and funding. [00:02:30]
Justin asks Chad about changes since his last appearance,
particularly Sentry’s 150k open source funding initiative, and Chad
describes Sentry’s journey, the systematic approach to funding open
source projects, and the growth of Sentry’s annual funding program
from 150k to 500k. [00:06:03] Justin interjects with a question
about the math used to determine funding, leading Chad to reflect
on the economic value of open source and the sense of unfairness in
the community about companies not giving back. He continues to
explain the reasoning behind funding figures. [00:08:35] The
conversation turns to defining the right amount to give, with
discussions on per-engineer contributions and industry metrics for
sponsorship. [00:11:02] Richard asks about Sentry’s employee count,
office locations, and if they pay a living wage, to which Chad
confirms they do, and details Sentry’s office distribution and
company policies. [00:11:50] Richard raises a question about the
focus of Sentry’s financial contributions, wondering if open source
practitioners are the most appropriate recipients compared to other
groups, and Chad states that Sentry does have contractors and they
are paid adequately. He emphasizes that Sentry’s founders come from
open an open source background, and the company still views itself
as aligned with open source values. [00:14:00] Chad clarifies that
when Sentry gives money to open source, it’s viewed as giving back
for value received. He draws a distinction between charitable
giving and investing in software, suggesting that the open source
funding program is more about paying for the value received from
open source software rather than charity. [00:17:23] Chad speaks
about the provision of public goods, touching on taxes and shame as
mechanisms, and the role of corporate social validation. [00:18:38]
Leslie raises concern about the divestment from open source by
corporations and the impact on the open source maintainer
ecosystem. Chad discusses the multiple roles of OSPOs beyond
funding and the cultural importance of open source at Sentry, and
he tells the story of Sentry’s attempt to support every project on
GitHub through GitHub sponsors and the challenges encountered.
[00:22:57] Chad acknowledges the effort required to sponsor every
project, mentioning the help of thanks.dev crew and the need for
better tools to simplify the process. He also introduces FOSS
Funders, a platform started by Dwayne O’Brien, and explains the
group’s activities and its Slack community. [00:27:25] Abby
inquires about how companies can join FOSS Funders and get their
logos featured. Chad details how companies can participate in FOSS
Funders through platforms, and the next phases of FOSS Funders.
[00:29:12] Abby shares how her and Chad met and making his special
business cards which are pennies with a logo punched into them.
[00:32:14] Find out where you can learn more about Chad and his
work on the web. He also touches on the connection and the need for
honest conversations about sustainability in the community. Quotes
[00:05:26] “The open source community is not monolithic.”
[00:06:42] “There’s all these idealistic youths who put all of this
software out there into the world, and then waking up ten years
later totally burned out because they poured themselves out writing
all this open source software.” [00:09:20] “We need other companies
to join us.” [00:09:44] “We also need a better name for the
non-commercial, sponsorable part of the community.” [00:09:57]
“Let’s make this real, let’s make this sustainable.” [00:10:06] “It
needs to be weird for companies not to do what Sentry is doing.”
[00:12:43] “If we’re going to do this Pledge1%, giving to open
source is part of that.” [00:13:09] “Open source is core to our
company culture. And also, we’ve been there.” [00:14:40] “Personal
opinion: I think this line-item should be software, and not
charity.” [00:15:38] “Public goods are IOR: Invest On Return.”
[00:17:29] “Public goods are provisioned in two ways: taxes or
shame.” [00:23:00] “We need to start telling stories about the
companies that are doing it.” Spotlight [00:34:08] Richard’s
spotlight is the book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E.
Frankl. [00:34:44] Leslie’s spotlight is the Sovereign Tech Fund.
[00:35:12] Abby’s spotlight is The Wheel of Time audiobooks.
[00:35:45] Justin’s spotlight is the great city of Los Angeles.
[00:35:57] Chad’s spotlight is to commemorate Bram Moolenaar,
author of VIM. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
SustainOSS X/Twitter
(https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/@richlitt) Abby Cabunoc Mayes X/Twitter
(https://twitter.com/abbycabs?lang=en) Justin Dorfman X/Twitter
(https://twitter.com/jdorfman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Chad Whitacre Website (https://chadwhitacre.com/) Chad Whitacre
X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/chadwhitacre_) Sentry
(https://sentry.io/welcome/) FOSS Funders
(https://fossfunders.com/) Duane O’Brien LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/duaneobrien/) Duane O’Brien Website
(https://www.duaneobrien.com/) Sustain Podcast-Episode 96: Chad
Whitacre and how Sentry is giving $150k to their OSS Dependencies
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/chad-whitacre) Your Company
Should Probably Pay $2.000 per Person for Open Source by Chad
Whitacre (Medium)
(https://gratipay.news/your-company-should-probably-pay-2000-per-person-for-open-source-9205443e209d)
Sustain Podcast-2 Episodes featuring guest Duane O’Brien
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/duane-obrien) thanks.dev
(https://thanks.dev/home) Pledge1% (https://pledge1percent.org/) We
Just Gave $500,000 to Open Source Maintainers by Chad Whitacre
(Sentry Blog)
(https://blog.sentry.io/we-just-gave-500-000-dollars-to-open-source-maintainers/)
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
(https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl-ebook/dp/B009U9S6FI)
Sovereign Tech Fund (https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/) [The Wheel
of Time by Robert
Jordan](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wheel+of+time+audiobooks&hvadid=580686494629&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9010778&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7030164937380257916&hvtargid=kwd-2910299332&hydadcr=298413533919&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pdsl5j01kv6z7fe)
Bram Moolenaar-Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Moolenaar) Credits Produced by
Richard Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr
at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/)
Special Guest: Chad Whitacre.