Frequently Asked Questions

Open Future is a grassroots community of practitioners connecting to drive impact through sustainability, openness in AI, digital sovereignty, and beyond while supporting each other along the way.

One of our key initiatives is OSS Wishlists - a structured way for maintainers to request specific help and for practitioners to fulfill those needs with clear deliverables and proven outcomes.

Emma Irwin, a long time open source, open education, open data expert and community leader, with contribution, support and advice from many peers.

We hope more people will get involved. Join the community to connect with us.

Yes, it’s completely free for maintainers. Practitioners are compensated for their work through sponsorships, and maintainers may receive an optional honorarium. The platform itself is run by volunteers and accepts sponsorship through Open Collective.

We offer one-hour participatory workshops designed to give maintainers and practitioners hands-on experience with sustainability solutions.

Workshop Format:

• Duration: One hour, interactive and participatory
• Based on Industry Standards: Grounded in proven practices and ecosystem standards
• Aligned with Service Rubrics: Outcomes match the same rubrics used for our service offerings
• Practical Focus: Learn by doing, not just listening

Who Should Attend:

• Maintainers: Free for unpaid maintainers
• Company Employees: By donation
• Practitioners: Learn methodologies and service delivery approaches

What You’ll Get:

• Real-world case studies and impact examples
• Hands-on practice with sustainability frameworks
• Clear, actionable outcomes you can implement
• Connection with peers facing similar challenges

See our workshop calendar for upcoming sessions and registration details.

Services and resources are focused on those things that have proven to be most challenging for maintainers and which have high likelihood to improve the sustainability of projects.

See the service catalogue for a full list.

The OSS Wishlist process has three steps:

1. Maintainers create wishlists describing their project needs (governance, security, funding, community, etc.)
2. Sponsors (companies, foundations, organizations) browse wishlists and commit to fulfilling specific needs
3. Practitioners provide the expertise and services to complete the work

We facilitate the entire process - from onboarding to completion - and evaluate success using rubrics in each service playbook.

Simply visit our maintainers page and click “Create Wishlist.” You’ll be guided through a form to describe your project, its current challenges, and the specific type of help you need.

Choose the size that best matches your project’s complexity:

Small:

• Few active contributors
• Single repository or simple structure
• Straightforward governance

Medium:

• Growing contributor base
• Multiple repositories
• Multi-stakeholder needs emerging

Large:

• Complex ecosystem or broad adoption
• Many repositories or large codebase
• High downstream dependencies

If you’re unsure, choose Medium. Practitioners will confirm fit during scoping. See the pricing page for examples by tier.

Practitioners are expected to maintain high standards of professionalism and quality:

Professional Standards:

• Deliver work on time and within agreed scope
• Communicate regularly with all stakeholders
• Maintain confidentiality and respect project governance
• Follow industry best practices and security protocols

Open Source Values:

• Understand and respect open source culture and practices
• Consider long-term project sustainability in recommendations
• Foster inclusive and welcoming project environments
• Share knowledge and document work for future maintainers

Reporting Requirements:

• Provide regular progress updates to sponsors and maintainers
• Document all work performed and outcomes achieved
• Submit completion reports with recommendations for ongoing sustainability
• Be available for follow-up questions and clarifications

Continuous Improvement:

• Stay current with best practices in their expertise areas
• Seek feedback and incorporate lessons learned
• Contribute to platform improvement through insights and recommendations

Practitioners are compensated directly by the Wishlist Sponsors via one of two platforms (Open Collective of GitHub Sponsors):

• Direct Payment: Sponsors pay practitioners directly, not through Open Source Wishlist
• Fair Rates: We provide guidance on market rates to ensure fair compensation based on USD, sponsors may pay more, but not less
• Milestone-Based: Wish match obligations are considered met on successful rubric scoring.

Please see Terms and Conditions for more on obligations.

We work to find the best practitioner match for each wishlist, considering preferences from both maintainers and sponsors.

Maintainers can:

• Select 1 preferred practitioner from our directory
• Nominate someone from their community (subject to vetting)

Sponsors can:

• Choose from available practitioners
• Propose their own employee (subject to vetting)
• Request we select the best match

Matching process:

• We consider all preferences and availability
• Preferences are honored when possible, but not guaranteed
• Final matches prioritize expertise fit and project needs
• All nominees must meet our practitioner criteria

When preferences differ, we facilitate discussion between all parties to find the best solution.

No Guaranteed Assignment

Neither preferences nor nominations guarantee assignment. Our goal is to make the best match for your project’s needs while respecting your input and ensuring practitioner quality standards.

Have questions? Contact us for more information.

We carefully vet all practitioners to ensure quality matches:

1. Application Review - We evaluate experience, expertise, and past work in open source
2. Matching Assessment - We learn about preferences, availability, timezone, and goals
3. Onboarding - Approved practitioners attend onboarding and get a profile on our site
4. Ongoing Evaluation - Maintainers, sponsors, and practitioners can provide feedback

For our initial pilot, we’re keeping things small with up to 10 practitioners while we refine the process. We’ll expand from there based on demand and capacity.

Great question! While we absolutely encourage and value all types of open source contributions, practitioners serve a specialized and distinct role:

Traditional Open Source Contributors typically engage through a project’s standard contribution pathway: fixing bugs, adding features, writing documentation, or participating in community discussions. These contributions are often ongoing and integrated into the project’s regular development workflow.

Open Source Practitioners, on the other hand, are matched specifically for their expertise in areas that aren’t always part of a typical project contribution pathway. These specialized services include:

• Setting up governance frameworks
• Conducting security audits
• Developing community health strategies
• Creating documentation systems
• Implementing DevRel programs
• Building moderation policies

The key differences:

1. Specialized Expertise: Practitioners are vetted for specific professional skills and experience in these non-code areas
2. Time-Bound Matching: Engagements are focused, scoped projects with clear deliverables rather than ongoing contributions
3. Structured Process: Wishes are fulfilled through a formal matching and engagement process, often with funding support
4. Professional Services: These are specialized services that maintainers might otherwise hire consultants to provide

We celebrate all forms of open source contribution! Open Source Wishlist simply focuses on connecting maintainers with practitioners for these specialized, time-bound needs that fall outside traditional contribution pathways.

Maintainers absolutely deserve compensation for their work. This platform provides professional support services (governance, security, funding strategy) to help projects thrive - not to replace maintainer compensation.

Optional Honorarium:

Wish sponsors can offer maintainers a one-time honorarium as appreciation for their collaboration during wish fulfillment. This is:

• Optional - maintainers can opt-in when creating their wishlist
• A gesture of appreciation - not payment for services or obligations
• Sponsor-provided - offered alongside the professional service

This recognizes that sustainable open source requires both professional services and direct maintainer support.

Yes, we maintain set prices to ensure fair practitioner compensation and prevent undercutting.

Our approach:

• Set prices by project size (small, medium, large)
• Based on industry standards and practitioner input
• No bidding or negotiation
• Periodic adjustments as we learn and improve

This protects practitioners while giving sponsors predictable costs.

Wishlist Sponsors can be companies, foundations, government agencies, individuals and others that depend on open source software and want to contribute to its sustainability. They sponsor the fulfillment of maintainer wishes to strengthen their supply chain and the broader ecosystem.

We provide transparency throughout the process:

• Kickoff meeting - Maintainer, sponsor, and practitioner align on expectations
• Bi-weekly reports - Regular progress updates
• Impact metrics - Quantifiable outcomes using rubrics from service playbooks

Sponsors can see exactly how their investment translates into real impact.