LnDonatorStelle

LnDonatorStelle is a community-driven donation platform designed to support open-source software maintainers by enabling streamlined charitable contributions and donor recognition. The platform provides tools to track gifts, generate reports, and integrate with project workflows, with preferences for donor privacy and maintainers' transparency.

Origin and development: Public documentation about LnDonatorStelle is scarce; the initiative appears in open-source forums and project repositories during the 2010s. It is described as a volunteer-run effort, with governance by a rotating steering group and community-located governance policies. The software and documentation are released under an open-source license and hosted on code-sharing platforms.

Core features: Recurring donations, batch contributions, dashboards for projects and donors, API access for third-party integration, and optional public donor recognition badges. It emphasizes consent and privacy, allowing maintainers and donors to choose visibility levels for their involvement.

Impact and reception: It has been adopted by several small and medium open-source projects as a fundraising mechanism, helping sustain maintenance work and dedicated time. Commentary notes that fundraising comes with overhead and potential bias toward higher-visibility projects, prompting discussions on transparency and sustainable funding models.

Related topics: Open-source funding platforms, sponsorship programs, donation management software.