Our commitment to open source continues! This year, we’re proud to back the maintainers driving projects like SQLAlchemy, HTTPX, cyclopts, UpdateCLI, and more!
One year ago, we launched the Open Source Pledge with a singular goal: get maintainers paid. From the start, we designed the Pledge differently. Don't let the name fool you, the "pledge" is not just a promise or an IOU — to become a member, companies have to come with receipts. Before joining, each company has already paid Open Source maintainers at least $2,000 per year for each full time developer on staff. We could have set a lower floor; we could have counted time or code contributions (valuable, but not the goal here), accepted hand-wavy accounting, or promises to give eventually. Instead, we set a high bar, and still, over two dozen companies signed on at launch. In our first year, Pledge members paid out $2.6M to maintainers. But what’s even more remarkable is what they didn’t do: churn. In the non-profit world, typical donor retention rates hover between 40–60%. So far, 96% of our launch members have renewed. That means these companies didn’t just say they care about open source they proved it. They voluntarily paid thousands, tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars directly to maintainers. In an environment where startups are looking to cut costs everywhere, this speaks volumes. Pledge membership has become a strong signal of values in action — a sign of a company that not only talks about caring, but shows it. Today, as the Open Source Pledge turns one, we want to say: Thank you to every member company for fighting for Open Source and helping make sustainability real. Here’s to another year of getting maintainers paid. 💪