Rust Maintainer Fund
This fund is in a bootstrap phase. We are solliciting donations, it is not yet possible to apply for grants or stipends — first we need to accumulate enough budget to make anything possible. Please do have look at our active programmes — hopefully at least some part of your plans also fits within existing programmes, although obviously we would not seek to establish this new fund if it wasn't complementary.
The Rust programming language, its official tools (the Rust compiler, Cargo, etc.) and its core infrastructure are developed by a wide and diverse community of contributors. This ecosystem actively continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and there are many divergent requirements and approaches that need to be consolidated. This requires significant coordination effort by the Rust maintainers, taking into account the interests of an ever wider community of stakeholders.
These maintainers are the volunteer members of the Rust Project, the open source organization behind the Rust programming language. However, participating in such critical functions is very demanding in terms of time and thus not immediately feasible for everyone. Some large organisations may be able to afford to enable an employee to take up such a leadership role, but that isn’t fully representative. Some might have the talent, vision, and drive to help shepherd Rust into the right direction — but lack the financial means to dedicate a significant part of their working week to such work. Because work it is.
This is where NLnet's Rust Maintainer Fund comes in. We want to enable the best and brightest from our community to partake in maintenance and leadership roles, regardless of where they work. This is why we want to support independent developers to take up important maintainer roles, essentially working for the collective interest of all. Obviously, we want these people to make the decisions that serve the community best — free from short term pressures. Depending on one on one corporate sponsorship is a liability, and might burden decision making and deprioritize community interests. This is why we believe having a neutral and community-oriented mechanism to provide financial compensation to motivated independent people in leadership roles is key.
It is up to the community to organise itself and make the future of Rust bright. A strong and healthy Rust ecosystem is not created by any single private or public entity, but by its users.
Donating to this fund
| Donate by bank transfer (no costs within Europe) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Account holder Stichting NLnet Science Park 400 1098 XH Amsterdam The Netherlands |
Account number BIC: INGBNL2A IBAN: NL30 INGB 0007 2288 90 |
Name of the bank ING BANK NV P.O.Box 1800 1000 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands |
Please mention "Rust Maintainer Fund" alongside your payment.
Acknowledgements
The Rust Maintainer Fund is operated by NLnet Foundation in collaboration with RustNL and Commons Caretakers. The fund depends on donors: organisation and individuals that use and/or depend on Rust and its ecosystem. Your donation is welcome too.
