Create and document process for crowdfunding features and projects

[gusaus]

We’ve been talking in LibreTime chat about incorporating CiviCRMs crowdfunding model to fund new features.
https://civicrm.org/make-it-happen
https://lab.civicrm.org/community/sustainability/-/wikis/Make-It-Happen

Following up on some related discussion in LibreTime chat https://chat.libretime.org/libretime/pl/arjt8dmjtpyx7cd1frt7karpsy

From @Robbt

Also had another question from a user as to whether I would implement certain features for pay, I said I’d rather things go through OpenCollective for transparency but we need to hash out how we can do a bug bounty type program where people dedicate money towards development of certain functionality and we split the money amongst the developers. Not sure if there is any sort of escrow type of thing where people can pledge money but aren’t charged until after the feature is completed. I’ll also open an issue for Github sponsor.

We can use Open Collective to do something similar to CiviCRM Make it Happen campaigns.

Similar to CiviCRM, we can already refund or reassign donations with Open Collective https://docs.opencollective.com/help/v/master/hosts/refunds

Another benefit of Open Collective is there are several ways to pool/allocate funds between projects and contributors.

I think the following would be good candidates for this type of campaign -

• AzuraCast / Radio Station plugin integration (Radio Station plugin) - https://github.com/netmix/radio-station-pro/issues/30
• Drag-and-drop Music Scheduler (AzuraCast) - https://azuracast.featureupvote.com/suggestions/39021/draganddrop-music-scheduler
• Publish Live Shows and DJ Mixes to Mixcloud (AzuraCast) - https://azuracast.featureupvote.com/suggestions/173079/publish-live-shows-and-dj-mixes-to-mixcloud
• Monetization (AzuraCast) - https://azuracast.featureupvote.com/suggestions/86397/monetization

Because these projects already overlap we could probably have the same PM lead each campaign - also have the same people focus on marketing, fundraising, and other roles that are needed to make campaigns like this happen. (see #4)

If OpenProducer coordinated these campaigns on it’s collective, those working directly on the projects (dev, docs, etc.) could invoice against that collective or funds could be transferred to LibreTime collective.

We need to hash out and document our own process, but we have all the ingredients to make it happen.

Anyone interested in taking this on?

[gusaus]

Open Collective already provides a way to create campaigns similar to https://civicrm.org/make-it-happen. Unlike a bounty (relying on platforms/programs https://www.bountysource.com/ or https://gitcoin.co/explorer), this type of campaign could be created as a tier on https://opencollective.com/openproducer and embedded on a website.

Would be good to test the waters with a couple of the projects listed above. #13 (comment)

[gusaus]

Copying over this comment from a related issue
#11 (comment)

We'd like to begin hosting and/or collaborating in virtual hackathons as a way to increase contributions to projects and communities we support.

There are many projects and communities going virtual in this time of Covid, the WordPress charity format, do_action, could work well as they already provide other elements we'd like to incorporate.

We couldn’t call the events do_action, but we've been encouraged by the organizers to fork and remix their format

For example we can tweak some of the following ideas (which I did) -

Format

https://make.wordpress.org/community/2020/03/20/taking-charity-hackathons-online/

• Organize a country-wide event. Since these events are going to be virtual, it makes sense to bring in talents from the whole country, as well as reach more organizations that would otherwise be possible.
• Spread the work out over a few days/weeks. In order to give people the time to work on the websites for the stations, allow them to work over a longer time period than just one day.
• Provide virtual communication channels. Use your local WordPress community Slack group (or create one if you don’t have one already) and set up separate channels for each team to communicate.

Particpant Roles

https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/getting-particpants/#participant-roles

Not sure this has been addressed (in-person vs virtual do_action)… having completely separate teams per org might be a bit messy and inefficient for a countrywide/global, virtual event

In our case we’d probably want to identify roles and participants who can work across all projects
So a variation on the roles referenced -

• Project Manager
• Content Creator
• Social Media Manager
• Designer
• Site Configuration
• Quality Assurance Tester
• Documentation
• Fundraising
• Development (this work would primarily be as part of the OSS projects themselves - Newspack, LibreTime, Radio Station plugin, etc.)

With several other projects/communities needing a similar process, there's potential to pool resources for anyone interested in taking this on.

[gusaus]

OBS recently launched its bounty program which provides some great examples for using Open Collective and Github. Maybe we can incorporate some of what they're doing into our flow.

https://obsproject.com/blog/announcing-the-obs-project-bounty-program
https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/wiki/OBS-Project-Bounty-Program
https://opencollective.com/obsproject/projects/obs-project-bounty-program

Anyone interested in taking this on?

[gusaus]

In addition to OBS #13 (comment), our friends at Mautic have some great resources -

• Guide for paying contributors - https://contribute.mautic.org/policies/paying-contributors
• RFP process for feature development https://contribute.mautic.org/product-team/request-for-proposals-rfp-process
• Bounty program for smaller tasks https://contribute.mautic.org/product-team/mautic-bounty-programme

More than enough source material for someone interested in creating and running our own program to support projects we're working with.

Is there anyone interested in taking this on?