I think open-source leaders who want sustainable resourcing should focus on building obvious paths for people who find ongoing value in their project to contribute. That to me is the best return-on-investment.
If it's a library, make it easy for developers to contribute code.
If it's an app, make it easy for individuals/businesses who value it to pay (e.g., cloud hosting).
I gave a talk about this at the launch of WHO's Open Source Program Office[1].
I run [ODK](https://getodk.org). It's a offline mobile data collection platform that has been an DPG since 2022.
In practice, being a DPG makes your project slightly easier to choose in UN and government procurements. In most cases, they're choosing your platform because it's free, so it's unlikely that money or code contributions will come your way. It can even be a downside, because your software may end up deployed on an under-provisioned government server that generates a flood of support requests. Ask me how I know...
You may also get a bit more visibility and become eligible for some DPG-related funding calls. But in my experience, funding ultimately depends on demonstrated impact, donor relationships, alignment with national digital strategies, and the ability to deliver at scale.
ODK is open-source software that helps users build powerful offline forms to collect the data they need wherever it is. It's trusted by leading social impact organizations like the World Health Organization, Red Cross, the Carter Center, and more.
ODK is led by a small, diverse, and distributed team. We care deeply about having social impact, building open-source software, and empowering our global community of users.
If it's a library, make it easy for developers to contribute code.
If it's an app, make it easy for individuals/businesses who value it to pay (e.g., cloud hosting).
I gave a talk about this at the launch of WHO's Open Source Program Office[1].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/live/yNK27_6MrF8?t=1215s