A "KeepAlive" system might work for funding software projects. If your company has a dependency on some open source software project, then it is very much in their interests to pay a "KeepAlive" amount per month to that project, ensuring that project remains alive and well and healthy, and thus your systems - which depend literally on that software - remain healthy.
"KeepAlive" is not sponsorship. Sponsorship has the perception/reality of being optional/nonessential and indeed there is an expectation that something further will be given to the sponsor after the money is handed over. Sponsorship isn't a great model for funding software projects. Even worse is donations.
Nor is a KeepAlive payment a support payment. in fact you might have a support system on top of your KeepAlive system. A KeepAlive payment system is simply a payment to ensure that software that a company depends on stays alive.
The super critical thing that no one seems to understand - (and Patreon is the prime culprit here) is that you simply cannot allow the money amounts to drop to the floor - it must not be possible to contribute $1 a month. This is just digital street begging.
Patreon - and any other sponsorship/donation/support/KeepAlive system that permits the payer to "choose their own price" is setting the whole system up for failure. Have you ever seen a "choose what you want to pay" system that does anything except drop straight to the pricing floor?
Any sponsorship/donation/support/KeepAlive system must assert value, must anchor the price, and must set a practical minimum that is required and not optional. For example $10/month for individual person KeepAlive payments, $200/month for small companies and $500/month for larger company KeepAlive payments. What's the value in 300 people throwing a $1 coin per month into your digital suitcase - that's what Patreon is.
Part of the problem is that software developers are typically afraid to set a realistic price point/value on their work, thus the KeepAlive system needs to do it for them - ensuring it doesn't turn into a Patreon like digital street begging system.
"KeepAlive" is not sponsorship. Sponsorship has the perception/reality of being optional/nonessential and indeed there is an expectation that something further will be given to the sponsor after the money is handed over. Sponsorship isn't a great model for funding software projects. Even worse is donations.
Nor is a KeepAlive payment a support payment. in fact you might have a support system on top of your KeepAlive system. A KeepAlive payment system is simply a payment to ensure that software that a company depends on stays alive.
The super critical thing that no one seems to understand - (and Patreon is the prime culprit here) is that you simply cannot allow the money amounts to drop to the floor - it must not be possible to contribute $1 a month. This is just digital street begging.
Patreon - and any other sponsorship/donation/support/KeepAlive system that permits the payer to "choose their own price" is setting the whole system up for failure. Have you ever seen a "choose what you want to pay" system that does anything except drop straight to the pricing floor?
Any sponsorship/donation/support/KeepAlive system must assert value, must anchor the price, and must set a practical minimum that is required and not optional. For example $10/month for individual person KeepAlive payments, $200/month for small companies and $500/month for larger company KeepAlive payments. What's the value in 300 people throwing a $1 coin per month into your digital suitcase - that's what Patreon is.
Part of the problem is that software developers are typically afraid to set a realistic price point/value on their work, thus the KeepAlive system needs to do it for them - ensuring it doesn't turn into a Patreon like digital street begging system.