What does Guix Foundation raise money for?

Guix Foundation's goal is to support the development and promotion of GNU Guix. Practically, we raise funds to ensure that the Guix Project is sustainable. Running a complex development project incurs costs for development infrastructure, download servers and supporting the community around the Guix project.

As a package manager and GNU/Linux distribution Guix has some unique needs. As the distribution grows and becomes more popular the costs increase. Each package that's added increases the number of builds, and as more people use Guix the costs to deliver those packages also go up.

Our main goal is to be sustainable, meaning we match our critical expenses against our incoming donations. This gives the project certainty that there won't be a sudden funding shortfall. Beyond that, if there's more funding then we can do more, both to support development and invest more in community resources.

How do I donate to Guix Foundation?

To make a donation please visit our donate page where you'll be able to give a one-off gift or set-up a recurring donation.

Thank you for your support.

What payment methods do you support?

The best method for donating is through a Direct Debit as this payment method has the lowest fees, so more of your money will go to supporting Guix. SEPA Direct Debits work across the EU and the UK.

Alternatively, you can donate through another platform including Stripe, Open Collective and GitHub Sponsors. See the Donate page for the details.

How do I setup a recurring donation?

You can donate monthly via Direct Debit if you're in the EU or the UK: this is the best method as it has the lowest fees and it's the most reliable because there's no risk of an expiring card number interrupting your donation.

The other platforms also support recurring donations. Open Collective (which uses Stripe underneath) is the most flexible as donations can be customised to be monthly or yearly.

Why are recurring donations so important?

Recurring donations are critical for Guix to be sustainable. It means the project knows there's a regular stream of donations that can pay for the shared resources we all use. We match the regular stream of donations against the recurring costs the project incurs: the main examples of this are the build farm, site hosting and the download servers which serve substitutes to users.

Ensuring that Guix is sustainable means we avoid the risk of suddenly having to reduce the shared resources that we all rely on. This has almost happened in recent years where we were weeks away from having to reduce the hosting.

How much money are you trying to raise?

Our main goal is to ensure that the GNU Guix project is sustainable. This means that we're only spending as much in a year as we raise.

If the community is able to support more then we'll be able to do more to strengthen Guix. Whether that's investing in improving the project's infrastructure, sponsoring development or supporting the Guix community.

See the Reports page for the latest fundraising goals and budget.

How does my donation make a difference?

As an entirely volunteer association all of your donation will be used to support GNU Guix. Your donation will be used to pay for critical infrastructure and to support the Guix community, including:

How do I cancel or alter my recurring donation?

If you're donating through a SEPA Direct Debit then you can cancel or alter your donation in your bank account. For the other platforms you should have received a link to cancel when starting the recurring donation, or you can login to the platform.

If there are any problems feel free to get in contact.

Are my donations tax deductible?

Guix Foundation is a certified non-profit, registered in France as a voluntary Association. This is similar to non-profits in other jurisdictions, such as 501(c) in the USA. If you live in France your donation is tax deductible. If you live in another jurisdiction your donation may be tax deductible, but check with your tax adviser as we're not tax advisers!

Who should join Guix Foundation?

Anyone can donate to support Guix, you don't need to be a Guix Foundation member.

Anyone who's interested in GNU Guix and promoting user freedom can join Guix Foundation. In the same way that Guix users are everywhere, we accept members from all parts of the globe.

We want Guix Foundation to be representative of the global Guix community.

As a volunteer Association we're members-driven. Our volunteer members elect the organising committee, decide the priorities and run our activities.

Find out more on the Join page.

How do I learn about Guix Foundation's activities?

You can learn about Guix Foundation in the About Guix Foundation section of this site. We also have annual reports and general updates in the reports area. Finally, for the most recent news see our News blog.

If you have any questions, please get in contact, we'd love to tell you all about how we're supporting Guix!

How do I join Guix Foundation?

Anyone who's interested in GNU Guix can join the Guix Foundation. If you use Guix, contribute to Guix or are interested in Free Software then please join us! Find out more on the Join page.

What will you do with my contact details?

To become a member of Guix Foundation you will need to provide your name and email address. If you don't want to provide your legal name, you may use a pseudonym.

Unless you select otherwise, we will publish your name on the Web site as a member of Guix Foundation. We will keep your contact details private, and won't release them to other members or the public unless you've authorised us to do so.

As a member we'll add you to the members mailing list that all members are subscribed to. We may email you, from time to time, to inform you about Guix Foundation news, changes to your membership (e.g. renewals) and so forth.

Please note that to become a member of the organising committee (Solidarity Administrative Council) or the Bureau (President and Treasurer) requires further details as the Association is required to notify the local government (Department) in France. In certain circumstances these details may be used to check regulatory requirements and financial risk.

How do I renew my membership?

The annual membership fee to be a member of Guix Foundation is €10. If you intend to be long-term member you can reduce our administration by setting up a recurring payment through a SEPA Direct Debit or recurring payment.

If you're making a monthly recurring donation then we'll automatically use the first €10 each year for you membership fee.

If you don't pay the membership fee then we'll email you to renew it. If we don't hear from you then we will cancel your membership.

Who's allowed to vote?

Any active member can vote at a General Assembly. There is one ordinary General Assembly a year where the members decide who is on the organising committee. See the Foundation FAQ for further details.

How can I get involved with Guix Foundation activities?

Guix Foundation is organised and run by volunteers. We are always looking for volunteers to organise events, promote Guix or help out with aspects of the Foundation. As we're members-driven the best thing to do is to start a discussion on our members mailing list. If you're not quite sure what you want to do, contact us through the contact form and we can talk about how you can help.

How do I ask Guix Foundation to fund something?

If you're a member you can put forward an idea, discussion or proposal on the Guix Foundation member mailing list. Formal proposals are voted on by the SAC during the year, and can be put forward for all members to vote on at the annual General Assembly.

If you're not a member then you can still put forward a proposal which the Foundation's organising committee will consider. Please contact us so we can learn more about your idea.

How do I organise a local Guix event?

If you'd like to support the growth of Guix in your community then running a local Guix event is a great thing to do. The best way to get started is to run something simple and easy and then expand as you build up experience.

If you'd like to chat to other people who run Guix events, or who might be interested in helping out, the members list is a great place to start the conversation.