Eligibility Requirements

We can accept any open source project, in any language, anywhere in the world. We can also accept meetup groups, and conferences, as well as supporting advocacy, research, and awareness initiatives.

Our goal is "to promote a sustainable and healthy ecosystem to sustain open source technology for the future." We're working towards this goal - if you think that you fit this requirement and the following doesn't completely apply to you, let us know.

Open Source Projects

When applying on behalf of an open source community, your project must meet the following conditions:

Legitimacy

• Your project must be novel or a substantial fork of an existing project.

• Your project must show recent activity and/or a significant degree of usage.

• The applicant(s) must demonstrate an appropriate level of access and standing in the community to act as a representative i.e. be a 'maintainer' rather than a 'contributor'.

We look at the ownership, activity, usage, and originality of the project.

License

Since the goal of the Open Source Collective is to support a Free and Open Source ecosystem, your project license is critically important. The list of Open Source Initiative Approved License List can serve as a gauge for valid open license criteria to the collective.

• Your project must have a license clearly defining how your project can be used, modified, redistributed and referenced by others.

The goal of the Open Source Collective is to promote a sustainable and healthy ecosystem to sustain open source technology for the future, and your project license is critically important to us.

Other valid licensing guidelines include the following:

When determining whether a project's license is appropriate, we look to guides like Open Source Initiative's Approved Licenses and other licensing guidelines like:

1. Free Software Foundation License List

2. Debian Free Software Guidelines

3. Fedora Software License List

4. Open Source Hardware Association Statement of Principles

Governance and Autonomy

• If possible, your project should include two or more administrators.

• Your repository should belong to an entity with appropriate access control i.e. not a personal repository.

Open Source Collective does not impose a structure, a process, or a statute on you and your community but as a small organisation supporting a broad range of open source communities we rely on you to operate a robust and effective decision-making process within your project. It is important to take into consideration how easily a project could continue if you or another core contributor takes leave.

We encourage projects to publish contributing guides, onboarding documents, codes of conduct, and other forms of governance documentation.

If you are looking for guidance or best practices in setting these up, we publish a range of guides and host regular community calls to facilitate new projects tackling this work.

Validation

If you are an open source project on GitHub you will likely be immediately approved. We have a built-in process that automates validation using GitHub authentication (more info).

If your project is on GitLab or hosted on an another platform you'll need to complete our application form (more info).

Open Source Adjacent Communities

We also consider applications from communities with a strong link to free and open source software. We use the following criteria:

• Your project must be strongly affiliated with or related to open source, not proprietary technology or any other topics.

Meetups, conferences and other groups

• should have at least 50 members,

• should have organized at least 2 events previously,

• should be able to show a history of activity by members.

As further evidence, you agree to send photo/video documentation of your first event after joining Open Source Collective.

Larger events may require specific risk assessment by our board. No expenses will be paid in advance of sufficient funds being available in the Collective budget (e.g. hiring a venue).

All agreements between your Collective and third parties, such as venues, contractors, speakers, etc, require explicit written permission and involvement of the OSC administrators.

Moving to Open Source Collective

If you already have a fiscal host, please help us understand why you think Open Source Collective would be right for you.

My project doesn't fit, but it should

Get in touch by emailing [e-mail]. We are interested in learning about why. However, our decisions are final.