The Funding Gap Behind the Code We All Depend On
Open source software is no longer a niche pursuit. It appears in 96% of code bases, and its demand-side value to the economy is estimated at $8.8 trillion. The collaborative model makes it straightforward for governments, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals to work toward shared goals. But ubiquity does not guarantee sustainability: many critical projects remain underfunded and only attract serious attention when a major vulnerability like Heartbleed, Log4Shell, or the XZ Utils backdoor makes headlines. As with physical infrastructure, waiting for a bridge to collapse is not a sound funding strategy.
GitHub, in partnership with the Linux Foundation and Harvard Business School, is researching how organizations currently support open source. The aim is to get a clearer picture of where funding flows and where it falls short—so that public and private actors can respond before crises, not after.
Governments Start Treating Open Source as Infrastructure
Signs of a shift were visible at the OSPOs for Good summit in July, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The event drew hundreds of participants to discuss open source’s role in global development. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) presented its work on strengthening open source software security. Germany showcased its Sovereign Tech Fund, which invests $20 million per year into the maintenance of foundational technologies such as curl, PHP, and Log4J. France highlighted Les Blue Hats, its community of open source champions inside public administrations.
The UN’s commitment extends beyond the conference hall. Its goal is for governments to adopt the Global Digital Compact at the Summit of the Future. A central commitment in that Compact is increasing funding for Digital Public Goods (DPGs)—open source software, open standards, open data, open AI systems, and open content that comply with privacy laws, do no harm, and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Where Developers and Funders Meet
About 80% of DPGs live on GitHub. To help developers find and contribute to these projects, GitHub has launched For Good First Issue, a starting point for working with public sector–led open source projects without needing a policy background. For organizations looking to invest, GitHub Sponsors provides infrastructure that has already channeled over $40 million into open source projects. GitHub also supports the Open Technology Fund’s FOSS Sustainability Fund, which blends public and private money for long-term maintenance. GitHub Accelerator offers resources and mentoring for projects seeking financial sustainability, while the GitHub Fund invests capital and connections in open source entrepreneurs.
Maintainers themselves get support through free product offerings like GitHub Copilot and access to the Maintainer Community. These efforts are part of a broader developer policy agenda that advocates for programs like the U.S. Open Technology Fund and the German Sovereign Tech Fund—and highlights their impact when budgets come under threat. Whenever one such fund gets cut, new ones have to take its place.
The hope is that the UN’s push will persuade more governments to create similar initiatives. Better yet, if open source is treated as a public good, funding its maintenance should become a routine part of industry and government spending rather than an exception.
