Rationale

As outlined in our Interpersonal Guidelines, AOSC does not accept monetary donations as cumulative funds for the community and specific projects. However, as a hobbyist community with no operational funds, we often require financial and material support in the case of significant purchases, especially in terms of computing devices that are crucial for our community projects. Therefore, we accept donations in the form of monetary funds or physical materials (computer cases, power supplies, hard drives, etc.).

Further Points of Clarification

• Donations of funds and materials must be directed to specific community projects (for instance, purchasing or upgrading a BuildBot for a specific port of AOSC OS).
• Reimbursements via crowdsourcing is by principle prohibited. All crowdsourcing plans should be sufficiently discussed amongst the community contributors before purchases can be made.
• Donors are to be acknowledged, though not considered a community contributor (who would enjoy certain benefits such as a personal home page at the community portal, Git write access, and an @aosc.io mailbox). However, donors...
  • May request access to purchased hardware and services.
  • Are to be notified with specific details on future usage, maintenance, and deprecation of devices.
• Crowdsourcing campaigns are considered complete once the proposed amounts are collected, no further donation will be accepted.
• In case of surplus funds, the said funds will are to be partially refunded to the last donors, until the surplus was depleted.
  • Should the donors decline their refunds, crowdsourcing campaigns may be adjusted to make use of the excess funds.
• In case of a cancelled crowdsourcing campaign, donors are to be refunded in full.