Is it more beneficial to donate into the donation pool , or pay the kicad-pro guys ?
just pondering this after my token piecemeal USD50 donation at my first download of the software ever.,
I could donate ‘quite a bit’ and I wonder what the best means is.
Both can benefit the project, but there are differences.
Donations to the project are used for a variety of things the project needs. Paying KiPro in general is only for the services they provide: developing new features or priority bugfixes / support.
Donations are accepted at any amount, at any time. I think (I don’t work there) paying KiPro would generally be related to a specific contract about a specific piece of work.
So, if you’re in a place to support the project financially, I think it depends on whether or not you also want to use that money to influence what gets worked on. If you just donate to the project, there is no way to earmark your donation for implementing a specific feature or fixing a specific bug. That would be the KiPro offering. If you have something in particular that you’d like to see added to KiCad, I would reach out to them. But if you just want to generally support KiCad and not in a specific way, a recurring donation is a good way, as it helps us have a more reliable stream of funds to pay for servers, etc.
@Seth_h may have other input.
Hi Glen-
Thank you for considering a donation to help the KiCad project. If you would like your donation to be put to use for the most needed items, then donating to the project makes sense. If you have specific features that you would like to see implemented in KiCad (and they align with our overall roadmap), then paying KiCad Services (KiPro) may make the most sense.
KiCad Services is organized with the specific corporate mission of serving the KiCad community (you can check our corporate bylaws filed with California), so payments there support development and maintenance of KiCad. The difference is just that you have a bit more say in how your money is used when working through KiCad Services.
One note because you mention considering donating ‘quite a bit’: Our standard payment processor will take between 3-5% if you donate through the website. For larger donations, we can arrange direct payments in your local currency through your bank. This can ensure that the full donation amount goes to KiCad. Just reach out to donations@kicad.org to arrange this.
Also, in case you are the glen who submitted a question through the KiCad Services website, the e-mail address left on the form bounced, so my apologies for not responding. You can contact me directly through seth@kipro-pcb.com
Hi Seth and cj. thanks for the responses
Yes, I’d donate via wire transfer. I’ll communicate directly.
Hi
Last year I donated some via CERN, as I live in Switzerland and there was the advantage of a tax-deduction… So I’ll donate via the website now
What sizing is used for the t-shirts? American or European, not that I end up with a tiny or a huge shirt:)
Just wondering, I’m not too fussed, Is there transparency on how donations work, where the money flows, a ledger etc ? I’m still not sure i understand say where the $100,000 for 2024 ends up.
I am by no means infering any improprietary , just wondering where I should put my $ for general Kicad good will donations as distinct from kicad pro, a private organisation with their own private balance sheet (which in fine) but useful if you want to directly influence development.
I guess people are busy to answer my pesky question. That’s fine .
There’s good reason for me to try and bring some of the big boys tool ideas into Kicad, so that those in countries where Altium represents a significant cost- these users can benefit.
For me, the 3000/year altium subs is peanuts. (and they’re putting everything up 50% next year) .
For an engineer in India- I bet this is alot of money. - I understand that
This creates a capability divide that is not good for society.
Whether I continue in Kicad I dont know. The community decides the roadmap.
So far I feel there is some good ideas from the community, mixed with bug fixes, mixed with noise from some wacky ideas from the inexperienced.
I can donate to the project directly and hope this combined with good writing and persuasion can generate some influence.
and or I can pay Ki-pro to implement the features, but my guess is that might add up to 20 years of altium subs just to get a small bit of what I need . I know how much software costs and how long it takes.
and or I can pay kicad pro for their $500/year subs for ‘support and bug fixes’ but neither of those I need at this stage.
I’m guessing that a portion of the kicad.org goes to running servers, and compensating the lead developers that hold the ship together.
There’s a bunch of what I see is essential core that’s necessary to compete. By compete, I mean that once Kicad has (in my opinion) some extra capability, then Kicad will see a large population come to it from Altium subs, even without the bad blood that Altium management is currently generating with users. (on the comporate web page they have the promise to shareholders to increase revenue 50% this year !- which is hard if you dont increase the world’s number of engineers, which is why our subs are going up)
Because I’m a current Atium subs, I can assist getting features and tools implemented that functionality equivalents. Beleive it or not, I feel now Altium has too many features, it is becoming a overloaded jetliner . It peaked about 2016 IMO.
Mind all that, the world is not totally wedded to Altium. There is a significant Cadence crowd out there, alot of that due to US government information controls and features. They are more heavy corporate Fortune 500 companies.