Donations are the simplest funding model for many open source projects. They work best when a maintainer or team wants recurring support from users, companies, or community members without packaging work into fixed deliverables.
They are easier to start than Grants and more durable than one-off campaigns, but they depend on audience trust and repeated visibility. Donations are strongest when the project already has active users, clear public value, and a credible maintainer presence.
Good references in this category include GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Liberapay, and Ko-fi. Use them when you want direct supporter funding; combine them with broader Get Funding or Earn Revenue models when the project needs more predictable scale.
