Update after 9 months on OpenCollective
Published on September 25, 2024 by alice
Hello,
this is our first update since the move to OpenCollective over the last 9 months, and also the first months of financial transparency and distributed work.
First off, overall, it was a great success.
this is our first update since the move to OpenCollective over the last 9 months, and also the first months of financial transparency and distributed work.
First off, overall, it was a great success.
- We have switched from subscriptions to donations with only minimal loss to our available income.
- Our processes and setup are documented and improving.
- Our finances are managed collectively and held by a non-profit.
- Our infrastructure is getting more resilient to any one member being unavailable.
We went from a single person holding everything, to 4 active and busy members sharing work, and more people interested in the project. We are close to a sustainable collectivized hosting alternative for the fediverse.
New team
- @[email protected]: keeping an eye on expenses, paying bills, and general admin things.
- @[email protected]: keeping software and patches up to date, while making sure servers are happy and healthy.
- @[email protected]: shadowing Madeorsk, monitoring patches and updates/upgrades and performance on the servers.
- @[email protected]: handling communication and support by email and tickets
Still looking for the following volunteers:
- an administrator to join our secretary team and participate in leading our collective, receiving emails and submitting invoices to OpenCollective, doing this kind of PR and hiring that you're reading, and relaying expenses between OC and third party providers if possible. You would be one of three sharing this role, and at our scale it represents about 2 to 5 hours per month.
- a web and django developer to maintain our website. It is functional but needs to be kept up to date and secure, and still has many rough edges and missing features. We're looking for a volunteer to take care of the project for a few hours per month, and eventually coordinate development.
Financially
We are doing okay and welcome new contributions, but are not ready for new instances yet.
We currently have around 114 regular financial contributors, while hosting 119 instances and about 30 thousands fediverse accounts across them.
Over the last nine months, we have received a total of 12,716 € and spent 4,928 € on expenses.
We have not paid any wages yet, focusing on accumulating a small buffer for long-term security. This buffer is now at 8,444 €, or about a year of hosting costs.
At this rate we should now be able to start compensating workers for their time, although not yet as well as they deserve. This is nonetheless an important step for the sustainability of our collective.
Near future
We're still working on fixing instance creation; but this will not be planned until we have the structure, staff, and resources to re-open.
That means more staff, more money so they can be paid fairly, and have the time to make this platform rock solid and the confidence to operate it safely.
And also simply more time, for all new staff members to learn and explore. We cannot yet pay anyone full or even part time, and this must be considered when expectations are set.
Bye
This is also me (alice) officially stepping down from my many roles; so if you remembered FédiMon as 'my thing', that's now in the past. i need time away from it and might not come back. i leave you with a very good team and i hope they can continue and grow what i started, providing fedi hosting for those who need it most and an alternative option to commercial hosting.
This is also lou leaving, who had an important role in taking over some administrative duties during overwhelming moments.
We may start doing these updates yearly, and if so someone will see you next year.
~ alice