In order for such a big project as Yii to function properly, we need core contributors watching it constantly: making sure it goes in the right way, managing releases, making decisions. Time proved that while it is possible to do it having a full-time job, it is not as focused, fast and committing as needed.
Previously it was possible to support Yii in many ways: contributing code, participating in community activities, translating documentation. Donating to the project was not among them. The reasons for it were that:
- We are not the best about paperwork.
- The idea of how to spend money for the good of the project was very vague.
OpenCollective ¶
An experiment of Alexander Makarov, @samdark, at Patreon proved that many community members find donating the best way to support Yii. The Patreon has drawbacks though. First of all, that's funding of Alexander's work. While the major part of it is Yii, that is not the same as the funding of Yii project overall. Also, Patreon does not provide any transparency regarding spending funds, and we want to make this part clear.
We have found that OpenCollective covers both drawbacks so decided to try it:
- It allows for supporting the project financially.
- It handles all the paperwork.
- There is no need for legal entity (actually we have moved towards e.V. foundation significantly but that is still a huge amount of paperwork, and we would better spend time on what we are good at).
- It is transparent.
Goals ¶
The funding is collected to make it possible for core team members to work primarily on Yii with minimal or no amount of consulting jobs. The first person willing to try it is Alexander Makarov, @samdark, but others may join later.
Other than that, we may spend funds on our server infrastructure, development tools, design, marketing the framework and other activities and services that move Yii forward.
All that is to:
- Support Yii 2 releasing new versions of both framework and official extensions.
- Develop Yii 3 and further major versions. Here is the current roadmap of what is planned.
Help us to move Yii forward ¶
Become Yii backer, starting at $1/month or become an official Yii sponsor, starting at $100/month. All backers and sponsors will be listed in a dedicated page (thanks to OpenCollective we would not forget anyone, they are providing a good API for it).
The times ahead should be exciting for Yii. Let's make it together!
You may discuss this news on the forum.