How You Can Support Key Open-Source Initiatives With Kivach

Are you interested in contributing to open-source software that makes a positive impact?

Look no further!

Discover here how you can contribute to some vital open-source initiatives through the innovative cascading donations platform, Kivach. Open-source projects play a pivotal role in driving technological advancements, but they usually depend on the dedication of unpaid volunteers. Kivach offers a unique opportunity to support their growth while making a tangible difference in the field.

By using this tool, the recipients of donations can donate a part or a total of the coins to any other open-source project(s) they want on GitHub, automatically. So, the donations can flow as a cascade across multiple repositories and collaborators. For instance, Obyte had arranged an automatic distribution for all its donations from Kivach, depending on the contribution that other projects had offered to ours. We only keep 25% of them, while the rest is flowing through other useful open-source software.

Maybe the best part of this is that the recipient doesn’t need to know you’re donating to them from the beginning. You can donate with any cryptocurrency you prefer, using only your Obyte wallet and their GitHub repository names. Then, after being informed, the recipient(s) can claim the funds through their own wallet (they can create one if they don’t have it yet). So, let’s check some useful open-source projects you could help by using Kivach.

Krita

Krita is a prominent open-source digital painting software that has garnered a substantial user base due to its powerful and versatile features. As a free and open-source alternative to proprietary digital painting applications, Krita has become a favorite among artists, illustrators, and designers. Its extensive toolkit, including brushes, color palettes, layer management, and advanced brush engine settings, empowers users to create intricate and visually stunning digital artwork.

Some free works created with Krita include the webcomic “Pepper & Carrot,” and Ramon Miranda's Fantasy Artworks. By 2021, Krita's monthly users (only on Windows) were estimated at four million. However, as the team explains on their website, “Krita is mostly developed by an international team of enthusiastic volunteers” and entirely relies on donations. Most of the funds go to development, hardware, and support for users.

They appear as KDE/Krita on Kivach. To donate, you only need to go to this page on the Kivach platform and click the “Donate” button.

VLC Player

VLC Media Player, recognized globally as an open-source multimedia powerhouse, stands out for its unparalleled compatibility with diverse audio and video formats. Renowned for its cross-platform support spanning Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more, VLC offers users a seamless playback experience regardless of their operating system.

Beyond its prowess as a media player, VLC's open-source framework invites developers to enhance its capabilities through plugins and extensions, enriching the user experience. With its commitment to privacy, security, and regular updates, VLC remains a reliable and robust choice, appreciated by millions for its stability and performance. Indeed, this software has been downloaded over 3.5 billion times (by 2021) since its release 20 years ago.

VLC Player is maintained by the non-profit VideoLAN Organization, which accepts all kinds of contributions —from personal time to monetary donations. They already accept donations in Bitcoin (BTC), and Monero (XMR), so, we can say they know how to handle cryptocurrencies. You can donate through Kivach as well at VideloLAN/VLC.

Ardour

This professional-grade digital audio workstation (DAW) caters to musicians, sound engineers, and audio enthusiasts who require advanced audio editing, recording, and mixing capabilities. It offers a range of features similar to proprietary DAWs, making it a favored choice for both hobbyists and professionals in the music and audio production industry.

Ardour provides multitrack recording, non-destructive editing, support for various audio file formats, MIDI sequencing, and an array of audio effects and plugins. Its user-friendly interface, along with its powerful editing tools, allows users to create intricate audio compositions, podcasts, soundtracks, and more. Ardour's open-source and free nature encourages community contributions, resulting in a dynamic ecosystem of extensions, themes, and features that can be integrated into the software.

It also results in a very small development team, though. As they explain: “… the main force behind Ardour is delivered by two people, with less constant contributions from 2 others, and occasional contributions from on the order of a dozen others.” And all of them are volunteers, so they accept donations in the form of monthly subscriptions or one-time collaborations. In Kivach, they appear as ardour/ardour.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice, an exceptional open-source office suite, has emerged as a dynamic contender against proprietary alternatives such as Microsoft Office. Its versatile array of tools spans word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, diagrams, and more, catering to a wide range of user needs.

With an unwavering commitment to open standards, LibreOffice facilitates seamless collaboration and document interchange, allowing users to work across platforms without the constraints of proprietary file formats.

Its familiar interface, reminiscent of established office suites, simplifies the transition for users seeking a free and comprehensive alternative. It’s currently maintained by the Document Foundation, which estimated in 2021 that they had over 200 million users worldwide.

And, of course, they run solely on donations, “in order to provide server capacities required by the community, give travel assistance to volunteers and ensure the administration of the foundation is taken care of.” You can find them on Kivach as libreoffice/core.

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a pioneering open-source mapping platform that empowers users to collaboratively create and curate detailed and accurate maps of the world. Unlike proprietary mapping solutions like Google Maps, OSM allows individuals, communities, and organizations to contribute geospatial data, making it a dynamic and continuously evolving mapping resource. OSM's data covers a vast range of geographic information, including roads, landmarks, transportation networks, natural features, and much more.

At the core of OpenStreetMap's success is its community-driven approach. Contributors, often referred to as "mappers," collect data using GPS devices, aerial imagery, and other sources. They input this data into OSM's database, which then generates detailed maps that can be used for navigation, geographic analysis, urban planning, disaster response, and a plethora of other applications. OSM's data is released under an open license, allowing users to freely access, use, and share the maps they create.

OpenStreetMap has around ten million registered users —not to mention the app can also be used without registration. It’s currently maintained by the homonymous non-profit organization, which fully relies on donations from users worldwide. They’re available on Kivach as openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website.

Don’t they know?

As mentioned above, you can donate to any open-source project or individual developer on GitHub even if they don’t know about that donation initially. After being informed, they need to download an Obyte wallet to claim the funds, no matter what currency was donated. Then, they need to attest their GitHub username to verify themselves before receiving the money.

The GitHub Attestation Bot is available in the wallet, and one needs just to follow its instructions to complete the process, without any costs. Anyone can save their GitHub username privately in the wallet or post it publicly. A publicly attested GitHub username is a requirement to receive donations on Kivach. After this step, the recipients are free to establish an automatic distribution of donations or keep them all for their own projects.

By leveraging the power of cascading donations, this platform amplifies your contributions, creating a collective force for positive change. You can join Kivach.org and these projects to contribute to a brighter future through technology-driven altruism.

Do you know any other interesting open-source projects that may need help? Please comment on them below, on our Telegram channel or via Discord, so we can cover them in future articles for potential donors to know!