Is the GNOME Foundation Going to Go Bankrupt in 1 Year?
It's no secret that many Open Source organizations struggle to fund themselves -- with the GNOME Foundation being on more of a shoestring budget than you would expect for a project as widely used as GNOME.
To make matters worse, the GNOME Foundation has been paying for most of their expenses by draining their savings account (as they spend far more than they take in).
Now, apparently, those savings are running out.
What's more: The GNOME Foundation has been unusually silent about their operations -- not publishing any public reports for closing in on 2 years now. And their strategy to save themselves from bankruptcy appears to center around "sustainability, diversity, and inclusion".
Seriously.
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In short: GNOME has run out of money. In order to "keep spending at the same level" GNOME needs to find some money.
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But the listed assets on this page, as of 2022, really don't give us enough information. This lists $909,107 in total net assets... but what we really need to know is how much "Savings and temporary cash investments" they have.
In other words: How much money can GNOME get their hands on, in short notice, to actively use for funding their immediate expenses? For that, we'll need to look a few pages further down their IRS 990 form...
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In October of 2023, the GNOME Foundation hired a new Executive Director. A person whose previous job was as a self-described "Professional Shaman" -- not religiously associated with Shamanism, mind you, but a person who sold "flavored Shaman water" and offered paid "Start your own Shaman business" training.
In the half year since that time, the new GNOME Executive Director, Holly Million, has had very little public presence -- no blog posts (after a short introduction), no social media activity, no major interviews, no response to press requests... totally quiet. During the one publicly held event (a "Meet and Greet" last year), journalists were kicked out before it started and the planned recording was canceled for unknown reasons.
What has this GNOME Executive Director been doing to make sure that the GNOME Foundation does not go out of business? It is a mystery. Total silence.