The Ubuntu MATE project has just revealed that they donated over $1,500 (€1,400) to other upstream projects and developers that are helping them in return.



The Ubuntu MATE team does something that very few other projects and developers do, and that is to donate money to upstream. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Ubuntu MATE is a really successful Ubuntu distribution, but that happens in part because the project relies heavily on the work of others.

The project does this each month. Most of the time, they donate to one or two people, but they must have hit some sort of a record for the month of February, because they gave away over $1,500 (€1,400), to eight people, mostly from upstream projects, but also developers who helped with various components of Ubuntu MATE.
Ubuntu MATE rewards people who contribute The sums that are donated by Ubuntu MATE are not big, but that's not the point. Since all the finances of this open source project are made public and transparent, it's nice to see where the money is going.
"Ubuntu MATE is comprised of many Open Source projects; we recognise that. Each month that Ubuntu MATE has a surplus of funds, we will make a contribution to an Open Source project or developer that Ubuntu MATE directly benefits from," Ubuntu MATE developer and project lead Martin Wimpress explained.
This gesture should really inspire others to do the same. Open source projects are usually free, and they are being built by people in their free time. They live off donations, but that's rarely a motivation. They work on open source because they want to.
Ubuntu MATE is a relatively new Ubuntu flavor that uses the MATE desktop environment. The project is getting more and more users, and that is reflected directly in the number of donations that are gathered each month.