Software Philanthropy for Everyone

All large companies use open source software. Many of them contribute to open source software. In addition to that many large companies have philanthropic arms; charitable foundations operated by the …

All large companies use open source software. Many of them contribute to open source software. In addition to that many large companies have philanthropic arms; charitable foundations operated by the company or aligned with the company, and primarily funded by the company. These foundations have focus areas which include many charitable causes, but not open source software! This presentation will talk about Bloomberg’s journey to add software philanthropy to its charitable contributions, including the mundane aspects of volunteer coding events, soliciting mentors/leaders, organizing participation, and others, but also how this type of philanthropy can be included in ‘employee giving’. Anyone who runs an Open Source Program Office, or similar group, in a company that also has a philanthropic arm should include open source software contributions in their plans.