Economics Charter

What this document is

This charter sets out the financial terms for everyone who contributes to the Nano Collective’s open-source projects. It is a plain-language, publicly versioned commitment that tells you exactly how the economics work before you decide to invest your time.

It is not a legal contract. It is published openly so you can see every change, when it was made, and why. If anything is unclear, open an issue or reach out directly. We would rather answer a question than have someone build on assumptions.

For wider context on what the Nano Collective is and how it is structured, see the Introduction and the Organisation pages. In short: the collective is community-led, fiscally hosted by Open Source Collective , with a founding core team that stewards the work day to day. NC has no separate legal entity of its own. Every incoming and outgoing payment received via OSC is published transparently on the Open Collective platform, in real time, visible to anyone.

Not for profit, by design

The Nano Collective is not a company and does not exist to generate profit. There are no investors, no equity, and no one drawing returns from the project.

Any funds the collective receives, through donations and sponsorship today, through operating revenue in the future, go to two places, and only those two places:

• The cost of operating the collective. Infrastructure, hosting, the things needed to keep projects running and improving.
• The community fund. A ring-fenced pool used to pay bounties to OSS contributors via Open Source Collective.

That is the entirety of the model. If revenue grows, the share that flows into the community fund grows with it.

How OSS contribution works

You contribute code, documentation, research, design, or infrastructure to the Nano Collective’s open-source projects. Your work is governed by the relevant open-source licence for each project.

Volunteer contribution comes first

The collective is volunteer-led and continues to be. Most contributions to NC projects are not bounties, and that’s by design. If you are improving, fixing, or adding something because you want to, just open the PR. Volunteer work is what built the collective, and it remains the foundation.

Bounties sit alongside volunteer contribution, not above it. They exist for specific pieces of work that need focused, sustained effort and that the project has the funds to commission. Not every contribution fits that shape, and not every contribution that fits will be funded today.

Where the fund is allocated is a judgement call:

• Within a project, bounties go to work that unblocks other contributors, sustains the project’s health, or delivers a meaningful piece of the roadmap, not to routine fixes that volunteer contribution covers well.
• Across projects, the collective is honest that not every project carries the same weight at any given moment. Projects with more active development, broader use, or more central importance to where the collective is heading will see more bounty activity. That is a function of available funds and current priorities, not a permanent ranking. Projects move in and out of focus as the collective evolves.

The direction is to grow the share of contribution that can be paid for as the fund grows. The aim is more paid work over time, not fewer ways in. Volunteer contribution will always be welcome and remains the way most people will engage.

How a bounty gets agreed today

When a piece of work is a bounty candidate, coordination is currently manual and per-piece. The flow looks like this:

1. Identify the work. Either pick up an existing GitHub issue tagged for bounty, or propose a piece of work to a maintainer on the project’s GitHub or in Discord .
2. Agree the scope. A maintainer confirms the work is in-scope and writes the deliverable, acceptance criteria, and bounty amount into the issue (or a linked agreement). Nothing is open-ended. Nothing is retrospective. You know what you will be paid before you start.
3. Do the work. Submit a PR referencing the agreed scope. Acceptance follows the project’s normal review process.
4. Get paid. Once the work is merged and accepted, payment is processed through the Open Collective expense flow.

If you want to discuss whether a piece of work could be a bounty, talk to a maintainer first. Early conversations are encouraged and reduce the chance of mismatched expectations.

Other forms of support beyond the community fund

The community fund (bounty pool) is one channel. As the collective scales its sponsor and partnership programmes, other channels join it:

• Designated donations. A donor scopes and funds a specific piece of work with the core team. The work is delivered openly and reported publicly. This is documented in detail on the sponsor page .
• Sponsor-provided resources. As sponsorships and partnerships come online, the resources they provide (free or discounted credits for compute, model APIs, hosting, and similar) become available to NC projects, and where applicable to individual contributors working on substantial NC work.
• Bespoke partnerships. Larger arrangements designed case by case. Terms are agreed and published before the relationship begins.

Eligibility extends beyond new-project proposers. A contributor taking on a substantial piece of work on an existing NC project can be eligible for support too. The criteria are the same as for bounties: the work must be in scope, the scope must be agreed before any money or resources change hands, and nothing is retrospective.

The full, current catalogue of what is available and how to ask is maintained at Contributor Resources. That page is the place to start if you are wondering what you can ask for.

How to ask for support

Three routes, by what you are asking about:

1. Proposing a new project. Open a Stage 0 conversation. See How a Project Comes to Life.
2. Substantial work on an existing project. Message a maintainer or the core team on Discord , or reach out by email.
3. Anything else, or non-public first. Email hello@nanocollective.org.

The core team will be straightforward about what is and is not available today. The bias is towards saying yes to scoped, well-defined asks that align with what NC is building, subject to actual capacity.

Where the fund is today

Honest version: the community fund is a mechanism, not yet a balance. The structure exists (fiscal hosting via Open Source Collective, public ledger, ring-fenced share of incoming funds), but there is effectively nothing in it to spend yet.

What this means right now:

• The sponsorship program is newly launched and not yet signed.
• Partnerships are being actively pursued and not yet in place.
• Bounty capacity today is essentially zero. There are no active bounties drawn from a pool of community-fund money.
• A maintainer agreeing a bounty with you will be straightforward about what is and isn’t fundable. In practice, today, paid work is more likely to take the shape of a designated donation scoped with the core team than a draw from a standing fund.
• All inflows and outflows are visible on the public Open Collective ledger in real time. Anyone can see what’s coming in and what’s going out, at any time.

The mechanism is in place; the volume is not. As donations, sponsorships, partnerships, and other operating revenue come online, the share ring-fenced for bounties (and the amount in the fund) will be published transparently via Open Collective. The honesty about today’s state is itself the commitment: we will not overstate capacity, and we will not promise from an empty pool.

Funding and payouts

Funding the collective. For how to donate, sponsor, or otherwise support the Nano Collective, see Support the Collective. All incoming funds received via Open Source Collective appear on the public Open Collective ledger in real time.

Contributor payouts are processed through Open Source Collective. OSC supports payouts via PayPal and Wise, in your local currency. A minimum balance of $30 USD is required before a payout can be processed. This is an OSC platform requirement.

Tax obligations

Contributors are responsible for their own tax obligations. NC does not deduct tax, withhold tax, or provide tax advice. By receiving bounty payments, you confirm that you understand and will meet your own tax obligations in your jurisdiction.

What NC commits to

• Publishing all incoming and outgoing payments received via Open Source Collective transparently, in real time, on the Open Collective platform.
• Operating not-for-profit: funds cover the cost of running the collective and the community fund only. No investors, no equity, no profit-taking.
• Ring-fencing a defined share of all incoming funds (donations, sponsorship, and any future operating revenue) for the community fund, and publishing that share in this charter as it is set.
• Scoping and agreeing all bounties before work begins: no retrospective decisions.
• Being honest about how much capacity the community fund has at any given time.
• Paying contributors promptly via the agreed payment rails.
• Versioning this charter publicly: every change is dated and explained.
• Applying changes to financial terms to new work only, never retrospectively.
• Reporting publicly on the use of any designated donations.

What contributors commit to

• Contributing your work under the relevant project’s open-source licence.
• Following the Nano Collective Code of Conduct.
• Meeting your own tax obligations in your jurisdiction.
• Contributing work to a reasonable standard of quality.
• Understanding that this charter is not a legal contract.

What’s coming

A small number of things are designed but not yet live, and will be added to this charter as they become real:

• A platform for community-built specialist tooling. This includes the financial terms (platform margin, fees, payout cadence) and a formal contributor agreement to accompany it. None of this is live yet, and the specifics will be published in this charter, with at least 30 days notice, before anything launches.
• Additional operating revenue surfaces. Currently being scoped. Any new revenue surface that affects the community fund or contributor payments will be added here before it goes live.
• Long-term contributor coordination mechanisms. This includes the possibility of token-based coordination as the community grows. We are not committing to a specific direction here, and any move in that area will be published in this charter, with at least 30 days notice, before it takes effect.

The community fund and bounty model described above does not depend on any of the above existing.

Versioning and changes

This charter is version-controlled in this repository. Every change is public. The version history is the audit trail.

Changes to financial terms will be communicated with at least 30 days notice before taking effect, and will apply to new work and new submissions only.

If you have contributed under a previous version of this charter, the terms that applied when you started remain in effect for that work unless you explicitly agree otherwise.

Questions and contact

Open an issue on the docs repository , or email the Nano Collective core team at hello@nanocollective.org.

Financial activity: opencollective.com/nano-collective 

The Nano Collective is fiscally hosted by Open Source Collective. The Nano Collective is an unincorporated community project operating under OSC’s legal umbrella. This charter is a statement of intent and financial terms, not a legally binding contract.