Case Study: Universal Viewer achieves sustainable open source funding with Open Collective

Universal Viewer - Customer Case Study

The customer, Universal Viewer, an open-source project for digital cultural heritage, faced a challenge of sustainability. Its maintainer was burdened with unfunded work like bug fixes and community management, which his small company could not support alone. This lack of dedicated funding was causing parts of the project to atrophy.

The vendor, Open Collective, provided a platform to solve this through fundraising. The key to success was creating a Steering Group, where sponsors who contributed $100/month or more gained a seat to help decide how funds were used. This model attracted institutional backers, decentralized project leadership, and funded community sprints to address technical debt. The solution created a sustainable funding model, renewed excitement for the project's future, and allowed the maintainer to balance paid work with project maintenance.

Universal Viewer

Edward Silverton

Maintainer