Albertson: OSL's path to sustainability

Lance Albertson writes that the Oregon State University Open Source Lab has been funded for the next year, following his announcement in April that the future of OSL was in jeopardy. OSL is now focusing on becoming self-sustainable long term.

The recent support was amazing for our immediate team needs. But for the OSL to thrive long-term, we need a sustainable financial foundation. This is crucial, as the university expects units like ours to become self-sufficient beyond this current year.

So, our big focus this next year is locking in ongoing support – think annualized pledges, different kinds of regular income, and other recurring help. This is vital, especially with potential new data center costs and hardware needs. Getting this right means we can stop worrying about short-term funding and plan for the future: investing in our tech and people, growing our awesome student programs, and serving the FOSS community. We're looking for partners, big and small, who get why foundational open source infrastructure matters and want to help us build this sustainable future together.