LiVES fundraising drive (updated 26 Sep 2008)

What is the Aim ?

The aim of the fundraising drive is to raise money to promote LiVES and hence video editing and VJing using Free Software and
open codecs and formats. The funds will also ensure the long-term survivability of the LiVES project.

How Much is Needed ?

The goal will be to raise $6000 for the project.

How will the Money be Spent ?

Of the proposed $6000, the money will be divided as follows:

$4500 will pay for coding work to complete the 1.0 version of LiVES
$750 will pay for a LiVES manual in English
$500 will pay for a 6 part video blog, promoting LiVES, and showing some features of it
$250 will pay for new artwork, including a splash-screen, new theme for 1.0 and a tshirt design

How will this Ensure the Long-Term Survival of LiVES ?

In several ways:

By finally releasing the long awaited 1.0 version of LiVES this will create a lot of publicity for LiVES, which in turn will mean more users for the project, and more developer interest (see next point)
The 1.0 release will be the point at which other developers will be able to contribute to the LiVES code - the core will be stable, and other developers will be free to enhance it and to work on plugins
Creating a user manual will make the application much more usable, and will provide an overview of the many features already existing in LiVES
More users also means more visitors to the LiVES website, which in turn should mean more ad revenue for the developer(s), allowing more time to spent on development
The new artwork will be used for tshirts and other merchandise, which may also help the project's publicity and financial wellbeing

When is the Money Needed ?

As soon as possible. The current code base is about 3 - 4 months away from the 1.0 release. A manual is also desperately needed. If funds are not forthcoming soon, then the project will remain in maintenance mode as the developers and potential developers lose interest and move onto other things.

Anything Else ?

Yes. The main developer of LiVES (salsaman) is currently in Brazil on a cultural visa scheme, carrying out research in Free Software, and participating in cultural activities. Due to the visa restrictions, he is not allowed to work officially, therefore funding is needed to allow the development to continue. Part of the videoblog will cover salsaman's activities in Brazil, and should be of general interest. In addition, if the English language manual is produced, it will be translated free of charge into Portuguese, and used to create a how-to video for Brazilian schoolchildren to learn video editing and simple VJing. Production of the videoblog will also entail training one or more video editors, and the feedback received from them will be of use in fine-tuning the application.

How can you help ?

If you can donate all or part of the funds needed the please get in contact with the project, or make a donation using the button at the top of the page, or via the LiVES donation page. As a major sponsor ($500 or more) of the LiVES project, you can choose to be an Official Sponsor of the LiVES 1.0 release.
If you are a US resident, you can now donate tax free via Linux Fund, an official sponsor of the LiVES 1.0 release.

Donate tax free via Linux Fund.

Go directly to the LiVES donations page.