Haiku -- the open-source OS that I'm rather involved with -- has a scheme of that
sort operating.  There is actually a slightly separate "Haiku, Inc." to handle this.
This entity *only* handles donations and the assignment of contracts (and perhaps
any other legal stuff that might have to be dealt with).  It has no say in the direction
that Haiku takes, but in the past has provided funds for developers to work essentially
full time on parts of the system that need effort.  I think most of the results have
been quite significant.

	-- Pete --

On Thu, Apr 06, 2017 at 07:59:10PM +0200, Anders Genell wrote:
> Dear devs!
> 
> A relatively long time ago there was a discussion about implementing a similar iOS app as the basic android Csound app that Michael Gogins made available in the Google Play store. The fact that Apple charges a ridiculous sum just to be able to put apps on the AppStore basically put a stop to the idea. Later there was an iPad app and more recently Luis Felipe Vieira Damiani created RunloopSound for iPhone so the need is not as severe.
> 
> I was reminded about this issue when Rory offered to develop a plugin for the Roli Lightpad Blocks controllers if someone would just buy him the hardware to test on.
> 
> Many open source projects are open for donations e.g. via PayPal to support the developers, and I was thinking that perhaps there would be use for something similar for the Csound developer community? My idea is that if someone needs access to hardware, software, litterature etc. he or she could apply for reimbursement from whatever funds are available from donations from the community. There could perhaps be some online polling system to decide who is the most worthy recipient - maybe connected to github accounts so people doesn't vote more than once. 
> 
> I realize this might somewhat go against the ideals of the free software community, and maybe it will be more trouble than it's worth, so please feel free to completely reject anything mentioned in this email :-)
> 
> Regards,