Anonymous donor donates $500k to FreeBSD Foundation
I&#x27;ve always thought that often the best way to give is anonymously and I understand I&#x27;m looking a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case the &#x27;horse&#x27; analogy might be appropriate. This isn&#x27;t a criticism of the FreeBSD Foundation; I&#x27;m just raising a question about this gift and similar gifts for other FOSS projects:<p>FOSS projects thrive on transparency; are such large anonymous gifts good for them? Think of a similar anonymous gift to a politician - in that case, humble anonymity isn&#x27;t a good thing (it&#x27;s a very imperfect analogy; I&#x27;m just trying to relate the issue to something familiar). I assume, maybe incorrectly, that the FreeBSD foundation knows who the donor is; should the wider community know who wields such influence? Will the donor want something in return, now or later? Is it a corporation or corporate leader who may want FreeBSD&#x27;s cooperation later, perhaps to stay out of or to support a certain market segment or technology? A U.S. government entity such as In-Q-Tel, or an entity controlled by a foreign government?<p>FreeBSD and the donor may both say, and even mean, that there are no strings attached, but it&#x27;s similar to a parent saying they won&#x27;t favor their own children; when that donor calls with a request, it is very hard to say no.<p>Likely the donor is being very generous and should be thanked, not questioned. And of course, if the FreeBSD Foundation said they were turning down the gift for the reasons above, many would question that decision too.