In an update to the GNOME community, the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors has approved its budget for the upcoming financial year (October 2024 – September 2025). However, this budget includes some tough decisions aimed at maintaining the foundation’s long-term financial health.
The new one prioritizes the Foundation’s financial stability, resulting in a reduction of staff members. In light of this, Caroline Henriksen, the Creative Director, and Melissa Wu, the Director of Community Development, are no longer with the Foundation.
As a result, key responsibilities will be redistributed among the remaining staff and the Board. The Foundation also calls on community members to step up and help with event organization, marketing, fundraising, and graphic design. Additionally, budget constraints mean travel budgets will be cut unless additional funds are raised.
Despite these challenges, GNOME’s core events will continue as planned, thanks to event sponsors. The Linux App Summit, co-hosted with KDE, just took place in Monterrey, Mexico, and other signature events like GNOME.Asia and GUADEC are still on track.
Certain externally funded projects, such as Flathub infrastructure and Digital Wellbeing initiatives, are also unaffected. Thanks to existing grants from partners, these projects will continue without changes. Furthermore, GNOME’s operational infrastructure, including core finance and administrative functions, will remain fully staffed.
And now the main question – why did it come to this not-so-pleasant situation? According to the Foundation, last year’s financial plan aimed to break even; unfortunately, lower-than-expected fundraising coupled with internal transitions, like the departure of Executive Director Holly Million, created additional challenges.
Speaking of funding, let’s recall that last year, the GNOME Project (not to be confused with the GNOME Foundation, although the two are closely related) received an impressive €1 million work commission from the Sovereign Tech Fund.
So, what next? First, the GNOME Foundation is actively seeking a new Executive Director, a recruitment effort that will continue despite budget constraints. Community support is also more crucial than ever—members are encouraged to volunteer, share ideas, and donate if possible.
In conclusion, the GNOME Foundation is going to have a difficult year, but clearly, something needs to change, as some of its moves in the past year have puzzled the open-source community.
The most glaring example was the appointment of Holly Million (a professional shaman, artist, and herbal medicine maker) as Executive Director exactly one year ago, who left after only nine months.
Anyway. As always, we’ll monitor the situation closely and update you as it develops. For more information, refer to the GNOME Foundation’s official announcement.
