So I’m honestly kinda surprised other types of sponsored content stuff doesn’t happen on github sponsors bc github literally doesn’t take a cut at all - is this just not a known thing?
This was the best part, which is long gone:
https://twitter.com/DanielMicay/status/1509330901632786435…
It's still by far the best crowdfunding platform but getting 5000 USD from GitHub simply by being approved and getting people to shift their donations there was amazing.
When they launched GitHub Sponsors, they had a limited time promotion of matching up to 5000 USD of donations in your first year. That's likely a major part of why they were so strict with the approval process early on since it would have been easy for that to be heavily abused.
I'm sure it's easier to get approved now that it's out of beta and the promotion of 5000 USD of matched donations in your first year is over. They were likely being fairly picky about allowing people into the beta because that's such an easily abused promotion otherwise.
It was pretty easy to max out the $5000 since people were excited about getting their donations matched. I'm sure people also like that it lists the people/organizations you sponsor on your profile. Worth noting they plan on a 10% fee for organizations, but it could change.