docs/Maintainer-Stipends-and-Grants.md
The Lead Maintainers own and approve this policy.
Each quarter, the Project Leader will notify maintainers whose contributions in the preceding quarter were insufficient for the stipend.
The Project Leader reviews stipend eligibility in the second half of March, June, September and December. The Project Leader reviews eligibility for Annual General Meeting travel assistance in the second half of December.
Maintainers will not receive the stipend for months where they are doing paid project work.
The stipend is US$300/month. Maintainers are paid through invoices submitted to Homebrew on Open Collective.
To reduce administrative overhead, maintainers should set their invoices to recur once per quarter, tag the request with maintainer-stipend and submit it to Homebrew on Open Collective for US$900, covering three months at US$300 per month.
Invoices must be filed during January, April, July and October for the preceding quarter. If previous invoices were submitted on a different schedule, please adjust the amounts and the new schedule accordingly.
Invoices must contain:
The date the invoice was created
A due date at least 30 days after the creation date (NET30)
Your legal banking name
Your mailing address
A line item for each quarter you are owed, noted as
Homebrew Maintainer Stipend, #{start_month}–#{end_month} #{year}
and the amount of the stipend. If the invoice template you are using has a quantity field, simply use 1.
Open Collective handles the payment transfer. Enrol in its payment system before submitting an invoice; otherwise, payment will be delayed.
Maintainers who sponsor Homebrew for any amount should consider cancelling that sponsorship. We appreciate the historical support, but being an active maintainer is more valuable to the project. Moreover, contributing while receiving payment may complicate your taxes in some countries!
In November 2022, the Project Leadership Committee voted to pay maintainers a minimal monthly stipend via GitHub Sponsors. The programme used accrued funds alongside larger individual development projects, such as API installation improvements and CI runners.
In August 2023, the Project Leadership Committee voted to change the way we pay maintainers from GitHub Sponsors to quarterly invoices submitted through Open Collective.
In December 2025, the Project Leadership Committee was replaced with the Lead Maintainers.
Homebrew offers several grants to maintainers who are working to improve Homebrew. The Lead Maintainers authorise support for these categories of activities:
The Expense and Reimbursement Policy requires pre-approval from the Lead Maintainers. You can contact a Lead Maintainer through the private maintainer communication channel before submitting a request.
The Lead Maintainers may also support ad hoc awards. Submit a proposal that explains how the expense advances Homebrew's goals before creating the Open Collective reimbursement request.
See Expense and Reimbursement Policy's Getting Reimbursed section for instructions how to submit expenses approved for the following sections.
Remember to tag the reimbursement request with maintainer-grant.
Maintainer hackathons can be organised to rapidly develop new features or otherwise improve the Homebrew project in ways that cannot be achieved via online collaboration. Hackathon proposals must have a single organiser that will be the point of contact for the Lead Maintainers. The organiser, in their application, should provide the following in a pre-approval request:
You can contact a Lead Maintainer through the private maintainer communication channel before submitting a request.
Organisers should, if possible, seek local sponsorships to offset costs of e.g. venue or equipment hire. Organisers should also budget for group meals for lunches and dinners to build maintainer camaraderie.
The Lead Maintainers will reimburse travel expenses for reasonably local maintainers. For example, reimbursement for hackathon travel between Australia and Europe is unlikely, but reimbursement for travel within Europe is acceptable. See the Expense and Reimbursement Policy's Meals and Entertainment section on what meals may be covered.
All attendees must follow Homebrew's Code of Conduct.
After the hackathon finishes, the organiser must provide to the Lead Maintainers a brief report on who attended and what was accomplished, with links to pull requests or other verifiable achievements.
The Lead Maintainers will reimburse reasonable purchases of hardware necessary to maintain Homebrew. To apply, a maintainer should submit to the Lead Maintainers for pre-approval:
Eligibility for hardware grant is also subject to the following:
Homebrew does not fund top-of-the-range hardware when a lower-cost configuration meets the documented maintenance need. The request must compare current models and explain the selected balance of cost, performance and expected useful life. Homebrew's contribution must be no more than US$4,000. A maintainer may pay the difference for a more expensive configuration after the Homebrew-funded configuration has been approved.
You can contact a Lead Maintainer through the private maintainer communication channel before submitting a request.
The Lead Maintainers may reimburse maintainers who attend conferences that advance Homebrew's goals. Maintainers who can obtain support from an employer, conference or another source should use that support before requesting Homebrew funds. Maintainers giving a Homebrew-related presentation should acknowledge Homebrew's support and share the poster, slides or recording where possible.
To apply for reimbursement of conference expenses, a maintainer must submit to the Lead Maintainers:
As justification for attendance, the Lead Maintainers may ask the maintainer for a brief report on the conference, and how attending the conference has helped or could help improve Homebrew.
All travellers must follow Homebrew's Code of Conduct and the conference's policies.
The Lead Maintainers will typically reimburse the expenses of active maintainers to attend the Homebrew Annual General Meeting. The Lead Maintainers will solicit applications through the private maintainer communication channel yearly, around October. Maintainers who have not yet attended an annual meeting are especially encouraged to apply.
See Expense and Reimbursement Policy's Getting Reimbursed section for instructions how to seek approval for travel and submit approved expenses.