KDE is offering bargain-weary buyers an antidote to the commercial churn of Black Friday in the form of a brand new fundraising effort.

Dubbed “Blue Friday”, KDE’s new donation drive could become an annual fixture in the free software calendar.

The goal? To encourage consumers to skip spending money on dodgy deals for items they (probably) don’t need, and instead contribute cash to fund open source software.

Of course, donations are nothing new and KDE has long accepted one-off and recurring contributions. But its existing efforts are split across two separate sites, with two different designs, and two different donation platforms.

Blue Friday gives would-be patrons a simple, sleeker experience powered by the Donorbox platform. Here, backrest can choose to donate as a one-off, donate the same amount monthly, or donate a large chunk upfront, annually.

And the new site is already a success. More than €1,000 has been donated at the time of writing this post. As KDE developer Nate Graham explains on his blog: “when you make it easy for people to give you money… they give you more money!”.

What does KDE use donations for?

Everything from funding paid developer positions and development sprints, through to conference appearances and the infrastructure that delivers key services, updates, and downloads.

As the KDE community grows (thanks, Valve!) it’s going to need a steady-stream of contributions to allow it to keep pace with demands, expectations, and technologies that arise.

Keen to contribute? Good on you – head over to kde.org/bluefriday to convert your cash into the fuel this keeps this FOSS project running.