GitHub wants to help the programmers who maintain the world’s open-source software get financial support for their work.

The Microsoft Corp. subsidiary today launched Sponsors, a tool for funding the projects on its code hosting platform and the developers behind them.

GitHub is home to much of the world’s open-source software, including foundational technologies such as JQuery that are used in millions of applications worldwide. With Sponsors, the maintainers of these projects will gain the ability to solicit donations directly from the users who rely on their code.

The tool enables developers to add a “Sponsor me” button to their GitHub profiles. It shows up whenever users navigate to a developer’s page or hover a cursor over their name in a code repository or forum post. Backers can use the button to set a recurring monthly donation, which works similarly to the subscription mechanism of content crowdsourcing platform Patreon.

GitHub will also make it possible to add a “Sponsor” option to the top of software projects’ pages. Maintainers can customize the widget to display the profiles of individual developers who work on the software, as well as provide links to external payment methods such as Patreon and Tidelift, a subscription service focused specifically on open-source projects.

Sponsors could come as a boon for the open-source community. Though many popular projects are backed by major tech firms, much of the code on GitHub is written by independent developers who make contributions in their spare time. Many repositories are maintained entirely by volunteers. By helping developers receive compensation for their work, Sponsors could help raise quality of the code on the platform.

Currently, the tool is in beta and only allows individual users to make donations. GitHub’s FAQ page indicates that organizations will eventually gain the ability to finance projects as well.

GitHub will waive payment processing fees for Sponsors contributions in the first year. It also plans to match contributions made to individual developers, but with two caveats: The matched sum is capped at $5,000 per developer and users will be eligible for only 12 months after adding a “Sponsor me” button to their profile.

Beyond potentially providing a boost for the open-source community, Sponsors should strengthen GitHub’s market position. The ability to receive compensation for their work directly could enourage developers to be more active on the platform and give them less reason to switch to a rival code hosting service.

Image: GitHub