Some Apache committers have successfully run funding campaigns to support their work on their favorite Apache projects.

This is ok in principle, but you have to make it clear that the campaign is your own thing, and avoid any confusion about the role of the ASF and how its projects work.

This page gives a few examples of how to do that.

If you have any question about this, feel free to ask on our dev@community.apache.org mailing list.

Example disclaimer for a personal crowdfunding campaign

Here’s a nice example, based on a disclaimer one committer has used:

    Disclaimers: This campaign is done by me, FOO, as an independent individual, not
    by the Apache Software Foundation nor the Apache BAR project. I'm not representing
    the Foundation in any way in this campaign, nor does Apache endorse it. The
    Foundation has a policy of not paying for development work. All its members are
    voluntary, me included. Any code I'll write or change will have to pass the usual BAR
    team approval process. If this campaign isn't funded, I'll continue participating
    in the BAR project in the same way as before.

See also the discussion thread about this campaign.

Friends of Apache Groovy

Friends of Apache Groovy has another good example which supports activities in the Apache Groovy community.

The explanation in their ‘about’ section makes it clear that the initiative is not affiliated with or driven by the ASF, and also that any contributions, funded or not, have to go through the usual Apache Groovy acceptance process.