Partners & Sponsors

A partnership with the Foundation is a public statement of support for open-source embedded systems research, and a contribution toward sustaining it. The tiers above recognise that support at different levels — from community recognition to a presence across the site and the annual summit.

What a partnership is not: a commercial transaction for influence. A logo here recognises support; it does not buy a say in what gets built. The direction of the Foundation's software is decided in the open, through the public governance process in the repositories — proposals, review, and discussion anyone can read and join.

All sponsorship fees are reinvested into the mission: open-source development, free certifications, and education. The Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 41-4821627, so contributions are tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.

How the money is used is reported like everything else the Foundation does. The transparency page carries the Foundation's financial disclosures, and sponsorship income appears there alongside donations and grants.

Four tiers, priced annually. Community Sponsor at $1,000 a year: a logo on the sponsors page, a mention in the quarterly newsletter, and a community recognition badge. Silver at $5,000 a year: early access to releases and an enterprise support seat, added to the community benefits.

Gold at $20,000 a year: a logo on the homepage and sponsors page, a speaking slot at the annual summit, longer early access, and a joint blog post. Platinum at $50,000 a year: a logo on every page of the site, a summit speaking slot, the earliest access, a dedicated channel with Foundation engineers, a joint press release, and four support seats.

The perks are recognition and access, not control. Every tier's benefits are listed in full above — there are no unpublished benefits and no private arrangements.

Hardware companies shipping or evaluating the stack, cloud providers whose infrastructure touches embedded fleets, universities teaching or researching on open platforms, and research labs working on the problems the Foundation investigates. If your organisation depends on open embedded software, or wants to, this is the formal way to sustain it.

Organisations that are not ready for a tier can still contribute: the codebase is open, the discussions are public, and donations of any size go to the same mission.

Use the contact form with the partnerships topic. Tell us about your organisation and which tier you are considering, and we will reply with the agreement and the next steps.

The tiers are the same public terms for everyone — a nonprofit's partnerships should be as transparent as its code.