sponsoredissues.org is a platform that allows GitHub Sponsors donors to assign their donations to specific GitHub issues, in order to vote for which features and fixes get prioritized by the maintainer.

Unlike bounty platforms where money is held until work is complete, sponsoredissues.org works with GitHub Sponsors donations that have already been paid (unconditionally!) to the maintainer. Users can assign their already-donated amounts to specific GitHub issues on sponsoredissues.org, to indicate how they would like their donations to be used. The purpose of assigning funds to GitHub issues is only to provide user feedback to the maintainer, and it does not create any formal obligation for the maintainer to resolve the issues within any particular time frame.

Yes, the platform is free to use for both maintainers and users. If you want to support the site, or if you want vote for specific features/fixes, you can donate to me on GitHub Sponsors.

To get started as a maintainer:

1. Set up a GitHub Sponsors profile for your GitHub account.
2. Install the GitHub App for sponsoredissues.org.
3. Create a custom GitHub issue label called sponsoredissues.org, and add the label to the GitHub issues you want to appear on your sponsored issues page. Advice: Choose your sponsored issues wisely! In general, sponsored issues should be:
   • Technically feasible
   • Something you actually intend to do
   • Something that your users would understand and care about (e.g. a juicy new feature)
4. Check that the issues you labeled with sponsoredissues.org are correctly showing on your sponsored issues page. The URL for your sponsored issues page is https://sponsoredissues.org/$YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME (e.g. https://sponsoredissues.org/benvvalk).
5. Optional (but recommended): Let your users know that they can vote on issues if they sponsor you! Some suggestions:
   • Add a link to your sponsored issues page from your GitHub Sponsors profile. Example: My GitHub Sponsors page
   • Add a link to your sponsored issues page in the README.md for your repo. Example: My README.md for sponsoredissues.org.
   • Add your sponsor issues page as a "Custom" link in your .github/FUNDING.yml file. Example: My funding.yml for sponsoredissues.org

Only issues that you've explicitly tagged with the sponsoredissues.org label on GitHub will be listed on sponsoredissues.org. This helps ensure that your users can only fund issues that are technically feasible and align with your project goals.

You should think carefully about which issues you tag with sponsoredissues.org! If you make an implementation plan before you tag the issue with sponsoredissues.org, it will save both you and your users from unnecessary churn.

No. You maintain creative control of your project, because you decide which issues are "sponsorable", i.e. which issues have the sponsoredissues.org label on GitHub. You should only tag an issue if you think the requested feature/fix is reasonable and you want to do the work. See also: Which issues can be sponsored?

You receive any funds donated to you on GitHub Sponsors immediately and unconditionally, just as if you were not using sponsoredissues.org at all. sponsoredissues.org is just a bookkeeping mechanism that allows the users to indicate how they would like their already-paid donation(s) to be used. See also: How is this different from other issue bounty platforms?

No. All contributions on sponsoredissues.org are donations, not contracts or bounties. You have no formal obligation to resolve funded issues in any particular timeframe (or at all). The funding is only meant as user feedback, to help encourage and prioritize the work.

To vote for issues:

1. Make a donation to the maintainer on their GitHub Sponsors page (e.g. https://github.com/sponsors/benvvalk). You may choose a one time donation or a monthly subscription (both options work with sponsoredissues.org).
2. Sign in to sponsoredissues.org with your GitHub account.
3. Navigate to the sponsored issues page for the maintainer (e.g. https://sponsoredissues.org/benvvalk).
4. Allocate portions of your GitHub Sponsors donation to specific issues, using the "Add or Remove Funds" button next to the individual issues.

A maintainer's sponsored issues listing is sorted and ranked by donation total, to help the maintainers see which issues have the most community support.

Yes, you will need a GitHub account in order to use sponsoredissues.org. You need to make your donation payment on the maintainer's GitHub Sponsors page (e.g. https://github.com/sponsors/benvvalk). After you've made your donation, you can assign your donation amount to specific GitHub issue(s) by visiting the maintainer's sponsored issues page (e.g. https://sponsoredissues.org/benvvalk) and "Signing in with GitHub" in the top right corner. You need to "Sign in with GitHub" on sponsoredissues.org so that the website can see the exact amount that you've donated.

Not every GitHub issue is automatically "sponsorable". You will need to ask the maintainer to make the issue sponsorable by adding the sponsoredissues.org label on GitHub. This helps ensure that the requested feature/fix is technically feasible, and aligns with the maintainer's goals for the project.

Sorry, no. GitHub Sponsors handles the payment processing, and they have a "no refunds" policy. However, note that you can change the amount you have assigned to an GitHub issue at any time, using the "Add or Remove Funds" button, as long as the issue remains open. Once the issue is closed by the maintainer, all funding amounts for the issue are locked and the money is considered to be "spent".

Yes! You can reallocate your GitHub Sponsors donation among different issues at any time, as long as the issues are still open. Simply visit the maintainer's sponsored issues page (e.g. https://sponsoredissues.org/benvvalk) and adjust your allocations using the "Add or Remove Funds" button next to each issue.

The platform uses GitHub's API to verify active sponsorships and donation amounts. When you sign in with GitHub, sponsoredissues.org can check which maintainers you're sponsoring and for how much, ensuring you can only allocate donations you've actually made.

When the maintainer closes an issue on GitHub, the funds allocated to the issue are locked, and donors can no longer adjust the amounts they have assigned to that issue. In other words, any funds assigned to the issue are considered to be "spent".

Yes! The code for sponsoredissues.org is open source, and is published on GitHub with an Affero GPL 3.0 license: https://github.com/benvvalk/sponsoredissues.org.