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Libre stays free at every stage: Experiment → Sustainable → Dedicated → Commons. Stage changes are separate decisions; reaching a funding goal does not trigger one automatically. For the meaning of net support, paid expenses, and reserve, see How Commons works.

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Experiment: cover running needs

Support covers the month’s running costs first. Money beyond those needs builds a running-cost reserve. The reserve goal for moving toward Sustainable is six months of estimated running costs, after accounting for recorded expenses and the current month’s needs.

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Sustainable: keep two purposes separate

  • The running-cost reserve covers services and tools.
  • The Developer Fund builds toward the one-time payment for moving to Dedicated.
After current running needs are covered, new free money is split equally between the funds. When one reaches its goal, its unused share goes to the other. If the running-cost reserve falls below one month’s costs, money can be transferred from the Developer Fund to fill that shortfall. The transfer is limited to the money available in the Developer Fund and restores at most one month of costs. It must be recorded; a budget increase alone does not move money.

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Dedicated: support focused development

The first move to Dedicated includes a one-time $10,000 payment from the Developer Fund. It is recorded as an expense when paid and then excluded from fund balances and runway. Returning to an earlier stage does not automatically repeat or reverse it, or create a debt for the developer. Dedicated needs ongoing support for both running costs and development time. The reserve covers temporary shortfalls. If support cannot sustain focused development, the project returns to Sustainable and prioritizes running costs.

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Commons

The conditions for moving to Commons are disclosed at the Dedicated stage.

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Read the financial terms

Transfers between funds reallocate existing money; they are not income or expenses. The Developer Fund counts toward running-cost runway only after a transfer into the running-cost reserve is recorded. See the reserve example for how current costs affect the money available.