When you develop open source software, you usually expect two things:
- that someone uses the project,
- and hopefully that they don’t break everything in production.
What you almost never expect is receiving a donation from a real company for something you’re building.
And that’s exactly what happened to me a few days ago while working around Dolibarr ERP CRM.
It wasn’t thousands of euros. It was 15 dollars.
But honestly, the money is the least important part.
What matters is that a company decided to pull out its card and support the development.
And that completely changes how you perceive any open source project.
The Open Source problem: everyone uses it, few support it
The business world runs on open source.
WordPress, Laravel, Linux, MariaDB and PHP power a large part of the internet thanks to projects maintained by people who are often working for free.
I’ve been working for years with WordPress and Laravel, building custom solutions, automations and business connectors.
A big part of my current developments comes directly from real client needs.
- Inmovilla Property Connector for WordPress
- Witei Property Connector for WordPress
- Inmoges Property Connector for WordPress
And that’s exactly where I understood something important:
companies do pay when software solves a real problem for them.
Why Dolibarr is so interesting to me
Dolibarr ERP CRM has something I really like: it is real business software.
It’s not an experimental project for developers stuck debating tabs vs spaces.
We are talking about an ERP/CRM used by real companies for:
- invoicing,
- customers,
- inventory,
- quotes,
- business management,
- automation.
And that’s where open source becomes especially powerful.
Because a company can adapt the system, build modules, automate processes, integrate APIs and evolve the software according to its needs.
Exactly the kind of development we constantly do at CH Consulting.
The donation doesn’t validate the money. It validates the problem.
Here’s the interesting part.
15 dollars won’t change your life.
But a company saying:
“what you are building provides us value”
does change things.
Because it means:
- someone is using your work,
- they probably need it,
- and there is a real opportunity around it.
Open source also builds authority
Publishing code, building modules or contributing to business projects is not just about “the community”.
It also helps you position yourself professionally.
For example, a big part of my experience building tools on WordPress eventually led to creating my own projects such as Antonella Framework.
When you share real-world development work, several things happen:
- you gain authority,
- other developers discover you,
- companies reach out,
- collaborations appear,
- and you start positioning yourself as someone who solves complex problems.
Conclusion
No, I didn’t get rich from 15 dollars.
But I did confirm something important:
the work I’m doing creates real value.
And in the open source world, that already means a lot.
Because the real problem was never charging money.
The real problem was always building something worth supporting.