Rackathon

Greetings! We are looking for individuals to help sponsor the OSL in our new fundraising campaign. However, this is a campaign like no other. When you make a donation to the OSL, we will stick your name on one of our racks as our own way of saying "Thanks!". These racks host some of the top names in open source software. You can see a list of the projects you are supporting to the right of this page or by visiting our clients page.

For just a $20 donation to help sponsor our operations, we will put your name on a rack in 10pt. font for a year! You can also find your name listed on our site here. osl rack

But wait, there's more! Let's face it. Whether we like the term or not, we have entered the Web2.0 era. We are going to take a page from this moment in internet history and SIZE the names on our racks like you see on those Web2.0 tagging pages. We call it Rack2.0. For every additional $20 we will increase the font size of your name by 1pt (up to 48pt.)

What are the donations used for? We provide managed and unmanaged hosting for non-profit open source projects. This is done with external funding. The goal here is that the open source developers themselves do not need to pay for the hosting. Project hosting comes with access to managed services that we provide above and beyond just physical space for their server. Also, when a project needs help with a box that has gone down, we staff individuals to jump in and work the console for them. Your donation helps to fund:
  • Physical rackspace & power
  • Bandwidth and Internet connectivity
  • Shared services (backups, loghosting, monitoring, and more)
  • Support staff (often billed in commercial colo facilities as "smart hands" support)
  • Other OSL services such as ftp.osuosl.org
  • Increased capacity for more open source projects to be hosted here!
In addition, your donation helps to show visitors of the Open Source Lab the far reaching support that lab has around the world.

How to donate Our donations are handled through the Oregon State University Foundation. The link below will take you to the online donation form. Please specify your amount in the box marked "Other", where you will see "Open Source Lab" specified. Give us a couple of weeks to update our lists of names online and on the racks. The rack name program is for the names of individuals only. Donations are tax deductable in the US. We are currently working on corporate sponsorship programs as well. If you would like to inquire about a corporate sponsorship, please email donations-at-osuosl-dot-org.

Click here to donate

Will I get to see my name on a rack? We will take pictures as we update the rack lists monthly (or more often if there are that many changes coming in). You can see the rack pictures by clicking here. While we will make every attempt to get a high resolution picture that you will be able to see your name in, we can not make any guarantees.

rackathon button rackathon icon
Help spread the word. Help us to get the word out through the net. If you run a blog or website and feel it appropriate, please spread the word of this program. Use the icons here to help us promote the fundraiser. Thanks to Angie Byron for the banner graphics, and Tyler DeGiacomo for the ear banners!

To use the left corner graphic insert this chunk of code into your css (replace left with right to use the right graphic):

#rackathon_corner_ad {
position: absolute;
z-value:20;
left: 0;
top: 0;
display: block;
height: 125px;
width: 125px;
background: url(left_corner_ad.gif) no-repeat;
text-indent: -999em;
text-decoration: none;}

and this code into your html:

<a id="rackathon_corner_ad" href="http://osuosl.org/contribute/rackathon" title="OSUOSL Rackathon" rel="nofollow"></a>

How about the HVAC? Are you blocking the airflow? We place the signs on spacers away from the rack itself, so the air coming up from the floor can still pass through the rack door.