Hey, I was actually in this position at work a few years ago, when I set up a couple of internal (monitoring stuff) servers for my own use. I used Let's Encrypt, because I use them (for free) at home (media server), and know how it works.
I wanted to throw them some (of work's) cash, and... the only two options were "Sponsor", and "Donate". Sponsorship was, uh, wrong for my use-case: it starts at some multiple-thousands of dollars. Donating would be the obviously correct choice, but putting something marked "donation" onto a corporate card would occasion a... Weird conversation, in which "you could have got this for free, but you're choosing to send them money?" would likely have been raised. I went with free, and was sad about it.
Yes, corporate expectations and affordances around FOSS should change - and, I probably could have persuaded my employer that a few dollars a month for Let's Encrypt was the Right Thing To Do, so I'm a little bit of a coward - but LE would make it so much easier if there was a Send Us Money option that looks like a fee for service, rather than a donation. (Maybe being a 501c(3) precludes that? I don't know.)
There's the "Corporate doesn't understand FOSS" problem, but there's also a "FOSS doesn't speak Corporatese" obstacle there, too.
In the end I sent LE $20, or something, of my own money (I've had years of trouble-free use on my media server, and should have before), but they'd have had $5 / month of work's cash for years if they'd made that easier to do.
They are (Internet Security Research Group) a non-profit, so maybe it would be hard to provide official services like you describe?
I still can't find proper data on their financials, but at least below report (page 42) says only 10% of their revenue is donations. And 48% out of total spending is LE.
I'm really not sure if that kind of organization can simply sell services like that. I'm guessing IRS doesn't care of that CC statement was official or not :)
I wanted to throw them some (of work's) cash, and... the only two options were "Sponsor", and "Donate". Sponsorship was, uh, wrong for my use-case: it starts at some multiple-thousands of dollars. Donating would be the obviously correct choice, but putting something marked "donation" onto a corporate card would occasion a... Weird conversation, in which "you could have got this for free, but you're choosing to send them money?" would likely have been raised. I went with free, and was sad about it.
Yes, corporate expectations and affordances around FOSS should change - and, I probably could have persuaded my employer that a few dollars a month for Let's Encrypt was the Right Thing To Do, so I'm a little bit of a coward - but LE would make it so much easier if there was a Send Us Money option that looks like a fee for service, rather than a donation. (Maybe being a 501c(3) precludes that? I don't know.)
There's the "Corporate doesn't understand FOSS" problem, but there's also a "FOSS doesn't speak Corporatese" obstacle there, too.
In the end I sent LE $20, or something, of my own money (I've had years of trouble-free use on my media server, and should have before), but they'd have had $5 / month of work's cash for years if they'd made that easier to do.