🌱 Community Proposal: Solidarity License for Small Teams

[frankyjquintero]

🌱 Community Proposal: Solidarity License for Small Teams

Hi Jimmy and Lucky Penny Software community 👋

First of all, thank you for so many years of work and generosity with key tools like MediatR and AutoMapper. They’ve been instrumental in helping developers—especially those in small teams—build better software and follow solid architectural patterns.

We’d like to present an idea that we believe could support both the community and the long-term sustainability of the project:

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🎯 What are we proposing?

A Solidarity or Extended Community License for small teams of 1 to 5 developers, that:

• Allows commercial use of MediatR/AutoMapper without requiring code to be open-sourced (as the RPL demands)
• Is aimed at:
  • Small tech startups
  • Public or institutional digitalization projects
  • Early-stage companies
  • University or educational tech teams
• Has no cost
• Does not require renewal if the project is stable and no longer receiving new releases

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✅ How would it work?

• Simple, free registration with project/team name and email
• Limit: up to 5 developers and under $500,000 USD in annual revenue
• Indefinite validity as long as the project is deployed and active
• No renewal required if the project:
  • Has been publicly released (in production)
  • Receives no new updates after a reasonable period (e.g. 12–18 months)

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💬 Why is this valuable?

Many impactful local or institutional solutions are built by small, under-resourced teams doing great work. Giving them access to MediatR and AutoMapper legally and ethically means they can:

• Adopt best practices from day one
• Focus their limited resources on building great software
• Build long-term, respectful relationships with the OSS ecosystem

And when these solutions grow, they’re more likely to transition to a paid license naturally.

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We deeply appreciate the new commercial path you’ve taken with Lucky Penny Software. This proposal aims to complement, not oppose it. A solidarity license like this could be a powerful entry point for those who need it most.

Thanks for considering it 🙏. We’d be happy to help define, test, or support this idea however we can.

With respect and appreciation,
On behalf of many grateful small-team developers

[jbogard]

What is the difference between this and the Community license? The Community license also allows for commercial usage, does not require payments etc