Possible funding option: sovereign tech fund
I want to draw attention to the Gnome foundation receiving 1 million euros in funding "to modernize the platform, improve tooling and accessibility, and support features that are in the public interest" [1]
KDE e.V. should IMHO also explore further funding options besides donations and consider applying to the STF fund. Aside from applying to general funding, another option is for Kate developers to apply for "STF Contribute Back Challenges" under which the category "Improve FOSS Developer Tooling". Kate developers could for instance work on improving the integration with KDE developer tooling. I have some ideas for that.
Disclaimer: I have not yet looked at this in detail. Also, the fund seems to be at least partially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the german government currently has some budget issues
Is there a group of people working on funding for KDE? I think @niccolove is somehow a bit involved.
ccing some people that might be interested in this @ngraham @cullmann @waqar @nicolasfella
[1] https://foundation.gnome.org/2023/11/09/gnome-recognized-as-public-interest-infrastructure/