As an example, I use Dolibarr ERP/CRM to manage my shop and I need to use accountancy advanced module.
For three years, the Dolibarr association has called on financial participation for the development of this module (luck, the main dev is accountable
).
Here is the link wich reveals the spreadsheet for the course per year and Dolibarr versions (sorry, in french) :
https://www.open-dsi.fr/financement-participatif-2019-bilan-et-quelques-nouvelles-du-module-comptabilite-dolibarr/The progression is well structured and organized in stages over a year. As long as level 1 is not exceeded in financial terms, the development concerning requests for improvements, various corrections, etc., does not start and remain as it is. When a level is crossed, the dev begins and we pass to level 2, etc ...
In fact, a survey is set up to collect the opinion of the participants on the need or not to use the funds according to the importance of the functionality concerned :
https://nextcloud.open-dsi.fr/index.php/apps/polls/poll/BP1ATFnmSEpMKHWxThere is a report published at least once a week which reports on the progress of development, what has been achieved, what is missing in the objective, it is quite reassuring and good for confidence.
If we look on the forum, the 4 levels were crossed in not even a month with around twenty contributors :
https://www.dolibarr.fr/forum/t/financement-participatif-compta-2019-go/29289So I am aware that we are talking about a developed operating system but finally, there are models, why not take inspiration from them ? It's a total success
Note: I am not a developer and my knowledge is very limited in this area. I am not a project manager either and I have no experience in this area.
But I can participate in translation, tests and of course financially.
Have a nice week-end