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Absolutely smashing their goals, the KDE team have managed to have a huge success for the 2025 fundraiser that's currently ongoing. 70% of KDE funding comes directly from users, so it's essential to help fund the free and open source software that you love.

The current total at time of writing has managed to hit a nice €272,256.5. Going by a blog post from developer Nate Graham, a whole lot of it came directly from the KDE Plasma pop-up that they added to remind people to support development:

Donate to KDE’s 2025 fundraiser! It really makes a big difference. Believe it or not, the fundraiser has topped €100,000! And that’s just for the fundraiser itself; the yearly donation pop-up has also raised another €100k in just the past five days (!!!).

It’s kind of amazing. This money will help keep KDE strong and independent for years to come, and I’m just in awe of the generosity of the KDE community and userbase. Thank you all for helping KDE to grow and prosper!

If money is tight, you can help KDE by directly getting involved. Donating time is actually more impactful than donating money. Each contributor makes a huge difference in KDE — you are not a number or a cog in a machine! You don’t have to be a programmer, either; many other opportunities exist.

Really great to see this. I hope that 2026 will see KDE and the Plasma desktop continue to reach new heights. And with the new Steam Machine and Steam Frame launching next year with SteamOS Linux and the Plasma desktop mode - it's going to be a great year for Linux gaming.

I donated to KDE this year, did you?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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11 comments Subscribe

Szkodnix 8 hours ago
I donated as well. KDE team is doing an amazing job! emoji
emphy 8 hours ago
Kde will most certainly get its share of my yearly open source donations.

I may not get along with plasma, but there's still a fairly long list of kde stuff that I am using on my xfce installs, from okular all the way down to kupfer.

Recent (for me) high point: kdeconnect.

Last edited by emphy on 10 Dec 2025 at 11:28 am UTC
StenPett 8 hours ago
This year, my OSS donation went to Thunderbird. (In addition to my recurring Patreon to GoL and Ubports)
Brokatt 6 hours ago
It feels like KDE really leveled up with the release of Plasma 6. Just a consistent stream of great improvements and high quality releases. I think peoples willingness to donate is a sign of how intune KDE is with the community. I am so happy for their success emoji

Last edited by Brokatt on 10 Dec 2025 at 1:23 pm UTC
mylka 5 hours ago
how much is VALVE contributing?
since the steam deck and soon steam machine, both with KDE they should have a strong interest, that KDE is as good as it can get

i mean 300k is nothing for valve
wolfyrion 5 hours ago
Unless there is an animated app docker I am not donating! emoji
Gerarderloper 4 hours ago
Quoting: mylkahow much is VALVE contributing?
since the steam deck and soon steam machine, both with KDE they should have a strong interest, that KDE is as good as it can get

i mean 300k is nothing for valve
Technically Valve don't use Plasma, its just a fallback DE which they could use GNOME or anything else.
Pyrate 4 hours ago
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Quoting: mylkahow much is VALVE contributing?
since the steam deck and soon steam machine,
The Frame uses Plasma too !

Quoting: GerarderloperTechnically Valve don't use Plasma, its just a fallback DE which they could use GNOME or anything else.
SteamOS is built with Plasma, it's not a fallback, its their desktop DE of choice.
fizzyizzy05 3 hours ago
I'm more of a GNOME fan but KDE has been killing it lately, and deserves all the success they've gotten! I'm glad we have multiple high quality and future proof desktops with strong ecosystems around them.
tfk 2 hours ago
User Avatar
Yup. Donating every year.
Shmerl 58 minutes ago
Just donated to them a few days ago.
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