More than Software
Blender is a community project coordinated by the Blender Foundation, primarily funded by donations.
At its core is the Blender software, to which thousands of people have contributed, and that millions use daily.
Mission
Get the world’s best 3D CG technology in the hands of artists as free/open source software.
Vision
Everyone should be free to create 3D CG content, with free technical and creative production means and free access to markets.
Activities
As a community-driven project under the GNU General Public License (GPL), the public is empowered to make small and large changes to the code base, which leads to new features, responsive bug fixes, and better usability.
More help is always welcome! From developing and improving Blender to writing documentation, etc, there are a number of different things you can do to get involved.
Community Contributions
What: Contributions to Blender Modules, echnical and user documentatior lesign, code, testing and OA, demo files.
Who: Individuals and organizations with any background, from all over the world.
Where: Online on blender.org websites
Development
What: Contributions to Blender Modules, technical documentation, design, code. Strategic projects and initiatives. DevOps and infrastructure. Product leadership. Communication.
Who: Blender Institute: developers, engineers, project managers, designers.
Where: Blender HQ Amsterdam. Online.
Funding: Donations at fund.blender.org
Production
What: Creative projects focused on pushing Blender development, developing and sharing Blender-centric professional production knowledge, such as training and documentation.
Who: Blender Studio: a team of artists, TDs, developers and producers.
Where: Blender HQ Amsterdam. Online.
Funding: Subscriptions at studio.blender.org
Funding
How does Blender make money? Blender’s main income is via the Development Fund memberships and one-time donations.
The funds are collected by Blender Foundation, which allocates them towards activities and operations aligned with Blender’s mission and vision.
Next to that, Blender Studio offers subscription-based access to production knowledge and assets available through studio.blender.org.
Affiliations
Blender Foundation is a recognized partner for many big corporations in the technical/creative industry. This not only via the membership of the Development Fund, but especially as official member of:
- The Khronos Group, Associate Member. Furthering open standards.
- The Open Invention Network. Non-aggression alliance for patents.
- The Linux Foundation. Supporting open source ecosystems.
- The Academy Software Foundation. Open source for the creative industry
- ASIFA Hollywood, the international animated film society – best known from the Annie Awards.
License
Blender is Free Software. You are free to use Blender for any purpose, including commercially or for education. This freedom is being defined by Blender’s GNU General Public License (GPL).
Read more about the license.