[srik]

> For over 30 years, Vim has been "Charityware," supporting children in Kibaale, Uganda. Following the passing of Bram Moolenaar, the ICCF Holland foundation was dissolved […] and its remaining funds were transferred to ensure continued support for the Kibaale project. […] Vim remains Charityware. We encourage users to continue supporting the needy children in Uganda through this new transition.

I settled on vim for its technical merits but Bram using his goodwill to fund a charity like this for so long always made me feel good about my choice.

[jdsnape]

I used to work for a large enterprise, and tried to get vim ‘approved’ for internal use. I remember this charityware clause caused our legal department to get tied up in all sorts of arguments about how we could be opening ourselves to liability if we used it without donating. It was my first lesson in navigating large company processes.

In the end I just kept quiet about the fact that it ships in all the Linux package repos.

(Just to be clear, I fully support what Bram did here)

[cbsks]

“Let’s spend thousands of dollars on lawyers to avoid donating to a good cause”. Large corporations can be so ridiculous.

[nujabe]

Curious why you tried to get it approved in the first place if it comes with Linux?

[bko]

Do I understand it correctly, but people donating to Vim, presumably for the support of the software, have their donations passed along to a charity supporting children in Uganda?

[sodapopcan]

Bram started giving 100% after getting hired full time by Google, I believe, which continued on. There is an update on the Vim homepage now about it stopping, though I find the wording a bit confusing... I think they are dissolving the charity but still sending donations to Uganda? I feel a bit dumb for not understanding it but you can read the update on https://www.vim.org/. Unfortunately they don't have target links for dates, it's the [2025-10-28] update.

[oscaracso]

I wanted to understand it too, so I clicked on the donate button and was greeted by this message: 'All donations are directed toward a good cause: helping children in Uganda. This charity is personally recommended by Vim’s creator. Funds are used to support a children's center in southern Uganda, providing food, education, and health care to communities affected by AIDS.'

[debugnik]

It's not their fault if donors don't read what they're donating for. This reminds me of people feeling scammed after donating to Mozilla.