The Blender Foundation recently released their annual report outlining financial details and development priorities for Blender. Among the other details, they released the following statement about their current financial situation:
To increase the donations from the Blender community, a special campaign has been held on blender.org at the end of 2024 using the theme “Join the 2%”. The campaign included a promise that the donated funds will be spent on upcoming projects – to keep Blender free for all, and to invest in tools for artists. For that reason the campaign results (minus regular donations) have been booked in the next fiscal year.
The board accepts to book a loss in 2024, which is less than the profits booked over 2023. The board expresses a concern that, because of the ongoing growth, the financial reserves that have been created in the past years, are below 7 an acceptable level. The target is to create and keep a buffer of 3 months cash flow. Actions should be taken to find new corporate donors and receive more small donations by more efficient communication.
In additional but unrelated news, CEO and Blender founder Ton Roosendaal has announced that he will be stepping down as CEO and Chairman:
At today’s Blender Conference keynote, Ton Roosendaal announced to step down as chairman and Blender CEO per January 1st 2026, passing on his roles to Blender COO Francesco Siddi. New Blender Foundation board positions will also include Sergey Sharybin (head of development), Dalai Felinto (head of product) and Fiona Cohen (head of operations).
Francesco Siddi has been part of the Blender organization since 2012, functioning in many roles including as animator, web developer, pipeline developer, producer and managing Blender’s industry relations.
“We’ve been preparing for this since 2019,” said Roosendaal, “I am very proud to have such a wonderfully talented young team around me to bring our free and open source project into the next decade.”
Ton Roosendaal will move to the newly established BF supervisory board.
There is a bit of good news however, as the Blender Foundation also gained a new Corporate Patron, Bolt Graphics:
Blender Foundation is delighted to announce that Bolt Graphics, the developer of an upcoming graphics processor to enable faster renderings and simulations for users in the creative, gaming, and research industries, is joining the Blender Development Fund as Corporate Patron sponsor.
Key Links
Blender CEO Departure Announcement
Blender Foundation 2024 Report
Bolt Graphics Sponsorship Announcement
You can learn more about all of these actions at Blender in the video below.