OSgrid seeks donated items for upcoming fundraiser

OSgrid, the oldest public grid in the OpenSim metaverse, will hold its annual fundraiser week from October 12 through 18, grid staff member Caro Fayray told Hypergrid Business.

And the grid is currently looking for donations of items for its auction, which is usually held during the last three days of the fundraiser — that means it will probably be on October 16, 17, and 18.

The auction will take place on Event Plaza, but the actual number of auction days will depend on how many items are donated.

Hypergrid link: hg.osgrid.org:80:event plaza

And the auction isn’t the only event scheduled for the week.

“During that week there are parties and events, and sometimes others hold a fundraising event too,” Fayray told Hypergrid Business.

What the grid will take

Fayray has been asking creators to contribute items, she said in a Facebook post last week.

“Hello OSgrid people, it’s that time of year again,” Fayray said in the post. “The fundraiser needs items to fundraise with, so thank you for your support in advance.”

Donated items have to be built for the auction and can’t be available anywhere else. “Items can be anything created by you, from tiny to huge. They must be unique and not for sale in shops or out to copy on land.”

Last year, the grid took virtual furnishings, avatars, services, jewelry, and entire regions in OAR format, according to its 2025 announcement.

Items go on display on ECHO 1 as they come in, and creators with questions can contact an OSgrid admin or Fayray in-world.

Hypergrid link: hg.osgrid.org:80:ECHO 1

Running on volunteers and donations

OSgrid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operated entirely by unpaid volunteers, and it pays for its servers out of community donations, according to the grid. Its financial statements are all available on its website. The grid’s server costs currently run at just over $900 a month.

“Monthly support helps us plan infrastructure costs more effectively,” the grid said on its donation page, where subscriptions start at $10 a month.

Last year’s fundraiser brought in $2,465, more than the original goal of $2,000.

The grid also makes money from one-time and monthly donations. Last year, OSgrid had total contributions of $ 12,923 — but total expenses totalled $14,691. It had cash in the bank to cover the shortfall, but then, this year, things got worse.

OSgrid was down for about a month this spring due to a filesystem metadata problem, before coming back in time to celebrate its 19th birthday in July, according to the grid.

OSgrid has been running almost continuously since 2007, it’s still free to connect regions to it in any quantity, and its LBSA Plaza is the crossroads of the hypergrid.

Hypergrid link: hg.osgrid.org:80:LBSA Plaza

OSgrid is also the top testing ground for new OpenSim development. OpenSim is an open source project and the software is free to anyone to use. However, OpenSimulator.org, the main site for the software development project, does not solicit donations. So, supporting OSgrid is one of the best ways to financially support the OpenSim community.