ddev · stasadev · Jul 27, 2026 · Jul 25, 2026 · Jul 25, 2026
diff --git a/src/content/blog/expanding-ddev-maintainer-team.md b/src/content/blog/expanding-ddev-maintainer-team.md
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 ---
 title: "Expanding the DDEV maintainer team - how we'll fund it"
 pubDate: 2023-09-28
-modifiedDate: 2024-07-31
-summary: Why is DDEV adding a new full-time maintainer, and how do the finances work?
+modifiedDate: 2026-07-25
+modifiedComment: "Removed the 2023 funding figures and maintainership roster, which are long out of date, and pointed to the sponsor page and current funding post instead"
+summary: What do DDEV maintainers actually do, and why does the project need more than one paid full-time?
 author: Randy Fay
 featureImage:
   src: /img/blog/2023/08/contributors-working.png
@@ -11,6 +12,10 @@ categories:
   - Community
 ---
 
+**Update (2026-07-25)**: The case for paid maintainers below still holds, and DDEV now has two working full-time. The specific 2023 dollar figures and maintainer roster that used to appear here were badly out of date, so they've been removed — see the [sponsor page](/sponsor) for the live funding total and [Let's Fully Fund Maintainer Stas](lets-fund-stas-maintainer.md) for where things stand today.
+
+---
+
 ## Why does DDEV want to hire another full-time maintainer?
 
 A few months ago we published [Recruiting Maintainers](recruiting-maintainers.md). But why are we wanting another full-time maintainer?
@@ -39,25 +44,15 @@ But first, what do maintainers do? Why are they so busy? Why is it important to
 
 **The community and its needs are growing**: More CMSs have adopted DDEV as their go-to local development environment (Silverstripe this year, Craft CMS last year, etc.). That means we have new and different users with new and different needs. What fun! So great! But this will eventually strain our current abilities to support.
 
-### What is DDEV’s Current Funding Situation and What are the Goals?
-
-**Current Funding**:
-
-- **[Platform.sh](http://Platform.sh)** pays Randy’s salary and provides benefits to him as an employee. That is an amazing benefit for this community and goes a long way! THANK YOU!
-- **Major sponsors [Tag1](https://tag1.com/), and [i-gelb](https://i-gelb.net/)** together account for USD$1500/month in funding. THANK YOU!
-- **Many other agencies and individuals** via GitHub Sponsors account for about USD$1500. THANK YOU!
-
-**Funding Goal**: Our goal is salary for a full-time paid maintainer, estimated at about USD$7,000/month or USD$84,000/year. Thanks you we’re already about 50% of the way there!
-
-### What is the Current Maintainership Situation?
+### What is DDEV’s Funding Situation and What are the Goals?
 
-Currently **[Randy Fay](https://github.com/rfay), [Simon Gilli](https://github.com/gilbertsoft) and [Stas Zhuk](https://github.com/stasadev)** have maintainer privileges. Simon has made enormous contributions over the years and knows how to handle most maintainer roles. He has been periodically paid by the DDEV Foundation for his work, but his available time is sometimes spotty. Stas is new to the role after many, many important contributions and thanks to your contributions he is already being paid for part-time work.
+The goal is enough recurring sponsorship to pay maintainers for the work described above, rather than fitting it around client work. Because the numbers move every month, they live on the [sponsor page](/sponsor), which shows the current recurring total against the Foundation’s goal. For the story of how the funding has evolved — including [Platform.sh becoming lead sponsor](platform-sh-becomes-a-lead-sponsor-of-ddev.md), the [2025 change in that arrangement](platform-sh-ddev-funding-changes.md), and the [ongoing push to fully fund maintainer Stas Zhuk](lets-fund-stas-maintainer.md) — follow those posts.
 
 ### What is the DDEV Foundation?
 
 **The [DDEV Foundation](/foundation)** is the “fiscal entity” that is used for DDEV funding and is used to pay contributors. It is a certified [US 501(c)(3) nonprofit](501c3.md). The DDEV Foundation owns the bank account.
 
-No funding to the DDEV Foundation goes to Randy.
+(When this was written in 2023, no Foundation funding went to Randy, since Platform.sh employed him directly. That [changed in 2025](platform-sh-ddev-funding-changes.md), and the Foundation now budgets for both maintainers.)
 
 ### How can Your Agency, Hosting Company, or you as an Individual Help?
 

diff --git a/src/content/blog/introducing-maintainer-stas.md b/src/content/blog/introducing-maintainer-stas.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ---
 title: "Introducing New DDEV Maintainer Stas Zhuk"
 pubDate: 2023-10-24
+modifiedDate: 2026-07-25
+modifiedComment: "Added a note that Stas has worked on DDEV full-time since 2024"
 summary: Introducing New Maintainer Stas Zhuk
 author: Randy Fay
 featureImage:
@@ -10,9 +12,13 @@ categories:
   - Community
 ---
 
+**Update (2026-07-25)**: Stas has worked on DDEV full-time since 2024. See [Let's Fully Fund Maintainer Stas](lets-fund-stas-maintainer.md) for where funding for that role stands now. The introduction below is from October 2023.
+
+---
+
 I'm so happy to introduce new DDEV maintainer [Stas Zhuk](https://github.com/stasadev). He now has all privileges on the project and is beginning the onboarding to know how to use all those privileges, including maintaining tests, test runners, code, contributions, and everything else. He joins [Simon Gilli](https://github.com/gilbertsoft) and me as maintainer.
 
-It's your support that has made it possible for the DDEV Foundation to pay Stas on a part-time basis, so THANK YOU for supporting DDEV! This is a part of our path to a [long-term sustainable project](/blog/expanding-ddev-maintainer-team).
+It's your support that has made it possible for the DDEV Foundation to pay Stas on a part-time basis, so THANK YOU for supporting DDEV! This is a part of our path to a [long-term sustainable project](expanding-ddev-maintainer-team.md).
 
 Stas's arrival is very timely, as my wife Nancy Lewis and I will be traveling in Patagonia for 2 months in December and January, and I'll have very limited internet access. I'm so happy to have Stas on board to help with project support and maintenance!
 

diff --git a/src/content/blog/lets-fund-stas-maintainer.md b/src/content/blog/lets-fund-stas-maintainer.md
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 ---
 title: "Let's Fully Fund Maintainer Stas"
 pubDate: 2024-08-01
-# modifiedDate: 2024-08-01
+modifiedDate: 2026-07-25
+modifiedComment: "Updated for 2026: Stas has been full-time on DDEV since 2024, but the role is only about 80% funded and sponsorship is at 83% of the $12,000/month goal; refreshed the Upsun funding history, Stas' contribution numbers, and the maintenance examples"
 summary: "Let's fully fund DDEV maintainer Stas Zhuk"
 author: Randy Fay
 featureImage:
@@ -11,28 +12,33 @@ categories:
   - Announcements
 ---
 
-We all want DDEV to be fully maintained at the level you depend on. Now is the time to fully fund maintainer Stas Zhuk so that he does not have to take on other client work.
+**Update (2026-07-25)**: You did it — mostly. Stas left client work behind and has been working on DDEV full-time since 2024, which is exactly what this post asked for. What hasn't caught up is the funding: his full-time maintainer role is only about 80% funded. Recurring sponsorship is about $9,900/month, or 83% of the DDEV Foundation's $12,000/month goal for both maintainers, leaving a gap of roughly $2,000/month. So the title still applies, just for a different reason: DDEV already depends on a full-time maintainer that the community isn't yet fully paying for. The numbers and examples below have been updated for 2026; the [sponsor page](/sponsor) always shows the current live total.
 
-**DDEV's Funding**: DDEV is funded in a variety of ways. [Platform.sh covers Randy's salary](platform-sh-becomes-a-lead-sponsor-of-ddev.md), thanks! Individuals and organization sponsors fund DDEV via [sponsorship](/sponsor) and invoiced support commitments. As the pace of required maintenance and features has increased, we've explained how we intend to grow our maintainership for the long-term in a [couple](recruiting-maintainers.md) of [blog posts](expanding-ddev-maintainer-team.md). (DDEV's "fiscal entity" for funding is the US 501(c)(3) [DDEV Foundation](/foundation)).
+---
+
+We all want DDEV to be fully maintained at the level you depend on. Maintainer Stas Zhuk already does that work full-time. Now is the time to fully fund it.
+
+**DDEV's Funding**: DDEV is funded by individuals and organizations via [sponsorship](/sponsor) and invoiced support commitments. [Upsun](https://upsun.com) (formerly Platform.sh) [became lead sponsor in 2022](platform-sh-becomes-a-lead-sponsor-of-ddev.md) and remains a generous partner sponsor, though in 2025 they [changed their approach](platform-sh-ddev-funding-changes.md) from employing Randy to funding the Foundation directly, and in 2026 they [completed transfer of the DDEV trademark to the DDEV Foundation](upsun-trademark-transfer-complete.md). One consequence: the Foundation now has to budget for _both_ maintainers, which is why the funding goal covers both of us. As the pace of required maintenance and features has increased, we've explained how we intend to grow our maintainership for the long-term in a [couple](recruiting-maintainers.md) of [blog posts](expanding-ddev-maintainer-team.md), and laid out the bigger picture in [Sustainability for DDEV](sustainability-for-ddev.md). (DDEV's "fiscal entity" for funding is the US 501(c)(3) [DDEV Foundation](/foundation)).
 
-**Stas' Role as DDEV Maintainer**: In October, 2023, we [introduced Stas to the community](introducing-maintainer-stas.md) as our second maintainer. Since then, he has done amazing things, working as a part-time paid maintainer. He knows how all the testing and the various infrastructures work, has mastered the Go and Docker codebase, and has contributed hundreds of bugfixes, features, and documentation improvements. As of today, he has contributed [211 commits](https://github.com/ddev/ddev/graphs/contributors) to the master branch of the `ddev/ddev` project alone, second only through the whole history of DDEV to yours truly. Take a look at his [600+](https://github.com/stasadev?tab=overview&from=2024-07-01&to=2024-07-31&org=ddev) contributions to the DDEV org **just in 2024 alone**. He maintains add-ons, supports new contributors, answers questions in Discord, Slack, Stack Overflow, and the GitHub issue queue.
+**Stas' Role as DDEV Maintainer**: In October, 2023, we [introduced Stas to the community](introducing-maintainer-stas.md) as our second maintainer, and since 2024 he has worked on DDEV full-time. He knows how all the testing and the various infrastructures work, has mastered the Go and Docker codebase, and has contributed thousands of bugfixes, features, and documentation improvements. As of July 2026, he has contributed [600 commits](https://github.com/ddev/ddev/graphs/contributors) to the main branch of the `ddev/ddev` project alone, second only through the whole history of DDEV to yours truly — nearly triple the 211 he had when this post was first written. He maintains add-ons, supports new contributors, answers questions in Discord, Slack, and the GitHub issue queue. If you want a sense of the person behind the work, read TheDropTimes' interview, [The Work Behind the Workflow](https://www.thedroptimes.com/interview/66467/work-behind-workflow-stas-zhuk-and-future-ddev). Nearly everything you rely on in a DDEV release passes through him.
 
 **Why is DDEV Maintenance Important?** You and DDEV are engulfed in a maelstrom of change. Upstream technologies change on you weekly. Things break from all directions. If DDEV weren't cared for daily, it would fail to serve you within a pretty short time.
 
-- PHP 8.4 support was added today to DDEV HEAD (along with versions 5.6-8.3!).
-- Drupal 11 is coming out this week. DDEV has already had support for some time.
-- PostgreSQL 16 and MariaDB 11.4 already have support, and MySQL 8.4 will shortly when some upstream support becomes available.
-- Recently [MariaDB changed their `mysqldump` output file format](mariadb-dump-breaking-change.md), causing a few of you to pull your hair out, until DDEV incorporated informal and then fully-integrated workarounds, so there are some of you that don't even know this happened.
+- PHP 8.5 is supported, as is every version back to 5.6, so both your newest and your oldest projects keep working.
+- Drupal 11 is the current stable release and DDEV already handles Drupal 12; explicit Joomla support arrived in v1.25.2.
+- MariaDB 12.3 LTS, PostgreSQL 18, and MySQL 8.4 are all supported.
+- The container world keeps moving underneath us. DDEV had to [require Docker Buildx](docker-buildx-requirement-v1-25-1.md) in v1.25.1, and now supports [Podman and rootless Docker](podman-and-docker-rootless.md) as well.
+- Back in 2024 [MariaDB changed their `mysqldump` output file format](mariadb-dump-breaking-change.md), causing a few of you to pull your hair out, until DDEV incorporated informal and then fully-integrated workarounds, so there are some of you that don't even know this happened.
 
-I'm just naming a tiny few of the things DDEV has had to react to in the last few months.
+I'm just naming a tiny few of the things DDEV has had to react to.
 
-**What is our current financial situation?** Currently DDEV receives donations in the range of USD$3000-$5000/month. Our expenses are in that same range, the bulk being part-time hourly support for Stas. As of today we have about $18,000 in the bank. Financial reports are provided with every meeting of the [DDEV Advisory Group](https://github.com/orgs/ddev/discussions/categories/ddev-advisory-group).
+**What is our current financial situation?** Recurring sponsorship is currently about $9,900/month against a goal of $12,000/month, which covers both maintainers. The bulk of our expenses is maintainer time. Financial reports are provided with every meeting of the [DDEV Advisory Group](https://github.com/orgs/ddev/discussions/categories/ddev-advisory-group), and since late 2025 the Foundation also has a board.
 
-**What do we want to do? Increase income by about $3000/month.** In order for Stas to be able to leave behind his client work, we need approximately $3000/month more in committed support for the next year. This could be $1,000/month from three organizations (joining fabulous supporting agency [Tag1 Consulting](https://tag1consulting.com)), $500/month from 6 organizations, joining [i-gelb](https://i-gelb.net/). Or $100/month from 30 organizations, joining [so many individual and corporate sponsors](https://ddev.com/#supporters) who keep DDEV going.
+**What do we want to do? Increase income by about $2,000/month.** That's the difference between a full-time maintainer role the Foundation can commit to for the long haul and one that is renegotiated against the budget every year. This could be $1,000/month from two organizations (joining fabulous supporting agency [Tag1 Consulting](https://tag1consulting.com)), $500/month from four organizations, joining [i-gelb](https://i-gelb.net/). Or $100/month from 20 organizations, joining [so many individual and corporate sponsors](https://ddev.com/#supporters) who keep DDEV going.
 
-**How can you or your organization support DDEV?** For agencies, hosting folks, other organizations, we're happy to bill you monthly or annually, just ask! It's easy. Some orgs prefer to use GitHub Sponsors, that's fine too. For individuals, the easiest way is to [become a sponsor](/sponsor).
+**How can you or your organization support DDEV?** For agencies, hosting folks, other organizations, we're happy to bill you monthly or annually, just ask! It's easy. For individuals, the easiest way is to [become a sponsor](/sponsor). Organizations sponsoring at $100/month or more now get [partner perks](/sponsor) as well.
 
-**Is your organization budgeting for 2025?** Please remember DDEV!
+**Is your organization budgeting for 2027?** Please remember DDEV!
 
 **Get in touch!** I'd be happy to talk to you or your organization. Send [an email](mailto:randy.fay%40ddev.com). Make an [appointment for a video call](https://cal.com/randyfay/30min).