Garuda Linux is an open source project maintained by cheerful and hardworking developers. It does not generate any kind of direct or indirect income. However, there are expenses like:
Server costs (renting or hardware purchase)
Associated bandwidth fees
Domain costs (annual)
Fees for promoting the exposure of the distro (likely unneeded)
Fees for registering Garuda at any national/ international/ governmental agency/ authority.
Important note though: Garuda will remain free and open source forever!
Donation Policy
The Garuda Linux distribution is completely free of cost and always will be.
However, to ensure the long-term viability of the distro, it was felt further resources were required. As Garuda generates zero income from advertising (or other sources) the only way to fund improvements to the distro is through accepting donations. Contributions will be used to ensure the furtherance of the distribution. Funds will be used primarily for expansion in bandwidth, mirror, and server capacities. Funds may also be used for registration of Garuda with various national/international organizations that may be deemed of benefit (or for the protection of Garuda trademarks/copyrights). Some of your contributions may also go to support other great projects that enable the Garuda distribution to exist. At this early stage, it is too soon to project an exact breakdown of distribution costs, but the donation disbursements will be fully and accurately accounted for in the treasurers financial reports. You can rest assured that your contributions will be used responsibly for the welfare and continuance of the Garuda distribution.
*All donations are non-refundable once processed.