OpenJS Foundation

The OpenJS Foundation, established in 2019, operates as a collaborative nonprofit organization under the Linux Foundation umbrella. It was formed through the merger of the JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation to consolidate stewardship of key open-source JavaScript projects. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the foundation provides a neutral home for community-driven development, governance, and collaboration. It supports numerous prominent JavaScript technologies, including Node-RED, Node.js, jQuery, Electron, and Webpack, among others. The organization focuses on providing infrastructure, marketing, legal protections, and governance services to ensure the sustainability and growth of these open-source projects.

Node-RED, one of the foundation’s actively maintained projects, began as an IBM side project in 2013 focused on simplifying the wiring of devices, APIs, and services for IoT and event-driven applications. The project was open-sourced in 2016, and stewardship was transferred to the OpenJS Foundation in 2019. The foundation does not directly employ most developers but serves as an organizational umbrella supporting a volunteer and corporate-employed maintainer community. Its business model relies on member organizations and industry sponsors rather than traditional funding or venture capital, emphasizing open collaboration and community engagement. The foundation’s target market includes professional and hobbyist developers, enterprise IT departments, and organizations that build software with JavaScript technologies.