For starting to contribute to open source and for keeping projects going: issues set aside for newcomers, funded programmes, funding and project guides. For a first contribution pick a small, well-defined issue, not a big feature.
17 links
A list of repositories with beginner-friendly issues, organised by programming language. Against Up For Grabs the split by language is the difference — finding a project in a language you know is straightforward.
A list of free software (as in freedom) projects and resources. Unlike open-source lists, its criterion is user freedom (the FSF definition) rather than merely open source code.
Sends you one open issue a day from projects you follow, for people who want to contribute. Against scanning "good first issue" labels the difference is regularity and small doses — which is what turns contribution into a habit.
An introduction for people making their first open-source contribution, aimed squarely at reducing the fear. Unlike contribution guides it addresses the psychological barrier rather than the technical one.
The hub for Google’s open-source projects, policies and programmes. Against browsing the repositories one by one, the corporate policy is published too — a look at how a large company runs open source.
An annual programme that pairs students with open-source projects and pays them. Against an internship the output is public — the work sits on your résumé as a link.
A funded remote programme where you contribute to open source in a team. Against Google Summer of Code the teamwork and mentorship are structured — you work with a group rather than alone.
GitHub’s guides to open source: starting a project, taking contributions, running a community, handling burnout. Unlike licence or tooling guides it deals with the social side — the sustainability of the project rather than the code.
An archive of writing on open-source culture, tooling and governance, supported by Red Hat. Against technical blogs it goes into licensing, community and institutional adoption.
A crowdsourced showcase of open-source projects, each with a live demo and repository link. Against awesome lists it is visual — you see what a thing does before reading about it.
Generates README badges: build status, version, downloads, licence. Against hand-made SVGs they bind to live data — the badge fetches the npm version or CI status itself.
The older distribution platform for open-source projects and an archive of the pre-GitHub era. Unlike GitHub it holds long-established and abandoned projects — still where some old software survives.
Code search across open-source repositories, with regular expressions and structural queries. Against GitHub search it spans the ecosystem rather than one repository — the way to see how an API is actually called in the wild.
Lists projects that set aside issues for new contributors. Against searching labels on GitHub the projects here opted in — whoever opened the issue is already waiting for someone to take it.