.NET Foundation

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}

{{Short description|Microsoft organization for .NET}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = .NET Foundation

| logo = .NET Foundation Logo.svg

| logo_size = 150px

| status = 501(c)(6) organization

| founded = {{start date and age|2014|03|31}}"[http://www.sos.wa.gov/corps/search_detail.aspx?ubi=603389068 .NET Foundation]". Registration Data Search. Corporations Division. Washington State Secretary of State. Accessed on March 30, 2016.

| founder = Microsoft

| headquarters = Redmond, Washington, U.S."[http://www.guidestar.org/profile/47-2119192 NET Foundation]". Guidestar. Accessed on March 30, 2016.

| tax_id = 47-2119192

| leader_name = Tom Pappas{{cite web |title=Board of Directors and Administrative Team |url=https://dotnetfoundation.org/about/board-of-directors#team }}

| leader_title = Executive Director

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

The .NET Foundation is an organization incorporated on March 31, 2014, by Microsoft to improve open-source software development and collaboration around the .NET Framework.{{cite web |last1=Lardinois |first1=Frederic |date=April 3, 2014 |title=Microsoft Launches .NET Foundation To Foster The .NET Open Source Ecosystem |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/microsoft-launches-net-foundation-to-foster-the-net-open-source-ecosystem/ |website=TechCrunch}} It was launched at the annual Build 2014 conference held by Microsoft.{{cite web |last1=Paoli |first1=Jean |date=April 3, 2014 |title=.NET Foundation Established to Foster Open Development |url=https://msopentech.com/blog/2014/04/03/net-foundation-established-foster-open-development/ |publisher=MS Open Tech |access-date=May 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521154900/https://msopentech.com/blog/2014/04/03/net-foundation-established-foster-open-development/ |archive-date=May 21, 2015 |url-status=dead }} The foundation is license-agnostic, and projects that come to the foundation are free to choose any open-source license, as defined by the Open Source Initiative (OSI).{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |url=https://www.dotnetfoundation.org/faq |publisher=.NET Foundation |access-date=May 21, 2015 |archive-date=May 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514230321/http://www.dotnetfoundation.org/faq |url-status=dead }} The foundation uses GitHub to host the open-source projects it manages.{{cite web |title=.NET Foundation |url=https://github.com/dotnet |website=GitHub}}

Anyone who has contributed to .NET Foundation projects can apply to be a .NET Foundation member. Members can vote in elections for the board of the directors and will preserve the health of the organization.{{Cite web|url=https://dotnetfoundation.org/membership/become-a-member|title=.NET Foundation Membership|website=dotnetfoundation.org|access-date=November 18, 2022}}

The foundation began with twenty-four projects under its stewardship including .NET Compiler Platform ("Roslyn") and the ASP.NET family of open-source projects, both open-sourced by Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. (MS Open Tech). Xamarin contributed six of its projects including the open source email libraries MimeKit and MailKit. {{As of|2020|5|df=}}, it is the steward of 556 active projects,{{Cite web|url=https://dotnetfoundation.org|title=.NET Foundation|website=dotnetfoundation.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509082244/https://dotnetfoundation.org/|archive-date=May 9, 2020|url-status=live}} including: .NET, Entity Framework (EF), Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF), MSBuild, NuGet, Orchard CMS and WorldWide Telescope. Many of these projects are also listed under Outercurve Foundation project galleries.

{{As of|2024|June}}, its board of directors consisted of Louëlla Creemers, Mitchel Sellers, Kendall Miller, Chris Woodruff, Glenn Watson, Kevin Griffin and Chris Sfanos.{{cite web |title=.NET Foundation Board of Directors |url=https://dotnetfoundation.org/about/board-of-directors |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240912204437/https://dotnetfoundation.org/about/board-of-directors |archive-date=September 12, 2024 |access-date=September 26, 2021 |publisher=.NET Foundation}}