The question of support goes beyond financial.
As the volunteer who wrote and deployed the mirror of Our World in Data
used by WikiProjectMed and deployed the VideoWiki application, I have to
say that, unfortunately, I have not found WMF technical staff very
supportive.
This is all the more surprising given that there is a Developer Advocacy
team that is 'tasked with supporting the technical communities who use
Wikimedia web APIs and software projects to spread and improve free
knowledge' and 'to actively recruit and mentor new technical contributors',
but who seem to perceive their role as protecting the organization from
those very volunteers. I often encounter an attitude that says that we are
incompetent noobs that must be managed by staff, and any error or lack of
familiarity with WMF internal systems can be met with derision and sarcasm.
There is no doubt that WMF applications and infrastructure are an extremely
valuable resource, but it would be nice if volunteers could be similarly
regarded. I have spent much of the last 10 years working on projects that
further WMF goals and core values. I would prefer to do so in a collegial
or even collaborative way.
The staff who manage WMF systems and infrastructure are smart, competent,
and well organized, but they are not very generous. They seem to regard the
rest of us as barbarians at the gate.
I have hesitated to write this, but I think it needs to be said.
Tim Moody