Starting in GNOME 49, the system settings app (gnome-control-center) will issue a notification twice per year asking for donations to support GNOME development. There will also be a donate button added to the About page of the settings app.
It is apparently in response to data from KDE showing a similar notification (but only once per year) did notably increase donations to the project.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-settings-daemon/-/issues/894
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-control-center/-/merge_requests/3207
There will be a toggle to disable it under Privacy & Security > Network Activity:
A terminal command to disable it is also available:
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.housekeeping donation-reminder-enabled 'false'
While this is a GNOME thing, any project based off of GNOME or using gnome-control-center is likely to inherit it, unless the developers of each project explicitly remove it. For instance, some users of the Budgie desktop have seen the notification, but don't have the Privacy & Security > Network Activity settings page with the toggle switch.
If Gnome wants us to support development with funding, they need to stop controlling us Microsoft style, start listening to feedback and feature requests, stop removing features and completely utterly and absolutely remove LibAdwaita.
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Yeah, that sentiment did come up a few times in the non-GNOME discussions I've read about it this evening. I also have the same stance, and have mentioned my dislike for GNOME and its developers in other threads.
Though I wasn't really intending this one to be for GNOME bashing, I can't say I'll discourage it, either 
Giving accurate but critical feedback is not bashing. It is well deserved.
Yes, Gnome does some things right. But the biggest issue is that Gnome, controlling GTK, is seizing control of all GTK built Non-Gnome apps and Desktop environments.
We migrated to get away from Microsoft and ended up where the developer is even more controlling than Microsoft is.
It's not bashing, at all.
I'd bet prior to the next cycle of major releases, or perhaps sooner, almost all distro's will incorporate the donations in the Settings / About section. I don't think it's a bad idea at all. Let's face it. Doing what they do takes time, and time is $. Zorin brothers should most definitely add it as well in my opinion.
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I personally don't find it bad. And the Way how it is made isn't annoying or making Pressure to the User. So, as long as it stands on this Level, I think it is okay.
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Twice a year isn't horrible. As Aravisian has mentioned several times, and I agree, monetization of open source software is a real problem with the whole model and community: we expect top quality work while not enabling people to do it as anything more than a hobby. Obviously, GNOME and KDE are better funded than the vast majority of open source projects, but that doesn't mean they don't have limitations caused by funding.
I have two concerns, though. One is the proverbial slippery slope. If everything I use pops two notifications a year, it's going to be a lot, and which projects can/cannot do it? Mesa, pipewire? Filesystem projects like ZFS? Many users won't know what those are. Distributions? This probably makes the most sense to the end user, but then how does the distribution share to the components it uses?
My other concern is that for reasons others have stated as well as my own, I don't like GNOME. It's what my distribution uses but if there were a path to Plasma 6 that didn't involve pointing at another distribution's sources, I'd be using it. It's doubly annoying to be nagged by software I'd like to tear out. Wait, what does that remind me of? Oh, right, Windows.
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You think 2 notifications per year is bad? How about getting daily notifications to your phone from apps who won't function, unless you allow notification?
How about getting daily emails from Instakart, that are trying to get me to buy more stuff I can't afford, using the loss of discount coupon expediency, to get me to make improper decisions?
And don't forget the ads crammed down our throats from every company there is, trying to get a piece. If we had regulation instead of a free for all, we could clean up the mess we live in, everyday of our lives!
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