Theresa, unless a site asks for a donation I don't think you need to make one. It seems to me one of the main reasons for offering a free pattern is to let people get to know your work so they want to buy patterns from you.

That said, even for a free pattern, if you want to make a bunch of copies and distribute them (like for a guild class or project), I think you should ask the designer's permission.

Donna

Back in the dawn of consumer software, many individuals put out what they called "Shareware". You could download it for free, and if you liked it, you could send a few bucks to the developer. Often this was a way of testing the software - and it was often buggy.

Then eventually, they would offer it for sale if it finally was debugged, worked well, and had some consumer interest. But these people gave out the address to send money to, and were actually more interested in the comments and complaints about the product - early unpaid testers!

Bloggers and online pattern sellers offer free stuff for free, for a reason. They do not expect you to make a donation. Bloggers often get a small revenue from the ads on their blogspot. And some of them are just generous.

Online shops offer freebies as a way to get you browsing their shop - where you just might buy something. That's no different than sampling cheese, crackers or pizza bites at a grocery store. They are samples, buy or not as you see fit.

I just got into a site for downloading a pattern and at bottom it said ....donations....but all don't do that.

Wow, Finchelover - I've honestly never seen a donation area on any free site.

I may need to check my eyes, and scroll to the bottom of pages more often.

Quilters Cache is a free website for quilt blocks and has a page where you can donate, or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quilter's Cache donation page

Thank you all. I shall let my sister know all this.
Theresa