[wwright]

For what’s it worth, many companies have a hard time justifying “unnecessary” expenses to their boards or shareholders. Depending on company structure, their hands may be somewhat tied.

Not all companies, of course; and to be clear, I think such a company structure is a problem itself and agree with you.

[count]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a board or shareholders who think 'support contract for essential component of our infrastructure' is 'unnecessary'.

[wwright]

To clarify, I meant that it can be hard to convince the board to donate money to an OSS project when there is no "need."