A warm thank you and welcome!
Please join us in celebrating all our associate members and donors. Their support helps us strengthen the global free software community.
Last Friday, we closed out our summer fundraiser and are very happy to welcome all our new associate members! Associate members and donors enable us to run the infrastructure for the GNU Project and the Free Software Directory, maintain the FSF Licensing & Compliance Lab — the preeminent resource for free software developers — and allow us to protect and expand user freedom through our many campaigns and projects, including LibrePhone, Defective by Design, Fight to Repair, and LibreLocal.
While we did fall short of our ambitious goal for welcoming new associate members, we would always much rather aim high than settle for low aspirations. Regardless of our goal, we are delighted that so many people have become new FSF associate members. We also want to thank our donors. Their generosity this year has been outstanding, and together with our associate members, allows us to confidently plan to move our work forward. Thank you!
If you did try to join, you may be one of the people who encountered an unexpected technical error during your sign up process. We discovered the bug during the fundraiser, and it has been fixed. If that was your experience, we would love you to try again! Please join us as an associate member.
Missed our recent updates? Here they are
Looking back over the course of the fundraiser, we updated you on some of the work our supporters have made possible. In our latest Free Software Bulletin, articles included one from FSF Executive Director Zoë Kooyman on LibrePhone. We featured Alex Jenkins and other members of the Georgia Tech LibreTech Collective (GTLTC) and how they are growing the free software community at both Georgia Tech and beyond. We also gave you insight on the tools our tech team uses to battle botnets; our campaign against the alarming rise of worldwide age verification legislation; and the many facets of the licensing team’s recent work. In part one of our LibreLocal 2026 report, we celebrated some of the forty-eight LibreLocal meetups on six continents that have happened so far this year, including one that was held in a prison in Shiraz, Iran. Parts two and three are coming soon.
Continue your advocacy
There are many ways to continue your advocacy for free software. We have a few ideas to get you started:
- If you live in the United States, call your senator to inform them of the dangers that threaten user freedom posed by age verification bills like the GUARD ACT;
- Encrypt your email using our Email Self-Defense Guide, joining countless others who have also taken this step as part of our anti-bulk surveillance campaign;
- Organize a LibreLocal and spread the joy of free software to others. We will help get the word out, and we have some helpful tools, too;
- Share your pride in free software by sharing our Mastodon posts;
- And, if you know a free supporter who isn’t one already, ask them to consider becoming an FSF associate member or donate to sustain our work!
Finally, if you are planning to attend the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference on August 14–16 in New York, NY, USA, come say hi! Five FSF staff members will be presenting on fighting DDOS attacks, routing around app stores, email self-defense, and evaluating a program’s free software licensing, and we will also have a booth.
Please join us in extending a very warm welcome to all the new associate members within the larger FSF community. Thank you again for the support and attention you gave us during our fundraiser — it is a gift to do this work with you all.
In freedom,
Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni
Program Manager
