Donors Challenge Conservancy Supporters with Largest Match Yet

November 25, 2019

We’ve been challenged by a group of amazing individuals and Private Internet Access to raise a total of $113,093 during this fundraising season. These are folks who believe in software freedom and believe in Conservancy. This illustrious group includes; Leslie Hawthorn, Daniel Kahn Gillmor, Martin Krafft, Mark Wielaard, David Turner & Danielle Sucher, and Bdale Garbee — you'll be hearing more about them in the coming weeks on our blog.

This year we have a special bonus match for new Conservancy Supporters, whose donations will be matched twice and therefore have three times the impact.

Growth & Impact

At a scrappy org like Conservancy, the biggest limitation on our capacity is staff. There are only so many hours in the day. This year we went from four to five full-timers and increased the hours of our part time employee and it has been transformational. Bringing stability to our ramped up operations and even exploring adding another much needed employee would catalyze our ability to serve the free software movement. That's why matches that challenge our donors to dig a little deeper and bring in their friends are so critical.

Compliance & Funding

There are a few companies that want to see a level playing field when it comes to copyleft licenses but many are playing a long game. One where they hope the entire software freedom community will just give in and stop asking them to provide source for their products. Longtime free software players, our donors, people like you who contribute to community-driven free software projects know how critical it is to have an organization standing up for software freedom. But we need your help, because shorter-sighted companies aren't going to fund this work.

Diverse & Vibrant

We're focusing on making the free software movement one that welcomes everyone. To continue growing our development capacity, to bring in more users to increase mindshare, we must be great at bringing in new people. We have to build communities that they want to be part of. That's why we are proud to support Outreachy, North Bay Python, MicroBlocks and others that are doing the critical work of being someone's first experience with free software. Diversity can't be an afterthought. This crucial work needs funding and resources to get right.

Communities & Development

Community-driven projects need support and a vendor-neutral home where they can do their work in the public interest. They need help running international conferences, someone to help them get their contractors paid and someone to take care of their trademarks and other project assets. These back-end bits all need time and expertise. Conservancy provides that expertise in a way that helps the project serve and amplify software freedom.

This year we have a special bonus match for new Conservancy Supporters, whose donations will be matched twice and therefore have three times the impact. If you've been waiting for great time to invite a friend or colleague to join you in supporting software freedom with Conservancy -- this is it!