Conservancy is continuing its shift towards being a -Supporter-driven organization so we can focus on critical free software -issues. Support our great -member projects, stand up for the GPL, and make your voice heard in support of free software. -We're counting on you. -Donate today!
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--Software is critical to all of our infrastructure and as a society, we are deeply reliant on the software we use. Making sure our software is free and open assures that tomorrow we can still use those solutions we invest in today. Software freedom is fundamental — we need it in order to effectively solve our problems in the long term. While the world today is powered increasingly by free software, many -people don't realize is how much support is needed to keep all of these -projects free and open. The work that we do every day ensures the success and -the continued freedom of the projects. Our developers dedicate themselves to improving our member -projects, and we enable them to do that. This includes projects like Git, Samba, -Wine, BusyBox, QEMU, Inkscape, Selenium, and dozens more.
- -We are asking for you - to join us as a - Conservancy Supporter. Last year, over 1,000 of you became annual - Supporters, allowing us to continue our basic operations. We still need - 2,500 (total) annual Supporters to continue our full range of operations - through 2017. If you don't become a Supporter now, we will be forced to - reduce our program activities going forward.
- --Software Freedom Conservancy has had a lot of major successes this year: -
And we did all of this with a tiny staff of only four full time employees.
- -We are focused on the most important ethical issues in software -freedom. We work tirelessly and don't shy away from difficult issues.
- -We're a unique organization — a staunch defender of copyleft (for Linux, -Debian, and many of our member projects), a source of education and champions -of diversity for the community via Outreachy and other programs, and are the -legal home to 40 member projects that are essential to developing free -software.
- -We undertake these critical programs because they are essential to the -future of technology. We do them because they are right. But we cannot do -them without you. Last year you helped us to fundraising goals that didn't merely keep us running, but even funded hiring of a new employee. Yet even this staffing level isn't enough to handle our existing workload.
- -Our fiscal sponsorship model is not financially self-sustaining by itself: -we cannot afford even one staff member and basic overhead with the revenue we -take in from our projects. With over 1,000 Supporters, we can now sustain the basic -work and we will survive. But to thrive, and handle the really complex tasks like -copyright and licensing advice, and license compliance, we need even more -resources. That's why our final target remains 2,500 Supporters. If you use -or care about our member projects, which -include some of the most widely used free software, you can help them all -by signing up as a Supporter -today.
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-Many consider our GPL compliance and enforcement controversial. We don't -think it is: we stand up for the GPL at the request of our member projects, -the Debian community, and members of the Linux kernel community. -Most recently, that has resulted in our funding -of the suit -against VMware, which is the first lawsuit on derivative works and the -GPL. (Christoph's case continues on appeal.) While this work is extremely important to the continued long-term -success of software freedom and copyleft (not to mention in the long-term -interest of the industry as a whole) it makes fundraising from companies -very difficult. Some companies -have ceased funding us and some have even successfully pressured -conferences to cancel or prevent talks on our compliance work. We do -this work because we think that it is good for everyone in the long run, -because we know it is the right thing to do, and because we know that we are -in the best position to do it. But that's not enough — you have to think it's -right too and show us by -becoming a Supporter now.
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-Conservancy is deeply committed to supporting, promoting, developing, and -defending free and open source software. We pursue our mission on various -fronts, and we're proud of what we've been able to accomplish in 2016. To -do even more in 2017 and in the years to come, we need your help.
- -We believe 2017 will be a critical year for Conservancy, our member -projects, and our work. We look forward to making huge strides in providing -software tools for public charities as well as services for developer -communities. We will continue to champion the rights of the public and the -interests of copyright holders who have licensed their contributions to the -commons for the public's benefit. We will continue to host and speak at -conferences, create and maintain educational resources, and raise awareness -about how free and open source software is essential to a free and open -society.
- -While we appreciate our corporate donors, we simply cannot depend -solely on grants from companies who may not find our mission to be -compatible with shifting corporate strategies. We need you, the public, as -well. Simply put, we need 2,500 Supporters in order to maintain our staff, -continue to provide a full range of administrative, bookkeeping, and legal -services to our member projects, educate the public, and -undertake compliance efforts. We hope you will sign up as a Supporter to help us achieve this. If we don't reach our goal, we will -have no choice but to hibernate some of our activities — likely -our compliance efforts — until we have the resources to resume them -properly at some point in the future.
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-If you care about Conservancy's mission, help us meet our goal so we can stand up for software -freedom together.
- -Please join our Supporter program -and spread the word!
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+ Conservancy is currently home to forty-six member projects.
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+ We love when member project participants help out at the Conservancy booth! Here's Homebrew maintainer Mike McQuaid with our executive director Karen Sandler at FOSDEM. Photo by Neil McGovern.
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+ Conservancy helps administer Outreachy internships, and we were there at linux.conf.au when they raised money to sponsor three!
Software freedom is critical to many of today’s most pressing social issues, but it is only effective when FOSS is for everyone—no matter what their background is, what technology they’re using, or whether or not they’re working with a company. Software Freedom Conservancy makes this possible by helping create more free software, promoting diversity, defending copyleft, and advocating for software freedom. We’re a creative, responsive, and resourceful organization. We work with practical and impactful solutions. We help FOSS projects grow while maintaining independence from a single corporate sponsor. We introduce people to software freedom through the lens of today’s new technology questions, and we raise and address the newest questions facing the FOSS community.
+This work is too big for any single project to tackle, and we cannot do it without your help. Sign up as a Supporter today and contribute to these important efforts!
+As a fiscal sponsorship organization, some people think all we do is manage a bank account for our member projects. In fact, the services we provide are much more comprehensive than that, and doing this work for all our member projects means we serve as a force multiplier for everyone.
+We help pay people to work on FOSS. In 2017, six of our member projects paid 93 different people for FOSS contributions. Collectively, Bro, Godot, Outreachy, phpMyAdmin, Selenium, and Sugar paid contributors over $640,000 for everything from project organization to software development to translation. In all these cases, Conservancy handles most of the administration, including contract negotiation, legal compliance, work review, and tax reporting.
+We help run FOSS conferences. We handled some conference logistics for six of our member projects in 2017: Boost, Bro, Evergreen, North Bay Python, Selenium, and Wine. Our experience working with vendors on venues, catering, AV, and other necessities helps streamline much of the routine work, and we’ve paid vendors more than $360,000 to make each of these conferences a success. We’ve also reimbursed 150 people traveling to these and other events, enabling more valuable face-to-face collaboration.
+We arrange technical infrastructure for our projects. We work with a variety of providers to help run domains and servers for many of our projects. We take care of all the back-end administration, including handling billing and renewals. We even help some of our projects plan out new infrastructure, like Outreachy’s new web site and mailing lists.
+Many organizations do work like this occasionally, or for a few specific projects. For us, it’s the core of what we do. That experience helps us do it more efficiently, and do it better for everyone. Lessons we learn working on one project benefit all of our members.
+We constantly hear from projects that would like to join Conservancy, and 2017 has been a flagship year for new members. Some of the projects that have joined us recently are established software projects you might already use: Clojars, coreboot, Etherpad. Others are newer projects doing cutting-edge work: Harvey OS, Linux XIA, North Bay Python, Teaching Open Source. We’re happy to support them all and help them grow to next level that’s right for each.
+Bringing on new member projects and helping them with all of the services we offer is the most efficient way for us to advance FOSS. The first thing that stops us from taking on more is making sure we have staff time available to fulfill our promises to all of them. Conservancy Supporters help make that possible, giving us the confidence to welcome more projects.
+If you attended a FOSS conference in 2017, odds are you saw Conservancy there. Over the year we’ve spoken or presented at almost twenty conferences on five different continents. We talk about a range of important issues, including copyleft compliance, outreach to underrepresented people, FOSS in regulated devices like medical devices and automobiles, and the risks of too much corporate control over our projects and communities.
+We’re not just giving feel-good thinkpiece talks, either. Our conference travel is often a two-way conversation, building awareness and spurring action on issues that might be little-known but are critically important to our communities. We have booths at many of these conferences to give us valuable face time with current member projects and help recruit new ones. We host discussions like our compliance feedback sessions to hear how the community feels about our work and what we can improve in our tactics. Our talks lead to results you can see like our license enforcement principles affirmed by Linux developers and renewed DMCA exemptions for medical devices.
+Supporting Conservancy is an investment in the future of FOSS. It enables us to bring on more member projects; to provide newly needed services to all of them; and to keep pushing forward on the issues that affect us all. Join as a Supporter today to help us bring that work to even more people!
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