*Please consider adding to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!*
Dear Ruben Safir,
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) organized its first [in-person event][1] since 2019 this past March! It is hard to believe it's been that long, but three years after the last-minute cancellation of the in-person version of LibrePlanet in 2020, we held our first hybrid conference. [LibrePlanet 2023: Charting the Course][1] offered a diverse range of speakers both local and remote, the opportunity to meet in Boston *and* online.
[1]: https://libreplanet.org/2023/
The FSF has faced immense challenges these last years, and this year has been no different. We still see a lot of hesitation for people to travel and meet up, and inflation has increased globally. It has made it hard for many people to pay for even their most basic needs, and unfortunately people's admirable continuation of charitable giving does not balance the declining value of money and increased expenses.
While we are working hard on trusted FSF programs with our small team of eleven [staff members][2], we are also acutely aware of the changing environment in technology. [Machine learning developments][3] are bringing up new questions for free software and licensing. [Privacy concerns][4] are at the forefront of our minds with encryption technology being [threatened through legislation][5]. And in Europe, bills are in development that need serious attention from our community to make sure free software is both properly understood and its developers protected.
Despite hard times, we experience immense amounts of positivity from the moments when we are able to meet with people to have meaningful conversations. These moments demonstrate how generous, resilient and supportive this [community][6] really is. It was built on a strong foundation of free software values that has carried us for forty years, and I believe we have the capacity to do even more in the coming years -- but only with your support.
In addition to organizing our first hybrid free software conference, we:
- [researched the value of sharing][7] for people all over Boston. We focused on interviewing people from a generation born into a digital time. People who never experienced sharing their code and games, or making mix-tapes. We learned a lot from this project, but have more work to do to include and connect to people of all ages and backgrounds.
- continued our commitment to helping free software supporters make educated hardware choices. We certified the first [Respects Your Freedom (RYF)][8] product in two years. This program deserves our attention and resources to help take certified free hardware to the next level. The pipeline is robust, and with additional resources, we can do even more.
- [made improvements to board governance][9] and are now discussing board candidates. It has been a long road to set up a process that engages the community, establishing fully free discussion software, engaging staff and volunteers for moderation, and moving the process forward while keeping the community updated. You can follow our progress on changes related to FSF's board governance at
**Can you join this effort as an [FSF associate member][13]?** You can start for as little as $10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. With your support we can get to the strength in numbers we need to continue our work, *and* take on the challenging developments where we need to take a stance. Plus, your membership will count towards achieving our spring goal of 175 new associate members before July 21. You'll also be able to enjoy all the [member benefits][12], which include merchandise discounts, a 16GB bootable membership card, and use of our associate member videoconferencing server.
We use our resources to the fullest extent supporting free software, as shown through another Charity Navigator four-star rating and our second 100% score in 2022. And as we are coming up on what will be the 40th year of the GNU Project, we have proven that we are a versatile and strong movement that can adapt to the times.
We do this thoughtfully, through educating ourselves, and when confronted with challenges, we never lose sight of our mission, always asking: *"What does this mean for user freedom?"* We need your support to bring people to understand that this question is more important than any convenience, any new development or hyped-up technology. It is vital that we expand our community, and we are well on our way. More and more people understand that they need to know who is in control of their technology. It is our turn to educate them on how to ensure this control: by adopting the four freedoms.
Yours in freedom,
Zoë Kooyman Executive Director
-- * Follow us on Mastodon at , GNU social at , PeerTube at , and on Twitter at -at-fsf. * Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats: * Subscribe to our RSS feeds: * Join us as an associate member: * Read our Privacy Policy:
Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting
Please consider adding info@fsf.org to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!
Dear Ruben Safir,
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) organized its first in-person event since 2019 this past March! It is hard to believe it's been that long, but three years after the last-minute cancellation of the in-person version of LibrePlanet in 2020, we held our first hybrid conference. LibrePlanet 2023: Charting the Course offered a diverse range of speakers both local and remote, the opportunity to meet in Boston and online.
The FSF has faced immense challenges these last years, and this year has been no different. We still see a lot of hesitation for people to travel and meet up, and inflation has increased globally. It has made it hard for many people to pay for even their most basic needs, and unfortunately people's admirable continuation of charitable giving does not balance the declining value of money and increased expenses.
While we are working hard on trusted FSF programs with our small team of eleven staff members, we are also acutely aware of the changing environment in technology. Machine learning developments are bringing up new questions for free software and licensing. Privacy concerns are at the forefront of our minds with encryption technology being threatened through legislation. And in Europe, bills are in development that need serious attention from our community to make sure free software is both properly understood and its developers protected.
Despite hard times, we experience immense amounts of positivity from the moments when we are able to meet with people to have meaningful conversations. These moments demonstrate how generous, resilient and supportive this community really is. It was built on a strong foundation of free software values that has carried us for forty years, and I believe we have the capacity to do even more in the coming years -- but only with your support.
In addition to organizing our first hybrid free software conference, we:
researched the value of sharing for people all over Boston. We focused on interviewing people from a generation born into a digital time. People who never experienced sharing their code and games, or making mix-tapes. We learned a lot from this project, but have more work to do to include and connect to people of all ages and backgrounds.
continued our commitment to helping free software supporters make educated hardware choices. We certified the first Respects Your Freedom (RYF) product in two years. This program deserves our attention and resources to help take certified free hardware to the next level. The pipeline is robust, and with additional resources, we can do even more.
made improvements to board governance and are now discussing board candidates. It has been a long road to set up a process that engages the community, establishing fully free discussion software, engaging staff and volunteers for moderation, and moving the process forward while keeping the community updated. You can follow our progress on changes related to FSF's board governance at https://u.fsf.org/board
Can you join this effort as an FSF associate member? You can start for as little as $10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. With your support we can get to the strength in numbers we need to continue our work, and take on the challenging developments where we need to take a stance. Plus, your membership will count towards achieving our spring goal of 175 new associate members before July 21. You'll also be able to enjoy all the member benefits, which include merchandise discounts, a 16GB bootable membership card, and use of our associate member videoconferencing server.
We use our resources to the fullest extent supporting free software, as shown through another Charity Navigator four-star rating and our second 100% score in 2022. And as we are coming up on what will be the 40th year of the GNU Project, we have proven that we are a versatile and strong movement that can adapt to the times.
We do this thoughtfully, through educating ourselves, and when confronted with challenges, we never lose sight of our mission, always asking: "What does this mean for user freedom?" We need your support to bring people to understand that this question is more important than any convenience, any new development or hyped-up technology. It is vital that we expand our community, and we are well on our way. More and more people understand that they need to know who is in control of their technology. It is our turn to educate them on how to ensure this control: by adopting the four freedoms.
*Please consider adding to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!*
Dear Ruben Safir,
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) organized its first [in-person event][1] since 2019 this past March! It is hard to believe it's been that long, but three years after the last-minute cancellation of the in-person version of LibrePlanet in 2020, we held our first hybrid conference. [LibrePlanet 2023: Charting the Course][1] offered a diverse range of speakers both local and remote, the opportunity to meet in Boston *and* online.
[1]: https://libreplanet.org/2023/
The FSF has faced immense challenges these last years, and this year has been no different. We still see a lot of hesitation for people to travel and meet up, and inflation has increased globally. It has made it hard for many people to pay for even their most basic needs, and unfortunately people's admirable continuation of charitable giving does not balance the declining value of money and increased expenses.
While we are working hard on trusted FSF programs with our small team of eleven [staff members][2], we are also acutely aware of the changing environment in technology. [Machine learning developments][3] are bringing up new questions for free software and licensing. [Privacy concerns][4] are at the forefront of our minds with encryption technology being [threatened through legislation][5]. And in Europe, bills are in development that need serious attention from our community to make sure free software is both properly understood and its developers protected.
Despite hard times, we experience immense amounts of positivity from the moments when we are able to meet with people to have meaningful conversations. These moments demonstrate how generous, resilient and supportive this [community][6] really is. It was built on a strong foundation of free software values that has carried us for forty years, and I believe we have the capacity to do even more in the coming years -- but only with your support.
In addition to organizing our first hybrid free software conference, we:
- [researched the value of sharing][7] for people all over Boston. We focused on interviewing people from a generation born into a digital time. People who never experienced sharing their code and games, or making mix-tapes. We learned a lot from this project, but have more work to do to include and connect to people of all ages and backgrounds.
- continued our commitment to helping free software supporters make educated hardware choices. We certified the first [Respects Your Freedom (RYF)][8] product in two years. This program deserves our attention and resources to help take certified free hardware to the next level. The pipeline is robust, and with additional resources, we can do even more.
- [made improvements to board governance][9] and are now discussing board candidates. It has been a long road to set up a process that engages the community, establishing fully free discussion software, engaging staff and volunteers for moderation, and moving the process forward while keeping the community updated. You can follow our progress on changes related to FSF's board governance at
**Can you join this effort as an [FSF associate member][13]?** You can start for as little as $10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. With your support we can get to the strength in numbers we need to continue our work, *and* take on the challenging developments where we need to take a stance. Plus, your membership will count towards achieving our spring goal of 175 new associate members before July 21. You'll also be able to enjoy all the [member benefits][12], which include merchandise discounts, a 16GB bootable membership card, and use of our associate member videoconferencing server.
We use our resources to the fullest extent supporting free software, as shown through another Charity Navigator four-star rating and our second 100% score in 2022. And as we are coming up on what will be the 40th year of the GNU Project, we have proven that we are a versatile and strong movement that can adapt to the times.
We do this thoughtfully, through educating ourselves, and when confronted with challenges, we never lose sight of our mission, always asking: *"What does this mean for user freedom?"* We need your support to bring people to understand that this question is more important than any convenience, any new development or hyped-up technology. It is vital that we expand our community, and we are well on our way. More and more people understand that they need to know who is in control of their technology. It is our turn to educate them on how to ensure this control: by adopting the four freedoms.
Yours in freedom,
Zoë Kooyman Executive Director
-- * Follow us on Mastodon at , GNU social at , PeerTube at , and on Twitter at -at-fsf. * Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats: * Subscribe to our RSS feeds: * Join us as an associate member: * Read our Privacy Policy:
Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335 United States
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting
Please consider adding info@fsf.org to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!
Dear Ruben Safir,
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) organized its first in-person event since 2019 this past March! It is hard to believe it's been that long, but three years after the last-minute cancellation of the in-person version of LibrePlanet in 2020, we held our first hybrid conference. LibrePlanet 2023: Charting the Course offered a diverse range of speakers both local and remote, the opportunity to meet in Boston and online.
The FSF has faced immense challenges these last years, and this year has been no different. We still see a lot of hesitation for people to travel and meet up, and inflation has increased globally. It has made it hard for many people to pay for even their most basic needs, and unfortunately people's admirable continuation of charitable giving does not balance the declining value of money and increased expenses.
While we are working hard on trusted FSF programs with our small team of eleven staff members, we are also acutely aware of the changing environment in technology. Machine learning developments are bringing up new questions for free software and licensing. Privacy concerns are at the forefront of our minds with encryption technology being threatened through legislation. And in Europe, bills are in development that need serious attention from our community to make sure free software is both properly understood and its developers protected.
Despite hard times, we experience immense amounts of positivity from the moments when we are able to meet with people to have meaningful conversations. These moments demonstrate how generous, resilient and supportive this community really is. It was built on a strong foundation of free software values that has carried us for forty years, and I believe we have the capacity to do even more in the coming years -- but only with your support.
In addition to organizing our first hybrid free software conference, we:
researched the value of sharing for people all over Boston. We focused on interviewing people from a generation born into a digital time. People who never experienced sharing their code and games, or making mix-tapes. We learned a lot from this project, but have more work to do to include and connect to people of all ages and backgrounds.
continued our commitment to helping free software supporters make educated hardware choices. We certified the first Respects Your Freedom (RYF) product in two years. This program deserves our attention and resources to help take certified free hardware to the next level. The pipeline is robust, and with additional resources, we can do even more.
made improvements to board governance and are now discussing board candidates. It has been a long road to set up a process that engages the community, establishing fully free discussion software, engaging staff and volunteers for moderation, and moving the process forward while keeping the community updated. You can follow our progress on changes related to FSF's board governance at https://u.fsf.org/board
Can you join this effort as an FSF associate member? You can start for as little as $10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. With your support we can get to the strength in numbers we need to continue our work, and take on the challenging developments where we need to take a stance. Plus, your membership will count towards achieving our spring goal of 175 new associate members before July 21. You'll also be able to enjoy all the member benefits, which include merchandise discounts, a 16GB bootable membership card, and use of our associate member videoconferencing server.
We use our resources to the fullest extent supporting free software, as shown through another Charity Navigator four-star rating and our second 100% score in 2022. And as we are coming up on what will be the 40th year of the GNU Project, we have proven that we are a versatile and strong movement that can adapt to the times.
We do this thoughtfully, through educating ourselves, and when confronted with challenges, we never lose sight of our mission, always asking: "What does this mean for user freedom?" We need your support to bring people to understand that this question is more important than any convenience, any new development or hyped-up technology. It is vital that we expand our community, and we are well on our way. More and more people understand that they need to know who is in control of their technology. It is our turn to educate them on how to ensure this control: by adopting the four freedoms.
