Software Freedom Conservancy

Software Freedom Conservancy | @conservancy@social.sfconservancy.org

Software Freedom Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) public charity that acts as a non-profit home for Free, Libre, and Open Source Software projects.

https://sfconservancy.org

We're so excited to welcome #liblouis, an essential copyleft tool for blind and visually impaired users, as SFC's newest member project!!

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/mar/17/liblouis-joins-software-freedom-conservancy/

Our Executive DIrector @karen gave a talk about when to say no to funding at #FOSDEM25. While the financial climate is so difficult for FOSS projects and foundations, it's never right to compromise values or undermine your main goals to take in funding.

https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-6481-when-is-it-right-to-say-no-to-funding-/

FOSSY is coming up, July 31-August 3 in Portland Oregon! The call for nonprofit booths is open, and the CfP will be opening soon!

https://2025.fossy.us/call-for-booths/

We still have one slot for a sponsored booth, and are hoping to get more sponsors at every level!

https://sfconservancy.org/docs/2025-prospectus.pdf

Did you miss our Director of Compliance's keynote at SCaLE this past weekend? The livestream content is up here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRyNeykjIiE

Denver talks about making the #OpenWrtOne, software freedom and SFC.

@joncruz This sounds like a great idea. Definitely keep us posted as to what you design!

Caught Denver's keynote regarding the and ended up ordering one after getting my hands on the ones at the @conservancy booth.

The aesthetics struck me as needing some tweaks to fit into my home, so I figure I can design case/covers to fit it and help with its wider apeal.

Any places i should contact as I get going?

Last weekend the Tech Team flashed 120 APs with our latest build in preparation to bring you powered by free software and open hardware. Thank you, Project and the @conservancy, for your partnership

The call for tracks for #FOSSY25 is open until March 1! You can join the FOSSY organizing team by leading a half day, full day or 2 day room of talks. Submit your track idea here: https://sfconservancy.org/fossy/community-tracks/

Caution Advised: Make sure the DCO fits your needs; adapt if necessary
SFC's Policy Fellow, Bradley M. Kuhn, writes to the GDB email list in their thread this month about possibly switching to the DCO to advise caution.

One size doesn't fit all with the DCO, and, as the Samba project did, adapting it to suit your needs is advisable for various reasons discussed in Bradley's post:

https://sourceware.org/pipermail/gdb/2025-January/051720.html

Bradley and @karen published their thoughts about the TikTok ban yesterday:

"Users (and our government) should instead insist that, to operate in the USA, that ByteDance respect the software rights and freedoms of their users by releasing both the server and App components of the software under a “free and open source” (FOSS) license.

https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2025/jan/18/usa-should-require-bytedance-to-open-source-tiktok/

We did it! Thanks to everyone who donated and made this happened! And thank you for your patience while we've sent you emails and asked for your help. We will do everything we can to continue to use your donations and your partnership to work tirelessly for

If you are sad you missed the exciting finish to our @conservancy fundraiser, you can strive to make our overage amount a fun number (a prime?)

I'm going to sleep now, and will be back in a few hours, and will go see if there were any last minute paper checks that arrived for us in the last days to get a final number up :) Thank you again!, I'm so proud that people really care about this work.

https://sfconservancy.org/donate/

If you believe in the waiting until the last minute, you have to make a donation right away to help us make our historic match challenge. Midnight AoE approaches.

https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/

Is this maybe happening? The amount to raise is $8,933 now!

Did you see how we stood up for the AGPL in our recent amicus brief? We worked so hard over the holidays to make that happen...

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/jan/13/neo4j-amicus/

$2^14 left! @karen is answering questions and keeping the rally going, so follow her and ask her anything about why donating to @conservancy is a great way to empower software freedom for all!

Only $18,000 left to go on our fundraiser! We're so close to getting to 4 digits!! 🥳

If you want to donate by wire transfer, email us at info@sfconservancy.org and we will give you the wire instructions.

Otherwise donate via PayPal here: https://sfconservancy.org/donate/

oo the number is now $18,942! gotta love when the thousands place turns over. I feel like this is totally possible! Spread the word, and if you've been putting off donating, now is the time! Plus your donation counts twice!

https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/

I should also mention that if someone wants to donate a larger amount towards the match, but would prefer to send a wire or check, we also accept pledges that will count toward the match! (just like "NPR" style orgs - make your pledge today!)

SFC Executive Directory @karen recently sat down with Cory Doctorow @pluralistic to talk about software right to repair, the utility and history of DMCA exemptions, and all kinds of things related to technology and our roles as activists.

A great watch to get inspired and imagine what software freedom means for the future.

You can watch the conversation on Peertube: https://videos.trom.tf/w/q1AAL629GYMFtN6nCy15WE

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