<html><head></head><body><div><div class="singleColumn">
<div id="mainContent">
<div class="press-release">
<h2 class="clear"><font size="2"><a href="https://handshake.org/">Handshake</a> has recently
awarded funds to many critical free and open source software projects.
In particular Conservancy has been gifted $200K for our ongoing work to
support software freedom by providing a fiscal home for smaller
projects, enforcing the GPL and undertaking strategic efforts to grow
and improve free software. <a href="https://www.outreachy.org/">Outreachy</a>, the organization offering biannual, paid internships for
under-represented people to work in free software (itself a member
project of Conservancy) has also been awarded $100,000 from these funds.</font></h2><div><font size="2"><br></font></div>
<p>"We are grateful for this donation that will allow us to
continue supporting people from underrepresented backgrounds in gaining
focused experience as free software contributors and shaping the future
of technology," said Marina Zhurakhinskaya, Outreachy Organizer.
Donations to the Outreachy general fund support program operations and
increasing awareness of opportunities in free software among people from
underrepresented groups in tech.</p>
<p>Handshake is a decentralized replacement for the root zone file,
which leverages blockchain technology to make DNS-based spying and
censoring more difficult. Purse.io and Private Internet Access provided
Handshake with the funding to launch decentralized market for Internet
names. The Handshake organizers said that they received much more than
they needed to get started and so decided to reinvest $10.2 million
dollars back into free software by gifting it to FLOSS developers and
projects, as well as non profit organizations and universities that
support free software development. </p><p><br></p>
<p>From Handshake, "The Internet, and civilization as a whole, would not
be where it is today without the hard work of the free software and
open source community and the projects that they work on. The Handshake
blockchain will start with an initial supply of 1.36 billion coins, of
which 77.5% will be gifted to FLOSS developers and projects, as well as
non profit organizations, universities."</p><p><br></p>
<p>"We're glad to be included in this list of organizations that are so
important to the Internet and to free and open source software." says
Karen Sandler, Executive Director of Conservancy. "The funds will make a
big difference in our ability to support and defend free software and
ethical technology."</p><p><br></p>
<p>As a small organization, we are always working to do the most with
what we have. The Handshake grant allows us to tackle some of the work
that we would have otherwise had to put off to a later date. Unfettered
donations give us the freedom to say yes to hiring contractors to help
with tasks that we don't have expertise for in house, they help us move
up our timetables for critical infrastructure and they enable us to
spend less time fundraising. These kinds of gifts are absolutely
critical for Conservancy and for our frugal sister organizations in the
free software community.</p><p><br></p>
<p></p><blockquote cite="https://handshake.org/faq">"...Handshake has
everything we need and that capital is better deployed by the FOSS
organizations to which we have pledged to contribute it. In the spirit
of free software and radical gifting we’ve taken the validation value
from this project and shared it with the world."
</blockquote><blockquote cite="https://handshake.org/faq"><br></blockquote><p></p>
<p>We hope others are inspired to support the free software commons on
which so many modern businesses and essential platforms rely. If all the
amazing work done by free software developers over the last 30+ years
has put you in a situation where you have "extra money" feel free to
reach out to us! We can definitely help you with that. Thank you again
to Handshake for your generous leadership!</p>
</div>
</div></div></div><div><br></div><div><span><pre>--
Deb Nicholson <deb@sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy</pre></span></div></body></html>