Donors Challenge Conservancy Supporters with Largest Match Yet

[Deb Nicholson]

URL: https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/nov/25/match2019/

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 and Danielle
Sucher and Bdale Garbee -- you'll be hearing more about them in the
coming weeks on our blog.

[Sign up as a Supporter now and have your donation count twice!](https:
//sfconservancy.org/supporter/#annual)

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](https://sfconservancy.org/news/
2019/jun/13/welcomerosanne/) 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.](https://sfconservan
cy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html) But we need your help,
because shorter-sighted companies aren't going to fund [this
work.](https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2019/oct/30/calling-all-tesla-
owners/)

###Diverse & Vibrant
We're focusing on making the free software movement one that
[welcomes](https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2018/oct/30/whyrobust/)
everyone. To continue growing our development capacity, to bring in
more users to increase mindshare, we [must be
great](https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2018/sep/20/kernelLeaders/) at
[bringing in new
people.])https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2019/jun/20/hiringprocess/) 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 backend bits all need time and expertise. Conservancy
provides that expertise in a way that helps the project serve and
amplify software freedom.

[Sign up as a Supporter now and have your donation count twice!](https:
//sfconservancy.org/supporter/#annual)

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!


-- 
Deb Nicholson <deb at sfconservancy.org>
Software Freedom Conservancy