As 2025, the FSF‘s fortieth anniversary year, draws to a close, Ian
Kelling, president of the Free Software Foundation, offers his
reflections on why you should become an FSF associate member.
Becoming an associate member reflects a commitment to supporting free
software projects, licenses, and advocacy that helps the FSF’s staff
and volunteers focus on the big picture and work toward software
freedom for all. Join today.
I have closely followed and been involved with the free software
movement for twenty years now. I’m honored to be the new FSF
president. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the presidents before
me, and I would like to especially thank Geoff and RMS for the work
that they did in this role, as well as all the people who have
supported the FSF and the free software movement over the years.
The FSF turned forty this year and it was a big year for the
organization. All this time, we have been working for the software
freedom of all users, everywhere. We held a one day in-person event
with a range of sessions including a panel of FSF board members and a
panel of digital rights activists discussing topics like organizing
tactics, privacy, and surveillance. We also launched Librephone,
a highly technical project to directly advance freedom on phones by
reverse-engineering key nonfree firmware. And we helped with the
organization and promotion of thirty-plus events worldwide through our
LibreLocal effort, and much more.
There is an article from 2013 outlining the different elements of why
you should care about free software, called “Free software is even
more important now.” It makes a compelling case for freedom,
opposing the unjust power inherent in proprietary software and Service
as a Software Substitute (SaaSS). Today, twelve years later, I believe
free software is even more important now than ever, so the title is
also thought-provoking. I hear it asking: how can we sustain our
commitment, grow our movement, and eventually turn the tide so that
“free software isn’t more important every day,” so that it is no
longer something we need to remind people of, but a core part of daily life?
I don’t have the whole answer, but I do know one important part: we,
the FSF, won’t stop. We will keep fighting until freedom wins. And we
will never stop trying to convince more people to take up the cause.
But we need your support in order to have more effect, so please join
the Free Software Foundation!
There is a sentence RMS wrote in the original GNU announcement that
brings me inspiration: “I consider that the golden rule requires that
if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it.” At
that point, the idea of free software still hadn’t been fully
articulated or realized. It reminds me that people can figure out the
basic injustices of proprietary software just by simply valuing moral
principles like this golden rule.
You may have seen the good news that we received two large donations
totaling $900,000 this year. We are grateful for these recent
major contributions, but we are immensely grateful for all the support
we have received throughout the years, including during this
fundraiser. The large donations will likely make it possible for us to
hire a new staff person to help us support the infrastructure for GNU
and FSF, especially in this time of ongoing DDOS attacks. And they
will replenish our financial reserves which help us keep operating in
harder times. But this is only a fraction of our expenses, and there
is so much more to do! We are ready to do a lot of additional work to
advance and support the free software movement, if we receive more
funds.
We are now only USD $52,000 away from achieving our USD $400,000
goal. By becoming an FSF associate member, you help us reach our
fundraising goal, and you become part of a symbolic group of
thousands of people standing behind the FSF, lending weight to our
messages and helping us pave our way to software freedom. We sincerely
thank everyone who gives to the FSF, and large donations make a
difference, yes. But in the long run, most of our income comes from
individual gifts of less than $200 a year.
To carry on with this work, we need your support. Please join us
today.
Yours in freedom,
President
P.S. Please also consider adding the FSF to your estate plan. You can
find more information on this and other way to donate on our ways to
donate page.
