May is FSF LibreLocal meetups month. Go ahead: sign up to host
your own LibreLocal 2026 meetup! We’ll help. As a reminder, if you
want funding for your meetup, you have to apply by this Sunday,
March 15, 2026.
The FSF is committing to financially assisting as many meetups as we
can, but please note that the size and amount of our supporting grants
are limited. If you would like to apply for support, submit a
request to us. Please note: in order to submit a request, you must
log in or create a gratis account on my.fsf.org.
Your event’s program and format is completely up to you. As we learned
last year, it can range from a single meetup over coffee in a local cafe
to multi-day conferences with like-minded people! We encourage
everyone to organize events that help spread the free software
philosophy and which are grounded in freedom. We hope you
find a way to highlight that, as well as all the other benefits of
working in and with free software, in your event.
LibreLocal meetups were organized for the first time in 2025, and your
enthusiastic response to our call was so outstanding that we knew we
had to do it again! Free software supporters like you organized
twenty-nine LibreLocal meetups across five continents last year.
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Locally organized meetups are a great way for free software community
members to meet each other. if you are not familiar with free
software, it’s also an opportunity for you to learn more. The FSF is
happy to support you in your organizing efforts. Tell us about your
LibreLocal meetup so we can help get the word out about your
meetup to other free software supporters near you. We will also be
happy to have an available FSF staff member join your event virtually,
or if possible, even in person!
Interested in organizing a meetup? We have a whole range of resources
that can help you with organization. We have a meetup guide that
will give you some ideas, tips, and tricks; a template for your own
safe space policy; and accounts of successful events from
last year in two parts.
But remember, if you want to be considered for funding for your
meetup, apply by this Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Happy hacking,
Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni
Program Manager
“Smashing Windows 11 duck” © 2025, Free Software Foundation. This photo is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
“Joy for free software in Kinshasa, DRC” © 2026 Narcisse Mbunzama of Free Software DRC. This photo is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
