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Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/fsf-fights-to-secure-software-freedom-for-future-generations

Dear Ruben Safir,

This year-end, we are focusing on growing the community with our
fundraising goal of gaining 500 new associate members before
December 31st. The deadline is only two days away, and we are not
there yet. We need your support to continue to grow, and to give
strength to the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) mission to protect
computer user freedom. Below is a message from our president Geoffrey
Knauth reflecting on the FSF's mission to protect software users
everywhere.

We're so grateful for your commitment to free software. If you can
spare it, we hope you'll consider helping us even more by turning this
commitment into an associate membership for just as little as
$10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year. You can also help
propel us to our goal by sharing your commitment to free software
and this article with people in your community and on your social
media using the #UserFreedom hashtag. By inspiring others to join, we
can continue to help computer users find freedom everywhere.

The US government recognized that 2020 was a difficult year for
people, and for charities like the FSF. Special tax law changes for
2020 now make it possible for deduction of cash donations,
including becoming an associate member, of up to $300 made
before December 31, 2020.

src="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/appeal2020/fall/3-FSF.png" width="40%"
align="right" hspace="20" vspace="20">

The core mission of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is, and always
will be, to support the four freedoms of free software as
embodied by the GNU Project. In 1985, when I saw Richard Stallman
attempt to undertake the task of creating for you, users and creators
of software, a wholly free GNU operating system by himself, I thought
it was a noble idea unlikely to succeed. How wrong I was! Luckily, I
made the correct decision to pitch in and help, as have many thousands
of people since. In the thirty-five years since the FSF was
established, countless free software users and supporters around the
globe have experienced the joys that come from creating software and
knowing that you have the right to learn, to tinker, to make
modifications to suit your needs, to make your own contribution, to be
heard and recognized, to share your work, and to be appreciated by
your peers.

While the pandemic has been very hard on people everywhere, there was
one bright spot for me in 2020: by attending virtual conferences all
over the world, I was able to see and hear about the work of hundreds
of people inspired by the free software movement, and I have been
astounded at the brilliance, creativity, and dedication of
contributors everywhere on the planet. I think back to the Moon
missions of a half century ago, when the astronauts peered back at the
world and saw that it really was one world, that limitations in the
way of boundaries seem very artificial from space. From the vantage of
space, you see a beautiful blue ball with land masses, oceans and
clouds, a fragile atmosphere, and as you visualize there are people
down there, they should be roaming free and enjoying all that beauty.

What I have learned in 2020 is that despite the injustice of
proprietary software's restrictions on our freedoms, the people of the
world are by and large energized by learning, creating, and sharing
their creations as freely as they can, because it is clearly what they
want to do. We know that water flows and knows its way; so do people
know what they really want, and like water, people will find a way. It
is our duty to fight for the freedoms in computing that give people
that special joy that comes from being fully in control of their
computing environment.

We don't always agree with each other. That's okay. We are richer for
our disagreements when we debate and act in good faith. We have had a
rough year, but we are still here, and we will continue the fight. We
want your help, we ask for your support, and we desire your
participation and ideas, because if it weren't for you, we would be
right back where we started in 1985. There has been so much progress
since then, and we have to make sure all that has been created is
safeguarded for generations to come after us, and that it continues to
flourish.

I thank the hard-working staff of the FSF, and the thousands of
volunteers who add their brilliance to GNU every single day. What you
do is breathtakingly good. Please keep it up! For our part, you can
read more about what the FSF has planned in 2021 in the pieces from
each team at https://fsf.org/appeal.

Please enjoy the holidays, and safeguard your health!

Be well and be free,

Geoff Knauth

President

Illustration Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc., by
Raghavendra Kamath, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International license.