The question nobody is asking: would more money help?
Good question. It appears that they're only spending $3.8 million a year. It'd be great to see them up their program expenses to shrink that surplus.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
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Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#42Wow, such an impactful NGO deserves a lot more. Just joined as a "gold" member for a mere $100. For full disclosure, I will receive some schwag in return.
You can uncheck the box next to the gift options, so that you don't waste their time/money on sending you a gift.
I saw that option, but I figured wearing a t-shirt around would add greater value for them.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#43I would love to "survive" on 5 million a year.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#44One of the more interesting points I heard David Brin make a while back was - forget the quantity of money for a moment, these organizations also absorb power through membership numbers.
The NRA has 5 million voters with membership cards and it throws their political weight around at the drop of a hat. As a result, nobody fucks with the NRA, even seasoned politicians in stable left-wing postures compromise left and right so it won't smear them as anti-gun. When pressed, the NRA can even defeat things like universal background checks that are supported by 90% of the country.
A 12-month 'Silicon' membership with the EFF costs $25; Maybe they can't sustain & expand legal operations on this, but they can certainly incrementally add to the political power of their lobbying and amicus briefs just by having the member.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#45While I love, love, love the EFF, I'd also really like to point out that Public Knowledge are another, lesser known non-profit fighting for your rights and doing incredible work. Unfortunately the tech community is much less aware of their existence. Public Knowledge are the folks who work day to day in DC lobbying for tech policy. While EFF lead efforts around activism and the legal side, they decided years ago that…
You should write about your experience with this organization, and submit it separately. It might be a good way to get the word out. This is the first I've heard of them.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#46I try to give to software non-profits every paycheck. Even if it's only $5 or $10, it's better to give than to think, "Oh, they are great and I want to give them a big donation but I don't have the money right now, so I'll wait until I have $50 to donate" and never get to it.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure if you have your bank mail them a check every month, they'll cash it.
Haha, sometimes the US-European disconnect is very cute. I mean no offense, but checks went out of use in my country like 20 years ago. (Anectodally, they can still be cashed, for a service fee of $30 or so). Oh, and mailing something to the US would alone be more than PayPal's cut.
So your banking system has no way of giving money to an organization you want to support, and you're calling us "very cute"? That makes a lot of sense.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I certainly can write a check for $5 (and have donated more than that), but the thing is, a $1m donation from a rich person does a lot more than my $5 - specifically, it does 200,000x more. The widow's mite is, in the end, still just a mite.
Not if 200,000 people write it.
I doubt even 200,000 people have ever donated to the EFF over its entire lifetime from 1990 to today.
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#49Just got off my lazy butt and added a recurring donation equal to 1% of my monthly income. Will you do the same?
I'm not crazy about recurring donations in general, but I did just donate a $100.00 one-time donation to the EFF. I'll chip in more here and there as circumstances dictate. I do feel guilty now about not giving before this. :-(
Re: Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year
#50EFF has been warning us about our government abusing our trust long before this scandal broke. Imagine that EFF had the membership and money that the NRA has. You can be sure our privacy rights would be much stronger now. There is something you can do about it: https://supporters.eff.org/donate
This. There are roughly 8 million people employed in science and technology in the U.S. Imagine if we each donated just $5 a month. While that's completely unrealistic to expect, what if we could average $1 a month for each of those workers?
Most people working "in science and technology" do work that's very marginally related to what the EFF does.
Why would a biotech scientist working at a pharmaceutical firm be above-average interested in sponsoring an organisation that's all about software patents and the likes?
It's nearly completely unrelated.
I know this is and HN, and HN is about Silicon Valley, where "technology" equals "software", but really, the world is bigger than that.