Due to financial problems, throughout my privacy journey I have only used free tools to enhance my privacy. I was recently thinking about the question: If I had the money to give back to the services I’ve used, which ones would I donate to? Here is my personal list, which is still a WIP:

I will definitely donate to (15):

I am very likely to donate to (14):

I will most likely donate to (7):

I may donate to (11):

I may add more as I think of them. Please leave your ideas!

Note: I’m trying my best to avoid turning this into just a list of privacy tools, but that may end up being what it becomes.

Honorable Mentions (9):

There are some services that I support but either don’t use or have not matured enough to donate to.

Some math

I realized I never actually specified any amounts that I would donate to each service, so here is most likely how I will spread my money:

For the services I will definitely donate to, I will donate $50 to each services.

For the services I am very likely to donate to, I will donate $40 to each service.

For the services I will most likely donate to, I will donate $30 to each service, for the ones I decide to donate to.

For the services I may donate to, I will donate $20 to each service, for the ones I decide to donate to.

For the honorable mentions, if they ever become part of my official donation list, I will start with a $10 donation and increase it from there.

For those thinking those are small donations, note that if I were to donate those amounts to every service it would be a total donation of over $1,800. That is at least a start, and once I am able to donate I will likely donate the same amount every year.

By no means am I doing this for publicity or congratulations, I am just making my thoughts public and hopefully sparking others to donate to some privacy services. Lots of these services run off of donations, so please try not to take them for granted!

A note from me

There seems to be a misunderstanding about the purpose of this post. I am not posting this to receive criticism for my choices, although I am happy to learn about potential misconceptions I had about certain services (Organic Maps, Mozilla, etc.) This list contains my choices, and your choices may be different. Nor am I posting this to gain attention, media traction, congratulations, or publicity. The purpose of this post is to encourage you to make your own list based on your own criteria, and to potentially share it here. Very few people have actually commented with services that they would/do donate to. I have decided to include my choices as well as links to better help others find what they would donate to. For example, many people may forget to donate to services like GNOME that they use every day without thinking twice about the developers who have worked hard to create it. I’m aware that some of these services are for-profit, have poor business practices, or are based in privacy disrespecting countries, but in my opinion (and again, you should make your own list based on your own opinion) those services deserve my support. I thank everyone who has helped me better formulate my list, but this post isn’t meant to be about me. I encourage you to take your time to make your own list of services you really would consider donating to. The draft for this list has taken me over a month. Thank you all for taking the time to read through this, and it is unlikely I will be interacting with this post for a while.

Recent update

I recently went back and changed a few things, adding some I missed. There is drama surrounding Libreboot, and some murky information about which companies provide the best security keys, as well as other stuff. I’ve decided to abandon this list and remake it elsewhere, maybe to share here. Cheers!

  • The 8232 ProjectOP
    6·
    9 months ago

    Donating to for-profit companies isn’t inherently bad. While there is more value in donating to non-profit companies, I support all causes equally and want to show my support accordingly.

      • The 8232 ProjectOP
        3·
        9 months ago

        By donating I am wanting to support specific projects within the company that align with my privacy values, and a donation would directly target that. By donating, I can help more than simply buying a product, especially if there is a low profit margin for products. For example, if a company sold a product that cost them $45 to manufacture for $50, buying that product would only give the company $5 in profit, compared to if I had donated all $50. That maximizes the impact of my donation. Furthermore, I may support a certain initiative but not personally have the need to buy their products. For example, I support Nitrokey’s implementation of the Nitrokey, but I already have a Yubikey, and so I wouldn’t have a need to buy a Nitrokey. Not to mention, donations are taxed less heavily on the company than sales are in some places. Donations also help raise awareness for a company, and helps me push my personal beliefs about privacy.