attendees learned about free and open source software.</li>

<li>We processed and paid reimbursementrequests to individuals doing work

  around the globe advocating for their free and open source software

  projects at conferences and other venues. We also paid contractors to

  improve our projects' software.</li>

<li>We gave keynotes

at <a href="/news/2016/oct/26/karen-sandler-oscon-eu-2016/">OSCON EU</a>, <a href="/news/2016/sep/14/brocon-keynote/">BroCon</a>, <a href="https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-conference-keynote-speakers-and-launch-event/">the NextCloud conference</>, <a href="/blog/2016/aug/16/guadec-2016/">GUADEC</a>, <a href="/news/2016/aug/08/guadec-opensym/">OpenSym 2016</a>, <a href="https://debconf16.debconf.org/talks/57/">Debconf</a>, <a href"/news/2016/may/31/kuhn-sweden-norway/">OSS 2016</a>, <a href="https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/collection/companies-free-software-and-you/">LibrePlanet</a>, <a href="https://www.openwest.org/keynote/">OpenWest</a>

and participated many more conferences all over the world. We also

shared our expertise in initiatives

like <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a>. We gave

interviews, published <a href="/blog/">blog posts</a>, and

Bradley and Karen released episodes of <a href="http://faif.us/">Free as in

Freedom</a>, all dedicated to discussing the important issues in software

freedom.</li>

</ul>

<p>And we did <strong>all of this</strong> with a tiny staff of only four full time employees.</p>

<p>We are focused on the most important ethical issues in software

freedom. We work tirelessly and don't shy away from difficult issues.</p>

<p>We're a unique organization &mdash; a staunch defender of copyleft (for Linux,

of diversity for the community via Outreachy and other programs, and are the

legal home to 40 member projects that are essential to developing free

software.</p>

<p>We undertake these critical programs because they are essential to the

future of technology. We do them because they are right. <strong>But we cannot do

them without you.</strong> Last year you helped us to fundraising goals that didn't merely keep us running, but even let us <a href="/news/2016/aug/22/brett-joins/">hire a new employee</a>. Yet even this staffing level isn't enough to handle our existing workload.</p>

<p>Our fiscal sponsorship model is not financially self-sustaining by itself:

we cannot afford even one staff member and basic overhead with the revenue we

take in from our projects.  With over 1,000 Supporters, we can now sustain the basic

work and we will survive.  But to thrive, and handle the really complex tasks like

copyright and licensing advice, and license compliance, we need even more

resources.  That's why our final target is 2,500 Supporters.  If you use

or care about our <a href="/members/current/">member projects</a>, which

include some of the most widely used free software, you can help them all

by <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">signing up as a Supporter

today</a>.</p>

<h4>Fighting for the GPL</h4>

<a href="/img/gpl-heart.png" alt="We ♥ GPL"><img class="appeal-right"  src="/img/gpl-heart.png"/></a>

<p>Many consider our GPL compliance and enforcement controversial.   We don't