BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, January 30, 2018 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced it has received a record-breaking charitable contribution of 91.45 Bitcoin from the Pineapple Fund, valued at $1 million at the time of the donation. This gift is a testament to the importance of free software, computer user freedom, and digital rights when technology is interwoven with daily life.

"Free software is more than open source; it is a movement that encourages community collaboration and protects users' freedom," wrote Pine, the Pineapple Fund's founder. "The Free Software Foundation does amazing work, and I'm certain the funds will be put to good use."

"The FSF is honored to receive this generous donation from the Pineapple Fund in service of the free software movement," said John Sullivan, FSF executive director. "We will use it to further empower free software activists and developers around the world. Now is a critical time for computer user freedom, and this gift will make a tremendous difference in our ability, as a movement, to meet the challenges."

The anonymous Pineapple Fund, created to give away $86 million worth of Bitcoin to charities and social causes, "is about making bold and smart bets that hopefully impact everyone in our world."

The FSF believes free software does impact everyone, and this gift from the Pineapple Fund will be used to:

Increase innovation and the number of new projects in high priority areas of free software development, including the GNU Project;

Expand the FSF's licensing, compliance, and hardware device certification programs;

Bring the free software movement to new audiences;

Contribute to the long-term stability of the organization.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at https://fsf.org and https://gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

More information about the FSF, as well as important information for journalists and publishers, is at https://www.fsf.org/press.

Media Contacts

John Sullivan

Executive Director

Free Software Foundation

+1 (617) 542 5942

campaigns@fsf.org