Hello, Tor world! We owe you a thank you. In August, you helped us raise $107,672.20 for the Bug Smash Fund this year! Thank you to everybody who made a contribution to the Bug Smash Fund during the month of August. This work is critical in helping us to provide safer tools for millions of people around the world exercising their human rights to privacy and freedom online.
Last August, we asked you to help us fundraise during our second annual Bug Smash Fund campaign. We want to share an update on some of the work that the second year of the Bug Smash Fund has made possible. Since 2019, we've marked 410 tickets with BugSmashFund. As of today, 373 of those tickets have been closed, and 37 of them are still in progress.
In mid-May, the Tor Project held a nonfungible token (NFT) auction of a generative art piece we called Dreaming at Dusk, created by artist Itzel Yard (ixshells) and derived from the private key of the first onion service, Dusk.
This action was held on Foundation and resulted in a final bid of 500 Ethereum (ETH), roughly $2M USD at the time of the auction, with the proceeds going towards the Tor Project and our work to improve and promote Tor.
Last August, we asked you to help us fundraise during our second annual Bug Smash Fund campaign. We want to share an update on some of the work that the second year of the Bug Smash Fund has made possible.
Thank you to everyone who made a donation in 2020! You make it possible to resist the surveillance pandemic. You’ve made it possible for the Tor Project and the tools we support to survive a very difficult time, and to prepare for 2021 with ambitious plans.
This year has been difficult for all of us. Although challenging, we have managed to reorganize in order to meet the goals we originally set for 2020, and now, it’s time to look forward to 2021.
You're invited to a virtual State of the Onion on November 16 from 16:00 to 18:00 UTC. We'll this talk about highlights of the work we’ve accomplished during the year and what we are excited about in the upcoming year, plus hear from the Tor community.
Starting today through December 31, every dollar donated to the Tor Project, up to $100,000, will be matched by Friends of Tor. That means that your donation will make double the impact. We’re able to offer this match because of generous folks in our community who believe in Tor, privacy online, and the work to resist the surveillance pandemic.
As many friends and followers of Tor know by now, we spend the final weeks of each year asking for your help as part of our year-end fundraising campaign. For our 2020 campaign, we wanted a theme that conveys a positive message and speaks to the power of this kind of community action. That’s why we decided on the theme Use a Mask, Use Tor.
This August, we asked you to help us fundraise for our second annual Bug Smash Fund campaign. In 2020, despite the challenges of COVID-19 and event cancellations, you helped us to raise $106,709!