FSF associate membership — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software

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</span> </span> <span id="breadcrumbs-1" dir="ltr"> <span id="breadcrumbs-current">Associate Member</span> </span> </div></div> <div class=""> <dl class="portalMessage info" id="kssPortalMessage" style="display:none"> <dt>Info</dt> <dd></dd> </dl> <article> <div id="content"> <h2 id="intro-text"> <span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description-233d3a9d-8a3d-4990-8482-cd6ac5b03159"> When you donate to the FSF as an associate member, you support the essential freedoms for all computer users, with a sustaining contribution. </span> </h2> <div class="" id="parent-fieldname-text-233d3a9d-8a3d-4990-8482-cd6ac5b03159"> <p><em>Read this page in <a href="https://www.fsf.org/es/associate">Spanish.</a></em></p> <div style="clear:both"><br /></div> <p><a href="https://www.fsf.org/jfb">Join</a> with over 5,000 active members in 76 countries, representing a diverse membership of computer users, artists, software engineers, hackers, students, and activists.</p> <p>When you donate as an associate member, you are part of an informed society working together to make a better world: respectful of individual freedom, social solidarity, personal privacy, and democracy — built on free software.</p> <p>The Free Software Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so your member donation is tax-deductible in the US.</p> <div class="randquote"><blockquote> “I've long been a supporter of the ideas of the FSF and the whole free software movement. Today, I wanted to make a tangible contribution to the FSF, as well as openly declaring my support for the key advocate and defender of software freedom.”</blockquote> <p style="text-align: right;"><cite>— Cathal McGinley, member #5886</cite></p> </div> <h3>Why donate as an associate member?</h3> <ul> <li>As a software developer, free software lets you build and improve on the work of others, as part of a social community — built on the principles of sharing.</li> <li>As an artist, you can do things with free software that proprietary software does not allow. All free software allows you to use it for any purpose.</li> <li>As a user, free software removes you from the power struggle of proprietary software, where you are able to help yourself and are not dependent on a single developer or company to help you.</li> <li>As a student, you can study and modify the software you use, learning from and enhancing the tools that you use for education.</li> </ul> <h3>What kinds of associate memberships are there?</h3> <p>There are two classes of associate membership: the full associate membership that receives all of the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits">member benefits</a>, and the friends associate membership that allows you to contribute to the FSF at a <a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/dues.html">reduced rate</a>.</p> <p>Both memberships are associate memberships. For the sake of simplicity, we just call the former <i>associate membership</i> and the latter <i>friends membership.</i></p> </div> </div> </article> </div> <div id="viewlet-below-content"> </div> </div> </div></div></div> <div id="fsf-sidebar" class="yui-b visualNoPrint"> <aside> <span style="display: none;">1PC9aZC4hNX2rmmrt7uHTfYAS3hRbph4UN</span> <div id="search"> <form id="sidesearch" name="searchform" action="/search"> <p><input name="SearchableText" tabindex="1" type="text" size="30" title="Search Site" /></p> <p><input class="searchButton" type="submit" value="Search" /></p> </form> </div> <div class="visualPadding"> <div class="portletWrapper" data-portlethash="706c6f6e652e7269676874636f6c756d6e0a636f6e746578740a2f6673662f6173736f63696174650a6173736f63696174652d6d656d62657273686970" id="portletwrapper-706c6f6e652e7269676874636f6c756d6e0a636f6e746578740a2f6673662f6173736f63696174650a6173736f63696174652d6d656d62657273686970"> <dl class="portlet portletStaticText portlet-static-associate-membership"> <dt class="portletHeader"> <span class="portletTopLeft"></span> <span> Associate membership </span> <span class="portletTopRight"></span> </dt> <dd class="portletItem odd"> <ul> <li><a href="/associate/benefits.html">Benefits</a></li> <li><a href="/associate/dues.html">Dues</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.fsf.org/associate/gift">Gift a membership</a></li> <li><a href="https://forum.members.fsf.org">Member Forum</a> <small>(<a href="/associate/about-the-member-forum">More info</a>)</small></li> <li><a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference">LibrePlanet conference</a></li> <li><a href="http://my.fsf.org/associate/account/am_account_renew">Renew your membership!<br /></a></li> <li><a href="http://libreplanet.org/">Join or start a local LibrePlanet group</a></li> <li><a href="/associate/contact.html">Contact us</a></li></ul> <p class="c"><a title="Join the Free Software Foundation" href="/jfb"><img 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FSF associate membership — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software