In the year 2020, every shred of good news is something to be grateful for, and the outpouring of support we've experienced during our spring fundraiser is very good news indeed. Over the course of the last month, not only did we exceed our goal of 200 new associate members, but we've gained more memberships this July than in any other July in the history of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) associate membership program. We are thrilled that in a time of many pressing concerns about freedom and safety, our supporters have grasped the central importance of the FSF's role in defending our right to control the software in our lives. We cannot possibly thank you enough for helping to ensure that we can continue leading this battle.

While the fight to free all software will always need financial support, it also requires advocacy to bring in more supporters at all levels of technological knowledge. We hope you'll use, enjoy, and share some of the newer tools and advocacy materials we've produced over the last few months:

• The University of Costumed Heroes video: An urgent software freedom issue right now, during the novel coronavirus pandemic, is the required use of proprietary remote education software (as well as in courtrooms and other environments where people would normally congregate in person). We've commissioned a fun animated video that illustrates why this trend is dangerous, and we encourage you to share it and use it to start the conversation.

• Petition for freedom in the classroom: Please join others in declaring in that we won't stand for the serious harm that proprietary software poses to students! Not only does signing communicate that you care, but you also have the option to specify if you're a student, teacher, parent, or administrator at a school that is forcing you to use proprietary software to learn or teach. If you choose to provide this information, we will contact your school administration on your behalf. Free software activists are already converting schools to free videoconferencing programs today, and we want to help make your school another success story if we can. Please read, sign, and share the petition today!

• The FSF Jitsi Meet instance: Finally, one of the easiest ways to introduce people to free software is to use it for something they were going to do already, like video chat! If you're an associate member of the FSF, and you're planning a video chat with a friend or family, member, it's as easy as opening a Jitsi Meet chat room and sharing the URL. I've personally used the FSF Jitsi Meet instance to convert my friends' team trivia game to free software videoconferencing, and it's another great way to start a conversation about why the people you care about should embrace the cause of free software.

Once again, we're so grateful and humbled by your support at a time when many nonprofit organizations are struggling to stay afloat. It's your conviction and commitment that make our work possible, and we hope that with your help, we'll keep the good news coming.

Screenshot from The University of Costumed Heroes by the Free Software Foundation Copyright © 2020 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.