For several years, Freedom of the Press Foundation has proudly served as the “fiscal sponsor” of Signal, the secure messaging app used by millions of people around the world. Signal is a critical tool for journalists and their sources, and the project’s sustainability has always been incredibly important to us.
Signal—which is free to download and use—relies on donations to keep it going. In their early years, they were unable to register as an official 501c3 nonprofit due to limited capacity. So in 2016, Freedom of the Press Foundation entered into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike, where we agreed to accept tax-deductible donations on Signal’s behalf until they were able to do so on their own.
Over the years, through both donations big and small, we were able to help Signal secure millions of dollars to fund its development and the infrastructure costs associated with running a high-traffic and globally accessible service.
We were elated when, a year and a half ago, Signal announced it was applying for 501c3 non-profit status with the aim of keeping the project sustainable long term. However, getting 501c3 nonprofit status is an arduous process, so Freedom of the Press Foundation has continued to take online donations for Signal while their application with the IRS was still pending.
We are happy to share that Signal Technology Foundation officially received their 501c3 status from the IRS a few months ago and can now accept tax-deductible donations directly.
For that reason, we are winding down our crowdfunding effort for Signal and have sent almost all their remaining funding to the new Signal Technology Foundation. Our Signal donation page now redirects to Signal’s own donation page.
If you are a recurring donor, we will reach out soon to cancel your existing recurring donation and provide information about how to start a new one via Signal’s website. Of course, we will continue to honor your recurring donations until that process is completed.
Signal has made incredible strides over the past two years and is stronger than ever. The messaging app continues to be the gold standard for secure messaging, and their team continues to innovate in the name of protecting user privacy. We are honored that we were able to do our small part to help them get where they are today, and we can’t wait to work with them in the future.
