Today, Tor is launching a crowdfunding campaign for 10 internet freedom projects. Because without increased support, we’re at risk of losing an ecosystem of privacy and anti-censorship tech.
Internet freedom tools are facing a crisis.
As of 2025, internet freedom has declined for 15 consecutive years.
And yet as censorship and surveillance become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, many of the tools people rely on to communicate and organize safely, access information freely, and protect their privacy are facing financial pressure and funding cuts.
Last year, some organizations were forced to reduce staffing, scale back technical infrastructure, delay development work, and stop support for the communities that depend on them. This strain threatens the long-term sustainability of critical public-interest infrastructure.
What can we do about the loss of internet freedom funding?
Today, we’re launching a new experiment: a community-driven, cryptocurrency-native crowdfunding campaign designed to fund internet freedom more sustainably, transparently, and collectively. This isn’t just about Tor, it’s about internet freedom tools that collectively make up part of the big tech alternative.
Cryptocurrency donations, no matter the size, will support secure journalism, private communications, anti-censorship technologies, and privacy-preserving infrastructure used by millions of people worldwide.
Participate today: https://internetfreedom.
Who benefits from this campaign?
The ten organizations below have been selected as first-round beneficiaries for this crowdfunding campaign because of their interconnected web of impact on internet freedom globally.
Internet freedom isn’t just Tor, or one protocol, or one messaging app—it’s an interconnected network of tools, people, and movements that refuse to accept surveillance and censorship on the internet as inevitable.
- SecureDrop: Secure whistleblower submission system used by journalists and newsrooms
- Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI): Global observatory documenting internet censorship and shutdowns
- OnionShare: Open-source tool for secure, anonymous file sharing and hosting
- OpenArchive: Privacy-first archiving tools for human rights defenders and journalists
- Ricochet Refresh: Metadata-resistant instant messaging over Tor
- Onion Browser: Tor-powered web browser for iOS
- ASL19: Anti-censorship technology and digital security support
- Unredacted: Infrastructure supporting censorship circumvention and resilient communications
- Miaan Group: Internet freedom technologies supporting users in Iran
- Osservatorio Nessuno: Supporting activists, journalists, and civil society organizations with technical assistance and traceless software to protect their online privacy and security
How do organizations get funded?
Each donation to the campaign acts as a vote. Your vote dictates how the campaign will distribute match funding to the organizations you choose. Contributions can be made using $ETH, $BTC, $ZEC, $XMR, and $GLM.
To do this, we’re using a participatory matching fund model called “quadratic funding.”
Quadratic funding using a match pool is designed to amplify the impact of many small contributions. The model increases match funding for projects backed by broad community participation. In practice, a project supported by many smaller contributors receives more matching funds than one supported by only a few large donors.
Matching funds are provided by a coalition of organizations aligned around privacy, open infrastructure, and public goods funding, including: Cake Wallet, Zcash Community Grants, Logos, and Octant.
Participate today: https://internetfreedom.
Why focus solely on cryptocurrency?
Moments of crisis and great need require new responses. In partnership with Funding the Commons, we’re experimenting with something new.
Some of the infrastructure available in the cryptocurrency world makes it easy to run a campaign like this in a light-weight, flexible way, and get funds to the benefiting organizations quickly. Similarly, many in the cryptocurrency community have expressed a desire to support internet freedom projects through infrastructure they trust and use.
While this campaign focuses on a cryptocurrency-native functionality, donations in traditional formats are still extremely impactful.
This initiative is an additional opportunity to grow our community and support our shared mission for internet freedom, not a replacement for your ongoing support in its many forms.
You can donate fiat to any of the participating projects by visiting their website via internetfreedom.torproject.org and making a donation through their available options.
Want to amplify the impact of this campaign?
If you are an organization or individual with the capacity to donate a major gift of more than $10,000 please email giving@torproject.org to contribute to the matching pool fund and help support all of the projects.
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