2017 DuckDuckGo Donations: $400,000 to Raise the Standard of Trust Online

At DuckDuckGo, our vision is to raise the standard of trust online. To that end, for our seventh year we are making donations to organizations that share a similar vision.

We are lucky to have been growing, which has enabled us to increase our donations each year from $1,500 in 2011 to now $400,000 in 2017, with a cumulative total of over $815,000.

Please consider donating alongside us to the particular organizations below that resonate most with you.

$200,000 to the Freedom of the Press Foundation

Freedom of the Press Foundation protects and defends adversarial journalism in the 21st century.

Our donation is going towards training journalists on privacy. This is our fourth year donating to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

$75,000 to the World Privacy Forum

The World Privacy Forum is dedicated to reimagining privacy in a digital era through groundbreaking, in-depth privacy research, analysis, and consumer education of the highest quality.

Our donation is going towards the creation of a Parent’s Guide to Privacy.

$29,000 to Open Whisper Systems

Making private communication simple.

Our donation is going towards supporting Signal, the encrypted communications app developed by Open Whisper Systems.

$25,000 to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Since 1992, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has empowered individuals to protect their privacy by providing direct one-to-one assistance, creating original educational publications, and advocating for consumer-friendly policy.

Our donation is going towards creating a series of animated videos explaining online privacy issues to a mainstream audience.

$25,000 to Tor Project

The Tor network is a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows people to improve their privacy and security on the Internet.

Our donation is going towards maintaining hidden services. This is our fourth year donating to Tor.

$25,000 to Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.

Our donation is going towards the continued development of Privacy Badger, the browser add-on that “blocks spying ads and invisible trackers.” This is our fourth year donating to the EFF.

Smaller Donations

In addition to our larger donations made for specific purposes, we made a number of smaller donations to generally support these organizations:

• $5,000 to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — “For almost 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
• $5,000 to Access Now — “Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world.”
• $2,500 to The Calyx Institute — “The Calyx Institute’s mission is to educate the public about privacy in digital communications and to develop and test building blocks that service providers can use to build ‘privacy by design’ into their service offerings.”
• $2,500 to Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) — “CDT is a champion of global online civil liberties and human rights, driving policy outcomes that keep the Internet open, innovative, and free.”
• $1,000 to Restore the Fourth — “Dedicated to restoring the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and ending unconstitutional mass government surveillance.”
• $1,000 to Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) — “Since its founding in 2001, CDD has been at the forefront of research, public education, and advocacy protecting consumers in the digital age.”
• $1,000 to Patient Privacy Rights — “Patient Privacy Rights’ purpose is to honor and empower the individual’s right to privacy through personal control of health information wherever such information is collected and used.”
• $1,000 to Online Trust Alliance (OTA) — OTA’s mission is “to enhance online trust and empower users, while promoting innovation and the vitality of the Internet.”
• $1,000 to Tech Freedom — “Our mission is to promote the progress of technology that improves the human condition and expands individual capacity to choose by educating the public, policymakers, and thought leaders about the kinds of public policies that enable technology to flourish.”
• $1,000 to Demand Progress — “Demand Progress is a national grassroots group with two million affiliated activists who fight for basic rights and freedoms needed for a modern democracy.”

Thank you for your donation suggestions, which were much appreciated. And again, please consider donating alongside us to the particular organizations above that resonate most with you.

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