Hello Tor World!
Here is my first update on our fundraising efforts. Much of my time in July and August was spent getting up to speed on what you all do so that I can effectively make the case for giving. I also jumped into strengthening relationships by beginning to introduce myself to major donors via email and to our grant program managers in person. I also connected with folks from the community at the FOCI conference in Baltimore.
Additionally, we updated the Tor Donate page by changing some of the language and suggested donation amounts. We also clarified the swag options.
On the social media front, I wrestled with Facebook to enable the fundraising tools on our page and tested it by getting some of my own friends to give a few hundred dollars through a personal fundraiser.
I worked with comms to optimize the newsletter sign-up process and cleaned up the database in anticipation of the list growing significantly in the coming months!
I attended a fundraising conference here in DC to network and attempt to find an awesome grant writer. I also got some new ideas for messaging, fundraising through social media, and converting one-time donors to monthly givers.
With regard to grants, we submitted a proposal for onion services as well as a few reports for current grants. I also got a crash course in government grants by attending the DARPA BAA presentation. This is for funding to hide communication in common apps traffic and Roger is working on the proposal.
I am very excited that we have hired Al Smith to be our grant writer! Al will join us in Mexico and start work in the Seattle office October 10th.
Please reach out to me with any comments or suggestions. I look forward to meeting you all in person in Mexico!
Sarah
Sarah Stevenson Fundraising Director The Tor Project sstevenson@torproject.org
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