December 13th 2011
Dear Supporter,

On behalf of freenode and the PDPC, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, whether you're a recent supporter or a long-term subscriber.

The PDPC and its sub-projects are manned entirely by volunteers. Our costs are kept to a bare minimum and no one draws a wage for the work they undertake on behalf of the projects. Despite us keeping costs down through the help of generous infrastructure sponsors and a community in which sharing is key, we have some administrative and operating costs that necessitate us asking for donations. Since 2007 the organisation has been operating at a loss. However, we are still going strong despite the cash flow deficiency and we have more exciting projects in the pipeline.

As a volunteer run organisation, we're not always the best at prioritising the tedious stuff - this is why you're now reading this page. We've been incredibly poor at keeping up to date with donor cloak expirations over the last few years. We will shortly be reviewing this and with that in mind we felt it fair that we offer you the opportunity to check whether your cloak is about to expire.

You may check the date of your donation by checking your PayPal account or e-mails, alternatively you may ask a freenode staffer (voiced in #freenode) to check this for you. Or you can e-mail board@pdpc.org.uk.

If your donation cloak has expired and you do not wish to renew your donation, please let a freenode staff member know if you would like to change your cloak. If you would prefer to renew your cloak by making another donation, you can set up a subscription or make a one-time payment on the freenode.net website.

In 2011 your donations have helped a number of PDPC projects:

freenode - your donations help pay for co-location of the two servers owned by ourselves, the remainder of the infrastructure for the network is generously sponsored by businesses and educational institutions across the globe.
FOSSCON - for the second year running we have arranged the Free and Open Source Software Conference; FOSSCON in Philadelphia, USA. Tying in with our flagship service, freenode, the conference is a community focused event built around the concept of collaboration and sharing of information. Following the success in the USA we are now laying the foundations for bringing this conference to Europe as well.
GEEKNICs - Picnics for geeks! This summer saw many users taking the initiative to arrange geeknics in their local vicinity, dragging us all away from our computers and out into the fresh air for a day of tasty food and drink and exquisite company.
FOSSEVENTS - The FOSSEVENTS project continues to grow and promotes a number of events across the globe, from smaller LUG meetings to conferences boasting thousands of attendees.

In 2012 our work will continue to focus on the above projects, in addition to work on our new project "FOSS Jobs" - which will be a "free to use" recruitment website on which we encourage businesses to post their FOSS-related jobs, I am sure we all know how hard it can be to find the right job on a general jobsite. Rather than charge a finder's fee as many recruitment sites currently do, we will encourage businesses to make a donation to the PDPC should they feel that the website allowed them to find the right person for the job!

Are you at a loss for what to do with your spare time?

The PDPC is always looking for volunteers. With the growth rate of freenode, the network is constantly on the lookout for people who can spare a few hours here and there helping users and projects get settled on the network. The freenode network is also in dire need of perl (catalyst) developers to help complete GMS (our Group Management System). For more information about volunteering for freenode, please e-mail volunteering@freenode.net.

We are also looking for web developers for our FOSS Jobs project. If you are interested in learning more and getting involved, drop a line to volunteering@fossjobs.org.

Finally, we are keen to get in touch with people based in Europe (the UK in particular) who may be interested in helping out with arranging FOSSCON UK. We will be requiring a variety of people onboard, from fundraisers and sponsor liaisons, to speaker coordinators, AV technicians, networking wizards, security personnel and first aid. If you've got experience from event organisation or you're keen to dip your toes in the water and find out what goes on behind the scenes of a conference, why not drop us a line to volunteer@fosscon.org.uk.

Once more, I would like to thank you for your support.

On behalf of freenode and the PDPC,
Christel (christel) Dahlskjaer

Further information about freenode can be found over at freenode.net, you can visit our blog for information about what we're up to and when, follow us on twitter or identi.ca for status updates and maintenance alerts. Staff can always be found in #freenode where connected freenode staff volunteers will be voiced and for other support requests you may e-mail us at support AT freenode DOT net. Should you wish to donate to the PDPC, the organisation which owns and operates freenode, you can do so here.