RE: https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon/116402716327956884

I am very happy to finally be able to announce this. We are working hard (you can’t imagine) to secure funding to continue to improve Mastodon, and are very grateful that amazing organisation like @sovtechfund invest in open-source, and especially Mastodon.

Developing open-source software is hard (and it is not becoming easier) and quality software requires a lot of hard work. Our team is growing and we are delivering more polished features than ever, and we continue to try to push it further

@sovtechfund Working on grant requests is not what I enjoy the most, but right now Mastodon is in a good and desirable position to apply to programs like this one, that allow us to plan in the long run and hire full time people to work on such projects.

And it’s really motivating to see that more and more governments and non-profits are seeking into funding projects like ours, because fighting big tech and VC-funded platforms with only donations is a challenge that we did not (yet) solve fully

@renchap Really amazing news, and well-deserved. Congratulations!
@renchap @sovtechfund Super excited to hear about the FIRES work. Feel free to use https://fires.1sland.social for testing/consuming various datasets.
FIRES - Home

FIRES: Fediverse Intelligence Replication Endpoint Server

@renchap @sovtechfund Thank you for your hard work! Apropos, if you know anyone trying to automate the fight against disinformation, NATO sometimes offers funding for research in this area (or sometimes adjacent areas of benefit to the organisation). I only mention it because it's the sort of capability that I imagine citizens of the fediverse might enjoy. Thanks again! #NATO #fediverse #activitypub #disinformation
@renchap Thanks to all the team for all the work you've already done and will do in the future. It means a lot!

@renchap @sovtechfund

You and your team are amazing Renaud!

Thank you, and keep up the amazing work!

@renchap @sovtechfund We at CiviCRM know exactly how hard it is to mobilize funding again and again. We succeed this mainly through memberships this year. We are very grateful for that.

Our community is the anchor that keeps our work and further development going.
Your success shows that this work is worthwhile and the right path.

It is an incredibly good sign and provides great motivation for all of us.
We warmly congratulate you and are happy for this important sign of growth in digital sovereignty.

Thank you so much for your engagement.