Nonprofit · EIN 41-2203632
SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC
Tax-exempt · BROOKLYN, NY 11201
Financials
| Year ended | Form | Revenue | Expenses | Net income | Total assets | Liabilities | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 28, 2025 | 990 | $3,214,723 | $3,805,350 | -$590,627 | $5,401,246 | $1,109,478 | $4,291,768 |
| February 29, 2024 | 990 | $2,487,144 | $4,478,454 | -$1,991,310 | $5,314,976 | $480,907 | $4,834,069 |
| February 28, 2023 | 990 | $4,187,196 | $3,662,134 | $525,062 | $7,242,486 | $468,380 | $6,774,106 |
Financial details: 990 for the year ended February 28, 2025
Revenue
- Contributions, gifts and grants
- $2,491,246
- Program service revenue
- $549,852
- Investment income
- $160,309
- Royalties
- $11,591
- Net gain from sales of assets
- -$6,594
- Other revenue
- $13,316
Expenses
- Grants and similar amounts paid
- $53,174
- Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
- $404,185
- Other salaries and wages
- $641,303
- Salaries, compensation and benefits (total)
- $1,304,435
- Professional fundraising fees
- $42,064
- Legal fees
- $725,882
- Accounting fees
- $19,740
- Occupancy
- $1,738
- Travel
- $158,185
- Program services (functional)
- $2,969,204
- Management and general (functional)
- $678,823
- Fundraising (functional)
- $157,323
Balance sheet and other
- Total assets, start of year
- $5,314,976
- Total assets, end of year
- $5,401,246
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $1,109,478
- Net assets, end of year
- $4,291,768
- Publicly traded securities
- $2,668,582
- Net assets without donor restrictions
- $1,006,678
- Net assets with donor restrictions
- $3,285,090
- Gross receipts
- $3,214,723
- Employees
- 8
- Volunteers
- 5,000
- Year formed
- 2006
- State of legal domicile
- NY
From the e-filed returns the IRS publishes as XML (latest three processing years; amended returns replace the original). PDF copies at the IRS.
Officers, directors and key employees
As listed on the 990 for the year ended February 28, 2025, highest compensation first.
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation | Other / benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen M Sandler | President and Executive Director Officer | 45 | $178,851 | $62,291 |
| Rick Sanders | General Counsel Highest-paid employee | 40 | $124,838 | $68,511 |
| Sage Sharp | Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion Highest-paid employee | 40 | $108,272 | $54,516 |
| Bradley M Kuhn | Director, Policy Fellow, Outgoing Treasurer Trustee or director, Officer | 40 | $113,112 | $41,301 |
| Jeremy Allison | Director Trustee or director | 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Laura Fortunato | Director Trustee or director | 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Mark Galassi | Director Trustee or director, Officer | 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Bdale Garbee | Director Trustee or director | 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Allison Randal | Board Chairperson, Vice President, and Director Trustee or director, Officer | 4.25 | $0 | $0 |
| Anthony K Sebro Jr | Director Trustee or director | 2 | $0 | $0 |
990 for the year ended February 29, 2024: 10 people
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation | Other / benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen M Sandler | President and Executive Director Officer | 45 | $170,823 | $62,595 |
| Bradley M Kuhn | Treasurer, Director, and Policy Fellow Trustee or director, Officer | 41 | $110,512 | $59,418 |
| Rick Sanders | General Counsel Highest-paid employee | 40 | $102,857 | $51,776 |
| Sage Sharp | Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion Highest-paid employee | 40 | $102,553 | $41,123 |
| Bdale Garbee | Director Trustee or director | 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Jeremy Allison | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Laura Fortunato | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Mark Galassi | Director Trustee or director, Officer | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Anthony K Sebro Jr | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Allison Randal | Board Chairperson, Vice President, and Director Trustee or director, Officer | 4.25 | $0 | $0 |
990 for the year ended February 28, 2023: 8 people
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation | Other / benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen M Sandler | President and Executive Director Officer | 40 | $165,231 | $56,632 |
| Bradley M Kuhn | Treasurer, Director, and Policy Fellow Trustee or director, Officer | 40 | $106,895 | $45,897 |
| Jeremy Allison | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Laura Fortunato | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Mark Galassi | Director Trustee or director, Officer | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Bdale Garbee | Director Trustee or director | 1.25 | $0 | $0 |
| Allison Randal | Board Chairperson, VIce President, and Director Trustee or director | 4.25 | $0 | $0 |
| Anthony K Sebro Jr | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 | $0 |
Address and contacts
- Address (IRS master file)
- 137 MONTAGUE ST STE 380, BROOKLYN, NY 11201-3548
- Principal officer (990 for 2024)
- Karen Sandler, 137 Montague St, STE 380, Brooklyn, NY 11201
- Signed the 990
- Karen Sandler, President and Executive Director
- Phone
- (212) 461-3245
- Website
- https://sfconservancy.org
Mission
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) promotes, improves, develops, facilitates & defends Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) & the right to software repair. SFC advocates for the public's software rights & freedoms. SFC provides a home & infrastructure to FOSS initiatives. SFC helps volunteers focus on improving FOSS for the public. Projects include: creation of FOSS for general public, copyleft licensing advocacy, & internships for contributors subject to systemic bias who are underrepresented in FOSS.
Program accomplishments
- FOSS development, documentation, infrastructure, sustainability, & project support: During the tax year, SFC engaged 12 different software developers as independent contractors to improve the software in its FreeDV, Inkscape, Microblocks, phpMyAdmin, Reproducible Builds, and Selenium projects, as well as improving FOSS for SFC's own accounting infrastructure. All software source code was released freely to the public under licenses that encourage the public to use, share, modify, and reinstall it. These contractors also coordinated volunteer software developers to contribute further to the software projects. SFC staff also assisted volunteers in our projects on a daily basis with administration, coordination, legal and infrastructural tasks and costs (as listed at https://sfconservancy.org/members/services/ ). Finally, SFC regularly mentors leadership of projects both inside and outside our organization to improve their non-profit management skills.Expenses $1,357,130 · grants $47,431 · revenue $521,768
- Outreachy and The Institute For Computing Research (ICR): In the tax year, we funded 60 interns via Outreachy - an initiative that encourages participation in FOSS for those who are subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they live. Outreachy interns improve FOSS and its documentation, and increase the diversity of the FOSS community while also learning valuable skills. ICR mentors and trains students in high school to do rigorous scientific research using FOSS. During this tax year, ICR had 27 internships. Both internship programs are paid programs which enable those from less privileged backgrounds to participate.Expenses $885,405
- License Compliance & Enforcement: Some FOSS is available under "copyleft" licenses, such as the General Public License (GPL). These licenses allow everyone to freely share, copy, modify and (re)install modified versions of software. SFC identifies situations where distributors fail to meet the copyleft requirements & requires them to provide the same rights to all those who receive the software distribution. Through this process, SFC ensures that the public has equal rights to use, improve and study software & experiment with their own modifications so that the rights of consumers to repair the software on their devices is restored. During the tax year, SFC continued litigation against a maker of Linux-based televisions in California state court in which SFC seeks the complete, corresponding source (CCS) for the copylefted components in the televisions. During the tax year, SFC also provided a grant to an individual to undertake a legal action in Germany where he successfully sought the CCS for the LGPL'd components on the router he purchased. We also designed & built a new wireless router, the OpenWrt One which gives people the ability to modify and fix their router out of the box. The OpenWrt One is an example of how to comply with copyleft licenses & overcome challenges cited in the industry. We also conduct talks and discussions at conferences to educate companies and consumers.Expenses $422,759 · grants $7,942 · revenue $13,666
- Facilitating and Participating in FOSS conferences: During the tax year, SFC planned, organized and/or ran three conferences, and prepared for one other to take place in the following year. Additionally, SFC coordinated and funded many other smaller "hackfest" events for its projects. Furthermore, SFC funded travel expenses for staff's and volunteers' attendance at more than 14 different third-party software conferences. These events allow volunteer FOSS contributors and SFC staff to (a) speak about their work to the public, (b) teach the public how to use and improve their software, (c) generally promote the use, adoption and improvement of FOSS, and (d) explain and explore the policy issues surrounding software freedom and software rights. Most FOSS conferences include opportunities for software developers to meet and rapidly work closely together to make improvements to the software and release those improvements immediately to the public. Finally, SFC staff also assisted in organizing the Legal & Policy DevRoom at FOSDEM, the largest annual FOSS conference in Europe.Expenses $303,910 · revenue $27,734
What it must file and when
IRS records say it files Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N. Its accounting year ends in February, so each return is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after that.
| Tax year | Year ended | Due | IRS public records |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | February 28, 2026 | July 15, 2026 | Not on file |
| 2024 | February 28, 2025 | July 15, 2025 | 990 on file |
| 2023 | February 29, 2024 | July 15, 2024 | 990 on file |
IRS record
- EIN
- 41-2203632
- Tax-exempt status
- 501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational or scientific organization
- Foundation status
- Publicly supported organization (170(b)(1)(A)(vi))
- Donations deductible (Pub 78)
- Public charity, 50% deduction limit
- Exempt since
- 2006
- Accounting year ends
- February
- Files
- Form 990 or 990-EZ
- Category (NTEE)
- Science and technology (U41)
- Assets (IRS master file)
- $5,401,246
- Income (IRS master file)
- $3,214,723
Filing history
| Form | Year ended | Revenue | Expenses | Assets | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 990 | February 2025 | $3,214,723 | $3,805,350 | $5,401,246 | XML |
| 990 | February 2024 | $2,487,144 | $4,478,454 | $5,314,976 | XML |
| 990 | February 2023 | $4,187,196 | $3,662,134 | $7,242,486 | XML |
| 990 | February 2022 | $4,357,006 | $3,165,712 | $6,623,240 | IRS |
| 990 | February 2021 | – | – | – | IRS |
990-N: the IRS bulk file holds only the latest e-Postcard per organization; earlier years come from archived copies of that file since 2020 and can have gaps (the IRS e-Postcard search lists every one). 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T: every e-filed return in the IRS e-file index since 2019; XML for the latest three processing years, amounts from the IRS Statistics of Income extracts before that. PDF copies and determination letters at the IRS (search EIN 41-2203632).
Questions about SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC
- What is the EIN of SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC?
- The employer identification number (EIN) of SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC is 41-2203632.
- Is SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC tax-exempt?
- Yes. The IRS lists it as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 2006.
- Are donations to SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC tax-deductible?
- Yes. It is listed in IRS Publication 78 (Public charity, 50% deduction limit).
- Which annual return does SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC file?
- Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N.
- When is the next return of SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC due?
- The return for tax year 2025 (the year ending February 28, 2026) is due July 15, 2026. Form 8868 extends it by six months; the 990-N cannot be extended.
- When did SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC last file with the IRS?
- The latest return in the IRS public files is the 990 for the year ended February 2025.
- Who is the principal officer of SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC?
- The 990 for the year ended February 28, 2025 names Karen Sandler.
- Who are the officers and directors of SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC?
- The 990 for the year ended February 28, 2025 lists 10 people; 4 received compensation from the organization, the highest $178,851 (Karen M Sandler, President and Executive Director).
- How much revenue does SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC have?
- On its 990 for the year ended February 28, 2025 it reported revenue of $3,214,723, expenses of $3,805,350 and total assets of $5,401,246 at year end.
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