Hi all, I’m Al, the Director of Fundraising at the Tor Project.
On May 19, Tor is launching the first-ever crypto-native crowdfunding campaign for internet freedom projects. The campaign will benefit eleven different privacy-preserving software projects that advance internet freedom globally. Tor will advertise this campaign to the users who boot Tor Browser 4.8M times a day, reaching millions of the most privacy-conscious users on the internet, and directing them to donate using crypto in order to support this critical ecosystem.
Why
Privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information are human rights. When the internet is not free, people cannot exercise these rights. In 2025, global internet freedom declined for the 15th consecutive year. That means more censorship and surveillance, less freedom.
At the same time, tens of millions of dollars of funding for internet freedom projects was gutted in 2025.
Without new funding, 150 projects are at risk of shutting down + 45 million people risk losing access to the open internet globally. Although the Tor Project remained stable though this funding crisis, many smaller privacy and internet freedom organizations and software projects are in great peril.
The Campaign
Our goal is to:
- Build reusable, private, self-sovereign crowdfunding infra for a rapid response pilot crowdfunding round
- Fund immediate development for 11 privacy-preserving internet freedom projects + provide a template for future fundraising
- Empower millions of people to exercise their human rights online
- Reflect, learn, and iterate on the pilot round in the future
Why Zcash
We believe Zcash should be a primary donation option in this campaign. The pairing is natural: the internet freedom projects we aim to support are private by design, made to protect people from some of the most hostile surveillance and censorship powers in the world. And, naturally, Tor protects network privacy, Zcash protects financial privacy. Together, we create a stack privacy-by-default applications that protect people around the world.
Outcomes
→ Associate Zcash with leading privacy and internet freedom projects and our shared values. Tor Browser users are some of the most privacy-minded on the internet. Our users choose Tor Browser for its high level of privacy and reputation in the internet freedom space.
→ Onboard values-aligned nonprofits + organizations to Zcash, allowing for them to accept Zcash in the future. At this time, only a handful of the eleven crowdfunding beneficiaries accept donations in cryptocurrency, and even fewer accept Zcash. This project will introduce new organizational-level users to the ecosystem.
→ Promote the use of Zcash as a mechanism of charitable giving. This crowdfunding campaign is an opportunity to demonstrate that Zcash can be used in charitable giving contexts. We know that Zcash users are charitable because many of you have donated to Tor! Offering Zcash as a way to donate in this campaign expands its demonstrated utility in this context.
→ Support tools necessary to achieve privacy on every level. Because of the change in the funding landscape, many privacy and internet freedom software projects are facing existential risk. Millions of people will lose access to private ways to chat, share files, host websites, receive censorship circumvention support, communicate with journalists, and browse the web privately if these projects fail to raise funds over the next 1-2 years. Tor has a role to play in bringing attention to this critical need, and we believe Zcash also benefits from a strong, healthy ecosystem of privacy software!
Request
We would like to request $25,000 from Zcash Community Grants to add to our matching pool for the crowdfunding campaign.
We know match funds motivate people to participate and give because in previous campaigns targeting the Tor community and raising funds for the Tor Project, match funds have increased the size of contributions made by individual donors. We expect that match funds will increase the efficacy of this campaign.
Existing commitments
We have three committed matching pool sponsors ($75K total) and a committed Web3-ecosystem media partner.
Visibility
At the $25,000 donation level, ZCG would receive the following marketing benefits:
- Logo on campaign landing page
- Reach: Displayed to all users who navigate to the campaign page
- Social media mentions + quote in blog post on Tor blog
- Reach: Shared with 552,000 privacy-conscious social followers + 3M extended partner/beneficiary reach
($50K, $100K, and $250K donation levels have increasing visibility benefits. I can share more if the community thinks these levels are appropriate.)
Feedback or Questions?
I’d love to hear feedback from the community about this idea of ZCG granting matching funds to this project. We plan to submit our application within the week after we’ve had a chance to hear from you.
Thanks y’all!
