Skip to main content


▶️ $17.44 ◀️ That’s the average donation to Thunderbird so far in 2023. A gift roughly the price of a pizza helps provide jobs. It helps us bring Thunderbird to iOS and Android even faster. It helps us develop new features. It substantially improves our sustainability.

YOU have that power! YOU can help give people a free, ethical alternative to corporate giants and walled gardens. Please donate today, and help Thunderbird thrive: mzla.link/eoy23_masto

#OpenSource #Android #iOS #Community

This entry was edited (11 months ago)

Aleca reshared this.

in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

I was going to give you a donation (via PayPal), but sorry, not if I have to give you my full address. If I'm authenticated by PayPal, that should be sufficient - it is for literally ANY other company I use it for paying.
And while we are at it: I don't want to "One-time setup, faster checkouts." at all (which, I guess, is the reason WHY it's asking for my address).
I just want to make a one-time donation, like throwing a fiver in a hat, as I do with other organizations via PayPal.
in reply to Igor Rock

@IgorRock Thanks for wanting to support us! Our payment provider needs a billing address for identity verification, payment processing, and especially fraud prevention. You can read our Privacy Policy at donate.mozilla.org/faq/
in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

"for identity verification" - well, there's your problem.
That's EXACTLY what I don't want - and don't need on any other page or organization I've used PayPal for in the past (like, just yesterday, actually).
PayPal verifies my identity already (two factor login), so there is no need why you should need this, too.
From a privacy POV, this is the worst you can do, and from a data economy and safety POV, it's even worse - adding another DB which can be breached or leaked.
This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Igor Rock

@IgorRock Hey Igor, I run Thunderbird's marketing and communications.

Your comment about adding another database that can be breached or leaked resonates with me. And it's a very valid concern. I feel like we're all growing weary -- and angry -- over the constant breaches involving our personal information...

What I can promise you is that we're having internal discussions about this, and evaluating whether or not this is a policy we should continue.

Thanks for the feedback.

in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

Quick question from a donor - how does Mozilla make sure that Thunderbird donations actually go to Thunderbird development? I'm energized by the new desktop updates, and looking forward to the mobile application! Keep up the good work!
in reply to Rabbi Nathan Farb

@rabbinathan Hey there and thanks for the attabird on our updates and future plans!

We're a separate company from the rest of Mozilla (MZLA Technologies Corportation), which means the donations go straight to us. Even if someone decided to send a check or money order, the designated address directs it to the Thunderbird project.

Thanks for asking and doing your due diligence, and we hope this answer helps you and anyone else reading it!

in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

I already donated this year, and I really need to watch my spendings a bit at the moment. But I'll donate again when Sync has arrived! Really excited for that.

(Feel free to remind me again)

Consider signing up with @Liberapay

This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Felix Urbasik

@fell We'll definitely let everyone know here when Sync is ready, and we'll do our best to give you a friendly reminder 😁 💙
Unknown parent

@zwovierzwo Hi there! Can you describe how it's buggy on KDE? There's always a chance it's a bug that has not yet been reported.
in reply to jwz

@jwz We should point out that Thunderbird operates under MZLA Technologies Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mozilla Foundation.

Our TOTAL revenue last year, which was entirely from user donations, was $6.8 million.

We do not have a CEO.

Further reading for you: blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/t…

@jwz
in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

Nobody's fooled by the com/org hat trick. Anyway, maybe you could ask her to check under her couch cushions for some change. Just a suggestion.
in reply to jwz

*shrugs* We've always been transparent about our finances. What you choose to believe is your choice.

But, I would suggest you offer meaningful and helpful suggestions, not sarcastic and unhelpful ones.

stats.thunderbird.net/#financi…

This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

You're a wholly owned subsidiary of a nonprofit that owns a company of the same name that pays their CEO almost $7M. Here's my concrete suggestion, pay them less and spend that money on better things.

If your pitch is "but we're a part of Mozilla, not a part of Mozilla", you need to work on that messaging, because come on.

in reply to jwz

@jwz I don't want to attack FOSS developers, especially of the software I use daily, but this is a honest question: what *is* the benefit of being part of the Mozilla Whatever, if you have to rely on direct donations anyway?

The post you linked talks about how being a for-profit is beneficial , and alright, fair, but you can't deny this multi-level for-murky-purposes scheme looks off-putting.

I promise I will start a monthly symbolic donation to repent for asking questions if you do give me an answer.

Edit: fwiw from afar it certainly looks like Mozilla wanted to kill the project off, but when people started donating it graciously accepted the heavy responsibility of managing that money after all. I'm sure it's more complicated than that (which is the problem)

@jwz
This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Meh as a Service

@virtulis @jwz hey all, Ryan here - Managing Director for MZLA/Thunderbird. I don't know how to make the case other than with the truth. Let's say Thunderbird went back into the Corporation and Google search money was spent to fund its development - would that be ideal for the project? No, because it wouldn't be self sustaining and if the search money for Firefox went away so would Thunderbird. Having a distinct entity with a distinct funding source shields Thunderbird.
in reply to Ryan Lee Sipes ⚡🦅

@virtulis @jwz I talk a lot about the sustainability of the project and have fought to have it protected in a separate place where it can live or die on its own merits. We get a lot of benefit from having access to experts within the larger Mozilla family to help us with build infrastructure and other areas where it would be difficult for our team to manage alone.

But being separate, financially, means we shape our own destiny. Which has been a problem.

in reply to Ryan Lee Sipes ⚡🦅

@virtulis @jwz just look at the history of Thunderbird. Before us having our own entity and being self sustaining, the project was on very unstable ground. I don't want us to ever be dependent on anything but ourselves again - and live or die based on whether Thunderbird is doing a good job or not.
in reply to Ryan Lee Sipes ⚡🦅

@ryanleesipes @jwz thank you for the response. Just to clarify, I didn't question the need for a separate entity, rather the point of it not being completely separate (and that's how I read the conversation prior).

If you do indeed get help from Mozilla without additional impediment to yourselves, that is certainly a good reason.

Added a recurring €5 as promised.

in reply to Meh as a Service

@virtulis @jwz Thank you. We do get help, but we do not get monetary contributions from the other entities. Like I said, we will live or die on our own merit and that is a healthier situation for Thunderbird.
in reply to Ryan Lee Sipes ⚡🦅

@virtulis @jwz Also, folks don't realize how hard the separation is. MZLA/Thunderbird makes its own decision based on what the Thunderbird Council (an elected body of contributors) and MZLA leadership decides. This is always centered around what makes Thunderbird self-sustaining and able to continue to improve. No other considerations have ever been discussed.
in reply to Ryan Lee Sipes ⚡🦅

@ryanleesipes @virtulis "People don't understand why the 2 (3??) organizations with the same name, one of whom owns us, don't give us any of that $450M/year from Google." Yeah, it's a mystery why people might not understand that.

I get that you consider yourselves independent of the corp, of which you are a subsidiary, but surely you get why, to anyone on the outside, this sounds like if Google held a bake sale to keep Gmail running.

Point the money hydrant at it. If not why not.

in reply to jwz

@jwz @virtulis we (the project) considered spinning out, and Mozilla was fine with that. But the help we get versus being on our own makes it worthwhile to be related.

Finally, each entity does what benefits it. Thunderbird history has shown that the Corporation spending money on Thunderbird isn't beneficial to it. Which makes sense. We (the Thunderbird community and MZLA employees) have found a way to exist and grow with (so far) complete freedom. As I see it, that's a win.

in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

is it a Median or Arithmetic mean $17.44? The latter is easily skewed by few non-typical values.
in reply to Toxa

Our median donation currently is $11.65 (note, this shifts over time and with each donation!). Once we do our 2023 financial report in January/February, we can identify the final median. This comment on the 2022 report shows how our donations are overwhelmingly from small donors: blog.thunderbird.net/2023/05/t…
This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox

I gave 🙂
Thank you very much for this work, which has made me more productive in a world of freedom. 🔓 💗 🐦 ✉️
in reply to Chamblard

@Chamblard Thank you so much! We're so glad we can help you get everything done and help keep your e-mail free and private!
in reply to mel

@mel Please don't ever feel bad about the amount you donate. We're all in different situations, and sometimes we can give more and sometimes we can't. But all those small donations have added up to do amazing things, and we know they'll do it again this year too. So seriously, thank you! 🙇‍♀️ 🙌
@mel
Unknown parent

@ditsch42 Thank you for donating and sharing it here! We know we could use a Mastodon button.🙁 It isn't for lack of trying, aka poking our donation service with the occasional stick, but there's some technical hurdles on their side.
Unknown parent

@lordvalor mostly agree, though I could make a decent case for an option to have AI (privately!) scan my email and help organize etc.

But whether you could trust it to be truly private is a big question

in reply to Pusher Of Pixels (old account)

@pixelpusher220 @lordvalor No AI features are currently in development or even scoped for Thunderbird, but we do believe there are potentially helpful -- and absolutely ethical -- uses for AI in Thunderbird.

I can tell you that our team believes any such feature should be optional, and running locally on your machine, and ideally have a small storage and CPU footprint.

~Jason

in reply to Pusher Of Pixels (old account)

@pixelpusher220 @lordvalor Any time!

By the way, Firefox Translations is a great example of what's possible with an AI tool that's all its computation locally.

~Jason