Craig Newmark Philanthropies – Celebrating 30 Years of Support for Digital Rights

EFF has been awarded a new $200,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to strengthen our cybersecurity work in 2024. We are especially grateful this year, as it marks 30 years of donations from Craig Newmark, who joined as an EFF member just three years after our founding and four years before he launched the popular website craigslist.  

Over the past several years, grants from Craig Newmark Philanthropies have focused on supporting trustworthy journalism to defend our democracy and hold the powerful accountable, as well as cybersecurity to protect consumers and journalists alike from malware and other dangers online. With this funding, EFF has built networks to help defend against disinformation warfare, fought online harassment, strengthened ethical journalism, and researched state-sponsored malware, cyber-mercenaries, and consumer spyware. EFF’s Threat Lab conducts research on surveillance technologies used to target journalists, communities, activists, and individuals. For example, we helped co-found, and continue to provide leadership to the Coalition Against Stalkerware. EFF also created and updated tools to educate and train working and student journalists alike to keep themselves safe from adversarial attacks. In addition to maintaining our popular Surveillance Self Defense guide, we scaled up our Report Back tool for student journalists, cybersecurity students, and grassroots volunteers to collaboratively study technology in society. 

In 2006, EFF recognized craigslist for cultivating a pervasive culture of trust and maintaining its public service charge even as it became one of the most popular websites in the world. Though Craig has retired from craigslist, this ethos continues through his philanthropic giving, which is “focused on a commitment to fairness and doing right by others.” EFF thanks Craig Newmark for his 30 years of financial support, which has helped us grow to become the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation today.