Community toolkit

This page collects information about software that can be used by nonprofits, community groups, and individuals to advance the cause of free software.

A list of tools used by the Free Software Foundation can be found in this blog post.

• CiviCRM is a suite of tools that helps nonprofits and community groups maintain a database of supporters, receive donations, and send emails.

• Drupal is a powerful Web site revision system that powers sites like whitehouse.gov and Defective by Design.

• MediaWiki powers thousands of sites across the Web, including Wikipedia and this very wiki.

• LibreOffice is a full-featured office productivity suite that can often be used as a drop-in replacement for freedom-restricting software like Microsoft Word.

• GnuPG is essential for secure communications and makes it possible to send snoop-resistant emails. Why not check out the Free Software Foundation's Email Self-Defense Guide to get started using GnuPG?

• Trisquel GNU/Linux is a fully-free distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system that includes many of the programs listed above. Best of all it doesn't include or recommend any nonfree software.

• GNU Mailman is a mailing list management tool that helps groups collaborate and discuss issues.

• Pidgin is an instant messaging client with support for many popular protocols, like XMPP and IRC. When used with the pidgin-otr plugin, it is possible to have fully encrypted conversations.

• Inkscape is an advanced graphic design and illustration program that's great for creating Web graphics, handbills, and pamphlets.

This page was a featured resource in August 2014.