Our annual Lifetime Account Charity Fundraiser has once again brought in over half a million dollars that will help defend privacy and freedom around the globe. The 2023 raffle raised over $522,000 from over 50,000 tickets sold, while the auction of three rare one-letter usernames (A, M, X) generated another $110,000. Proton is contributing an additional $100,000, bringing the total amount being donated to $732,000.
All of the money will go to the 10 organizations you helped select, along with some organizations that we have supported in the past.
Scroll down to find the 10 winning ticket numbers for this year’s Lifetime Account raffle and how you can claim your prizes if you’re one of the lucky ones.
What your support means
Your dedication to our mission to build a better world is what makes the Proton community truly unique. Thanks to your generosity, our charity fundraiser has grown to become a critical source of revenue for organizations fighting for online privacy, freedom of expression, and other humanitarian causes around the world.
With the 2023 fundraiser results, we have now donated over $2.7 million in direct financial contributions from our annual fundraisers, not including subsidized access to services, contributions to the open source community, and our work fighting government censorship(nieuw venster).
Your support makes a real impact, and this year’s beneficiaries would like to share their gratitude. Below you’ll find their messages to you along with links to make a direct donation in case you missed this year’s raffle or want to contribute an additional amount.
Tor
We are beyond grateful to be included in Proton’s annual fundraiser that benefits so many like-minded organizations who fight for freedom and democracy. As the demand for strong online privacy protections keeps mounting, Proton’s donations advance our shared vision for a better internet by helping to keep the Tor Project’s ecosystem of applications and services free and safe for our millions of users. The generous contributions of the Proton community will strengthen the Tor Project’s anti-censorship, outreach, and training work.
Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Our team is deeply appreciative of the remarkable generosity shown by Proton and this incredible community. This contribution propels our mission forward so we can continue to empower journalists and whistleblowers to uncover the truth and hold power to account. Community support, like this, goes such a long way in protecting our democracy — thank you from all of us at Freedom of the Press.
Louise Black, VP of Development and Operations
Donate to Freedom of the Press Foundation(nieuw venster)
Tactical Tech
Being selected for the 2023 Proton Lifetime Charity Fundraiser is hugely significant for Tactical Tech. It is a recognition of our 20 years of collaborative work and represents not only the efforts of our team, but also our hundreds of partners worldwide. With this invaluable support from the Proton community, we’ll continue to work with citizens and civil society organizations to explore and mitigate the impact of technology on society. Thanks to the support of actors like Proton who are interested in promoting privacy, freedom, and human rights around the world, Tactical Tech will continue to develop creative and collaborative formats, resources, and interventions that foster conversations about the impact of technology while promoting sound solutions.
Marek Tuszynski, Executive Director and co-founder of Tactical Tech
Donate to Tactical Tech(nieuw venster)
La Quadrature du Net
Thank you to all of you for supporting our actions via the 2023 Proton Lifetime fundraiser! It will help us continue to follow the many topics we work on, such as, for example, defending encryption. By instrumentalizing any subject that comes along, governments have been constantly trying to weaken this major means for protecting the right to privacy. Faced with these multiple attacks, La Quadrature du Net will continue its efforts to reverse this trend through 2024, by insisting on the fundamental nature of the right to encryption in the digital space and working toward making it a permanent feature of everyone’s digital life.
Raquel Radaut, La Quadrature du Net
Donate to La Quadrature du Net(nieuw venster)
Public Knowledge
The support of the Proton community means so much to us and those who benefit from our work. In Washington, it can sometimes feel like building public policy for a better internet — or even closing the digital divide — is an uphill battle. But the more we grow our community, the more powerful we can be together!
Charlotte Slaiman, Vice President of Public Knowledge
Donate to Public Knowledge(nieuw venster)
Liberties
We are truly honored to be nominated by the Proton community and to be selected among such respected rights groups and activists as a beneficiary of the 2023 Proton Lifetime Charity Fundraiser. The raised funds will help Liberties strengthen its Tech and Rights Team and protect the rights of everyone in the EU and beyond.
Balazs Denes, Executive director
Donate to Liberties(nieuw venster)
Bellingcat
We at Bellingcat are immensely grateful and excited to be part of the Proton Lifetime Fundraiser in 2023. This support is not just a funding source; it’s a testament to the shared values of privacy, transparency, and the power of open-source investigation. Being recognized and aided by such a community-driven initiative greatly enhances our capacity to uncover truths and hold the powerful accountable, further empowering our mission to foster a more informed and just world.
Eliot Higgins, Founder
Donate to Bellingcat(nieuw venster)
Forbidden Stories
Proton’s commitment to enhancing online privacy is crucial, especially in a time where surveillance can be turned against journalists. This aligns with Forbidden Stories’ mission to pursue the investigations of assassinated journalists and enable the most at-risk ones to secure their sensitive information through the SafeBox Network. Backing us via Proton’s Lifetime Fundraiser will help us make sure that a maximum number of people have access to information of public interest.
Laurent Richard, Founder and Executive Director
Donate to Forbidden Stories(nieuw venster)
Bits of Freedom
At Bits of Freedom we aim to operate as independently as possible. This core value reflects in every aspect of our work, including our diverse and sustainable mix of income sources of which donations form an integral and essential part. We expect to have a year of immense challenges ahead for human rights in the digital realm in both the Netherlands and Europe. The contribution of the Proton community enables us to enter 2024 with additional means to defend these human rights towards the future.
Nico Voskamp, Partnerships & Development
Donate to Bits of Freedom(nieuw venster)
Médecins sans frontières
In a time of war and mass civilian casualties, MSF provides critical medical assistance in conflict zones around the world to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Its teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals and logistics and administrative staff — most of them hired locally. The organization’s actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.
Donate to Médecins sans frontières(nieuw venster)
The 2023 raffle winners
And now, here are the winning tickets for this year’s raffle:
- 149755-31358
- 149755-10806
- 149755-39300
- 149755-23434
- 149755-15085
- 149755-37950
- 149755-18447
- 149755-6651
- 149755-16442
- 149755-22939
You can find your ticket number(s) on your order confirmation page by clicking the View your order link in your confirmation email. If you’ve placed multiple orders from the same browser, please open your order confirmation page in a private window. Your participation codes are hidden under the View Codes tab on the top left corner of the page. Each participation code starts with 149755-XXXXX. If you cannot find the email, please make sure to check your spam folder.
We’ll contact the winners in the coming days by sending them an email from community@proton.me to present them with their Lifetime Account and a supporter pack from our team. If you have any questions, you can reach us at community@proton.me.
If the auction winners don’t finalize the purchase of the usernames they bid on, we’ll contact other bidders and also consider interest expressed via email. If you won the auction or are interested in purchasing any of the three one-letter usernames, contact us at community@proton.me.
This year we randomly selected an additional Lifetime Account winner from among our followers on social media. For privacy, we will not disclose the winning handle here, but we’ll contact you directly via direct message. Please be sure to check your messages to see if you’re the lucky winner.
The Proton Lifetime Account is our most exclusive account, giving you access to all features on all current and future Proton services, as well as the most storage. These are only available during our year-end fundraisers or by purchasing one from an existing Lifetime Account owner. In the past, these have sold at auction for over $14,000. The rare usernames we auctioned are also transferable. If you would like to sell or transfer your account, you can reach us at community@proton.me.
Thank you
Our annual fundraiser is a reminder that we can’t accomplish our mission alone. The threats of surveillance, censorship, and political repression are too big for any organization or online privacy tool. Only through community actions like this can we change the world.
Thank you and happy new year!
