New year, big change - a new structure for Mastodon (Patreon)

Happy New Year folks, we hope you’ve all had a restful holiday break!

We’re starting 2025 with a pretty big, exciting announcement: we aim to transfer ownership of key parts of the Mastodon platform (including trademarks and copyrights, among other assets) to a new European non-profit organisation.

This ensures Mastodon will always remain independent, community-focused, and true to its mission: building bridges, not walls, in the social media world.

Why are we doing this?

When Eugen Rochko, our founder, created Mastodon, he focused on building the kind of social media he wanted to see in the world. While the original legal setup worked well in the early days, it's time to evolve as the community grows.

By transferring ownership to a dedicated non-profit, we are ensuring Mastodon’s independence is no longer tied to any single individual.

What’s changing?

In the next 6 months, Mastodon’s legal home will move to a European non-profit (still to be determined). Day-to-day operations will continue through Mastodon GmbH, which will now be fully owned by this new entity.

Eugen will step back from overall management to focus on product strategy—the part of Mastodon he is most passionate about.

What’s ahead?

Our core mission remains the same: to create the tools and digital spaces where people can build authentic, constructive online communities free from ads, data exploitation, manipulative algorithms or corporate monopolies.

From the technical side, there will be no change in user experience at this stage (aside from the usual code development and releases). Our engineering team will continue to focus on:

Enhancing usability and discoverability for all users;

Progressing with the Fediscovery project, building an optional, privacy-respecting search and discovery tool for the entire fediverse; and

Investing deeply in trust & safety (including hiring), to ensure everyone, especially marginalised communities feel safe on our platform.

Operationally and legally, here’s what we’ll prioritise over the next 6 months:

Establishing a new legal home for Mastodon and transferring ownership and stewardship, including any other (subsidiary) legal structures needed;

Establishing the appropriate governance and leadership frameworks that reflect the nature and purpose of Mastodon as a whole, and responsibly serve the community; and

Fundraising and growing our annual operating budget to €5M by 2025.

How you can help

Your support has brought us this far, and with your help, we’ll continue to build the world’s most free, open and accessible to everyone social network — the fediverse.

With the additional funds, we will grow our team, invest in our community’s safety, and evolve the platform. Every contribution we receive will be put back into enriching the Mastodon software ecosystem and community.

What you can do today:

1. Tell your family, friends and colleagues about Mastodon and have them join you!

2. Consider increasing your donation by a few dollars - update your pledge here

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey. Together, we’re not just building the future of social media—we’re building a better, safer internet for everyone.--The Mastodon Team 🐘

P.S. You can read more on this in the following resources:Our blogEugen’s (@Gargron) threadMedia: TechCrunch, The Verge, Ars Technica