Annual // Report 2020 Since 1997 NLnet foundation (after its historical contribution to the early internet inside and outside of Europe) has been financially supporting organizations and people that contribute to an open information society. It funds those with ideas to fix the safety, robustness and privacy of the internet. The articles of association for the NLnet foundation state: "to promote the exchange of electronic information and all that is related or beneficial to that purpose". Stichting NLnet is a recognised philantropic non-profit foundation according to the Netherlands Tax Authority (Belastingdienst) The internet has no borders, and neither does NLnet. It operates internationally, and is driven by donations from individuals and from private and public organisations. NLnet is independent, and all projects are based on open standards, open source software, hardware and content. Annual Report NLnet Foundation 2020 1 Introduction Dear reader, Thank you for your interest in the work of NLnet Foundation. 2020 was quite a year, and we are proud that our foundation and the projects and people we support have made very meaningful contributions to mitigate the situation caused by the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Overnight public life as we knew it came close to a standstill, and the internet became an even more critical part of our social fabric than it already had been up to that point. Billions of hours of online classes and meetings were held with online free and open source videoconferencing software supported by NLnet – keeping schools and offices going, while protecting the privacy of users of all ages that could no longer be together in person due to the lockdowns. Projects from our ongoing and historical portfolio of open source and open hardware projects contributed their knowledge, and empowered people to help themselves and others cope. Our work together with the European Commission – in the context of reviewfacility.eu – helped to mature several critical technologies, amongst others by creating a framework for evaluation and transparently assessing solutions on their security and privacy characteristics. And closer to home: thanks to our grants hundreds of independent researchers and developers were able to continue their important contributions to free and open technologies without too much worries about financial stability. We did miss meeting you all in person at meetups and conferences, but the internet stayed up and delivered. The annual report you have in front of you is only a superficial reflection of a rich and memorable year. Mere written text cannot do proper justice to the dedication of the people we work with, and the wide array of exciting projects they introduced us to. The projects we support continue to push technology forward and towards a more healthy balance of power. Our portfolio grow both in depth and in width in 2020. Together with our partners within NGI Zero we are now facilitating more than 250 (!) NGI Zero PET and Discovery projects that contribute to an open, accessible and diverse internet. In this annual report you’ll find more information about these projects, and others. An additional three year subgranting programme, called NGI Assure, became operational in september of this year, and will start yielding the first concrete results in 2021. It deserves special mention that this year Radically Open Security – the not-for-profit security company that has dedicated its profits to NLnet – passed the half million euro mark with cumulative donations. This is simply amazing, and we cannot thank Melanie Rieback and her team enough for their trust and generosity. Diversity of sources of income is of vital importance for a foundation like ours, in order to retain an independent course. Additionally, in 2020 we received some grants and donations from other foundations like Vietsch Foundation, from various international research networks, from NCSC and the Netherlands Ministry of Economic and Climate Affairs. We continued our fruitful cooperation with The Commons Conservancy, together with the European association of research networks GÉANT (and its members) and our subsidiary The Commons Caretakers B.V. This work would not be possible without many volunteers, from inside and outside of the Commons Conservancy and its programmes. Stichting NLnet is growing, thanks to all the support and help we get from people and organisations from around the world. We see ourselves as humbly serving a larger movement seeking to empower the internet user, and do our best to play our part in establishing a collective answer to the many issues Annual Report NLnet Foundation 2020 2 that need to be solved before the internet is the internet we want and deserve – robust, resilient, trustworthy and sustainable. We may be a small player operating in a quite a specific niche, but that niche happens to be pretty relevant to all of society. Of course the real ground work is done by the amazing organisations and people we work with. We all share the mission of making a better internet for tomorrow, for everyone across the globe – and we believe there is no time to waste, if only to be prepared for the next time catastrophy strikes. Enjoy, and let us know if you have any thoughts – we are always looking for great new ideas, and for ways to improve the way we work! On behalf of the NLnet team, Bob Goudriaan Michiel Leenaars Managing Director, Director of Strategy Chair Governing Board Annual Report NLnet Foundation 2020 3 Table of Contents Introduction.....................................................................................................................2 Table of Contents...............................................................................................................4 1 NLnet organisation.......................................................................................................... History...........................................................................................................................................6 Funding source...............................................................................................................................6 Domicile.........................................................................................................................................6 Supervisory Board..........................................................................................................................6 Governing Board.............................................................................................................................6 Operations.....................................................................................................................................7 Operations support.........................................................................................................................7 Independent Review Committee Internet Hardening Fund...............................................................7 Independent Review Committee NGI...............................................................................................7 Guido Aben.................................................................................................................................................8 Sudha Bhuvaneswari.................................................................................................................................8 Lucien Castex.............................................................................................................................................8 Marcin Cieślak............................................................................................................................................9 Tommi Karttaavi........................................................................................................................................9 Tessel Renzenbrink....................................................................................................................................9 George Sadowsky.......................................................................................................................................9 Niels Sijm....................................................................................................................................................9 Bert Wijnen...............................................................................................................................................10 2 !verview......................................................................................................................11 Statutory goal and Mission............................................................................................................11 Free Software, Open Source, Open Content, Open Hardware..........................................................11 Not-for-profit................................................................................................................................11 Co-operation................................................................................................................................11 3 Strateg% and working methods........................................................................................13 Strategic Themes..........................................................................................................................13 Donations and Loans.....................................................................................................................13