TheDude

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/35952239

Hey all,

Today, I’m writing to share our intention to join Fedecan, a Canadian not-for-profit organization committed to supporting the Fediverse. We believe this partnership will foster collaboration among like-minded individuals who share a common goal: to create a safe, welcoming space where people can connect freely.

Together we will help deliver a fast, reliable, and consistent experience for all and continue to be free from corporate influence and guided by the values of openness, community, and trust.

Who is Fedecan

Fedecan is a registered non-profit organization based in Canada, with the goal to provide a safe and welcoming space for people to connect with each other on the Fediverse. More information can be found here.

You may also know them by their Canadian lemmy instance lemmy.ca.

What does this mean for sh.itjust.works?

From the outside everything will stay much the same, especially with the admin team. Internally, we will collaborate on tasks related to non-profit compliance, policies, banking and common infrastructure elements such as backup/disaster recovery infrastructure. We will continue to operate separate equipment and instances in geographically isolated locations under different names. We will work towards aligning on safety and security practices in order to ensure that data is secure.

From an organizational structure, sh.itjust.works will fall under the Fedecan umbrella and will share common bylaws, policies, methodologies on best practices, security and legal considerations.

Where do donations go?

Donations to sh.itjust.works will continue to support our mission and objectives exclusively. However, users will also have the option to donate directly to Fedecan, which will allocate funds amongst its projects including sh.itjust.works. Operational costs related to running the non-profit will be shared among projects and these expenses will be transparently disclosed in annual reports published on the Fedecan website.

Option to withdrawal

sh.itjust.works will have the right to withdraw from the Fedecan umbrella should our mutual goals no longer be aligned. In such a case, a predefined provision and action plan will be in place to ensure a smooth transition back to independence.

Why Now?

As the Fediverse continues to grow, we believe it's important to collaborate more closely with others who share our values. Joining Fedecan allows us to do just that, strengthening our operation through a non-profit while staying true to our mission.

Timeline / Next Steps

Over the coming weeks, we'll begin the process of integrating with Fedecan on the organization side. You won't notice many changes but we'll keep you informed throughout the process.

Looking Ahead

We’re excited about this next chapter and the opportunities it brings. By joining forces, we’re reinforcing our commitment to the Fediverse and to the principles that brought us all together in the first place—openness, community, transparency, and trust.

Our core mission remains unchanged. We're still independent in spirit and practice and we remain committed to being a space that's not driven by profit, but by people.

I invite your questions or concerns on this thread or on our https://matrix.to/#/#sh.itjust.works:matrix.org)

Stay connected,

--The sh.itjust.works and Fedecan Team

Here it is, the update I've been promising you for some time.

When I first started this instance, I wanted a place where people could come together and share their experiences, knowledge and start discussions about the things that mattered to them. A place that was not driven by corporate greed but instead by its users.

In the early days of this instance, I founded the community /c/Agora to serve as a platform where users could openly discuss instance or fediverse-related matters and advocate for improvements and changes they would like to see. I want to put emphasis on the fact that this instance belongs to all of you, now and in the future.

Most of you know that since the start of this instance I've been personally funding the costs associated with it. While a lot of you have been generous enough to ask for ways to contribute over the last year, I haven't allowed it. This reason was mainly related to time and in no rush in making donations my top priority. Over the last few months I've reflected and come to understand that for this instance to truly be about its users, it also needs to be funded by them. Today I am taking the first step by sharing more details regarding the costs associated to running this instance and sharing with you all platforms that you can use to donate towards keeping this instance running.

So here it is. I've broken the rest of this post in the following sections. Feel free to jump to whichever section are most important/interesting to you:

• Current running cost
• Wishful 2025 budget
• Donations platforms
• New announcement community
• New front-end available
• A special thanks

Current running cost

Note: Some of these items are paid yearly however to keep things consistent I've broken it down monthly The running costs includes everything that relates to keeping the lights on. The time the admins and moderators put in keeping this instance decent is all volunteered.

Service	Description	Monthly Cost
1U Server Colocation	Bandwidth, Power and Space	$99
Domain Name	The just.works domain	$4.66
Image Hosting	Object storage used for the images	$8.25
Email Account	Used by me solely for instance related communication via email (ProtonMail)	$7
External Backups	Remote Backups of the entire instance	$20
Hardware Repairs	For the eventual drive failures. (This might need to be adjusted in the in future)	$15
	Total	$153.91
*All amounts are in Canadian Dollars

This break down is quite conservative but as this instance continues to grows, so will its costs. I've already had to replace a drive and a power supply since switching to the new server. The current breakdown doesn't leave much room for improvements. If we get enough donations, here's what I'd do with the extra money throughout 2025. The focus is around speed, stability and general site availability. I look to do this by implementing a more robust disaster recovery strategy, add extra resources for new future hosted services and switch to a proper external email sending service to address some delivery issues during waves of new accounts.

2025 Budget

Service	Description	Monthly Cost	Yearly Cost
1U Server Colocation	Location 1	$99	$1200
1U Server Colocation	Location 2	$99	$1200
Remote PBS Backup	Location 3	$20	$240
Domain Name	The just.works domain	$4.66	$55.92
Image Hosting	Object storage used for the Images	$8.25	$99
External Email Sending Service	Email Delivery Service	$15	$180
Email Account	Used by me solely for instance related communication (ProtonMail)	$7	$84
Hardware Repairs	For the eventual hardware failures	$30	$360
	Total	$282.91	$3,418.92
*All amounts are in Canadian Dollars

Donations

Its taken far longer than anticipated, but it’s finally here! 🚀 For now, I’m launching with two donation platforms: Liberapay and Ko-fi. If there’s demand for additional options, I’ll gladly expand in the future.

Where your donations go:

• 💻 Keeping this instance running smoothly (see Current running costs)
• 🔧 Funding improvements and new features

Community-driven priorities:
You can shape how extra funds are used. Join the discussion in the /c/Agora community—your input matters!

My commitment:
I’ll personally cover any funding shortfalls to ensure this project thrives, no matter what.

Thank you for your support!

New Announcements Community 📢

As this was posted we came across a bug related to local only communities. We will circle back on this once a fix has been implemented.

~~We'll be moving away from the /c/main community for posting future announcements moving forward. Instead we'll be using the /c/announcements community. The community has been restricted to only allow posts from admins. Be sure to subscribe!~~

New Tesseract front end available

One of our members @CaptDust@sh.itjust.works raised a discussion in the /c/Agora to introduce a new lemmy front end called Tesseract. I've went ahead and added this front end for all to use. You can access it from here: https://tesh.itjust.works/

A special thanks ❤️

It wouldn't feel right if I ended this post without taking a minute to thank and appreciate the admins for all that they do on this instance and the fediverse. @InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works @kersploosh@sh.itjust.works @imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works thank you for your support, volunteering your precious time and continued dedication in keeping this a place running smoothly for many that call it their home. I'll always be in your debt!