Our Legacy

The basic mission of Project Gutenberg has always been to preserve and distribute – free of charge – literary works. Over the years, the number of works has grown in an amazing way, and has focused on using the Internet to distribute books unrestricted by US copyright laws for free. All along, that work has been made possible by volunteers and by donations by many, many users.

As the collection has grown, the complexity of our software and systems has increased along with those donations, and we no longer depend solely on volunteer labor. We now employ a small but mighty staff who maintain the plumbing that facilitates the work of our many volunteers.

The preserve part of our mission requires a plan for long term finances of the organization. But having the sort of reserves that could assure our long term existence has seemed out of reach. That is now changing. Thanks to a bequest from a long time reader, we have started a modest endowment. We hope that other folks might be interested in joining us to build that endowment into a significant source of funds for our operating expenses. So we’ve started a list of “Legacy Donors”.

Legacy donors

Project Gutenberg is exceedingly grateful to the following Legacy Donors:

Richard A. O’Brien, of West Palm Beach, Florida

A technology-savvy voracious reader who admired and used Project Gutenberg’s work.