Tootfinder

OpenAI's former Head of Policy Research Miles Brundage announces AVERI, a nonprofit aimed at advocating the idea of external audits for frontier AI models (Jeremy Kahn/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2026/01/15/former-…

Exclusive: Former OpenAI policy chief creates nonprofit institute, calls for independent safety audits of frontier AI models
Former OpenAI policy head Miles Brundage has launched AVERI and says top AI labs should have independent AI safety audits

Nonprofit groups offer legal assistance to U.S. troops amid debate over boat strikes (Dan De Luce/NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/nonprofit-groups-offer-legal-assistance-us-troops-debate-boat-strikes-rcna249524
http://www.memeorandum.com/251216/p145#a251216p145

The U.S. State Department has ordered certain public libraries nationwide
to cease processing passport applications,
-- disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on
and that has run smoothly for years.
The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease and desist orders to not-for-profit libraries in late fall,
informing them they were no longer authorized to participate in the Passport Acceptance Fac…

US State Department halts passport services at nonprofit libraries
The State Department has ordered nonprofit public libraries to stop taking passport applications, cutting off a popular local service. In late fall, the agency started sending cease and desist orders, which take effect on Feb. 13. It says these libraries cannot collect and keep passport processing fees under federal rules. Librarians say the service has worked for years and residents still call every day. Members of Congress from several states pushed back in a letter to Secretary of State Marc…

Filing: Elon Musk seeks $79B-$134B damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging OpenAI defrauded him by abandoning nonprofit roots and partnering with Microsoft (Robert Burnson/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/202…

New spyware discovered on Belarusian journalist’s phone after interrogation https://therecord.media/spyware-belarus-journalist-rsf

This is a direct mutual aid program organized by parents; there’s no nonprofit or governmental intermediary.
I realize that involves a lot of trust, and again, I’m personally vouching for this fundraiser (for whatever that’s worth, I’m just a foot with an eyeball on top on the internet). The advantage of this kind of mutual aid process is that it will get money to families who need it •fast•.
https://givebutter.com/famshelpingfams

Nonprofit libraries ordered by State Department to stop processing passport applications (Susan Haigh/Associated Press)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/nonprofit-libraries-ordered-by-state-department-to-stop-processing-passport-applications
http://www.memeorandum.com/260214/p15#a260214p15

Three Andean condor chicks hatch in Colombia as species nears local extinction https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/three-andean-condor-chicks-hatch-in-colombia-as-species-nears-local-extinction/<…

Three Andean condor chicks hatch in Colombia as species nears local extinction
Since July 2024, three Andean condor chicks have hatched at an artificial incubation program located near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, contributor Christina Noriega reported for Mongabay. The artificial incubation program is run by the Jaime Duque Park Foundation, a Colombian conservation nonprofit that has worked since 2015 to counter the birds’ population decline. Globally, the […]

This is why I don't fully trust 48hills, even though they're on "my side" in being pro-labor and anti-billionaire. Tim Redmond thinks it's a good thing that a 100% affordable housing development was forced to lop a floor off to preserve views 😫
"The staff reached out to the neighbors,[...]took feedback, and as a result made some changes that lowered the height of the new buildings. That, in a reasonable world, is how this should work" No it's not!!…

Supes approve affordable senior housing project—but discussion raises larger issue - 48 hills
Nonprofit housers are good neighbors. Speculators are not. But Wiener's law treats both the same way

WIRED: Sam Altman’s new brain venture, Merge Labs, will spin out of a nonprofit, Forest Neurotech https://www.wired.com/story/sam-altman-brain-computer-interface-merge-labs-spin-out-nonprofit-forest-neurotech/ Focus on usin…

Sam Altman’s New Brain Venture, Merge Labs, Will Spin Out of a Nonprofit
Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that seeks to read brain activity using ultrasound, is being spun out of Forest Neurotech, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

"Governments must prioritize nature protection, former US senator Russ Feingold says"
#Nature #Environment

Governments must prioritize nature protection, former US senator Russ Feingold says
Bill Gates recently claimed that protecting nature or improving human health is an either-or choice, but former national leaders like Russ Feingold, a retired U.S. senator, and Mary Robinson, former Irish president, disagree. As chair of the Global Steering Committee of the Campaign for Nature, a nonprofit organization uniting prominent politicians in support of nature […]

A stretch of undeveloped California coastline on the border of Marin and Sonoma counties has officially opened to the public for the first time in a century.
Set on the coast just south of Bodega Bay and west of Valley Ford, the "Estero Americano Coast Preserve" is a 547-acre expanse at the mouth of the Estero Americano estuary.
The property is managed by the Wildlands Conservancy,
a nonprofit in the San Bernardino Mountains. The conservancy acquired the preserve …

Estero Americano Coast Preserve » The Wildlands Conservancy
The Wildlands Conservancy's Jenner Headlands is a spectacular 5,630-acre mosaic of redwood and Douglas-fir forests, oak woodland, chaparral and coastal prairie overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Preserve adjoins Pacific Coast Highway for 2.5 miles adjacent to Sonoma Coast State Park. Jenner Headland

PJM, the nonprofit operator for a 13-state power grid across the US, expects 4.8% average annual power growth over the next decade driven by the AI boom (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/po

⁉️ Hat jemand Bock, Guppe wieder aufleben zu lassen? Es muss sich jemand um Serveraufsetzen und Betrieb kümmern.
https://github.com/immers-space/guppe/issues/119

Guppe(.)org registered: we will donate the domain or will try running the service if some tech folks will help us · Issue #119 · immers-space/guppe
Our nonprofit / NGO runs a very small instance at games(.)ngo. We have benefited from using gup(.)pe over the years to help us engage with other instances more effectively. It is frustrating that s...

Kamala Harris Partners With Soros-Funded Nonprofit To Rebrand Her Failed Campaign's Social Media Accounts (Chuck Ross/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/kamala-harris-partners-with-soros-funded-nonprofit-to-rebrand-her-failed-campaigns-social-media-accounts/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260205/p106#a260205p106

The Sacramento Music Archive has some amazing stuff!
#music #punk

Sacramento Music Archive
A 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organization. For best results, view on desktop systems

Bills WR Khalil Shakir's connection to heartwarming Puppy Bowl story https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47859041/buffalo-bills-khalil-shakir-puppy-bowl-xxii

For fellow art-poetry nerds/lovers, Édouard Glissant’s art collection is coming to New York.
https://www.cara-nyc.org/program/exhibitions/the-earth-the-fire-the-water-and-the-winds-for-a-museum-of-errantr…

YC's Garry Tan launches "Garry's List", a nonprofit dedicated to supporting "moderate/pragmatic" political candidates and pro-growth policies in California (Joe Rivano Barros/Mission Local)
https://missionlocal.org/2026/02/sf-garry-t…

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan launches dark-money group to influence California politics
The Y Combinator CEO announced "Garry's List," a new big-money group spending and operating in races across the state.

Yes! Well done nonprofit @… living your values! The #Union makes us strong.
#Utah #jouralism

Source: Sam Altman's Merge Labs, which seeks to read brain activity using ultrasound, is being spun out of LA-based nonprofit Forest Neurotech (Emily Mullin/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/sam-altman-brain-computer-interf…

Sam Altman’s New Brain Venture, Merge Labs, Will Spin Out of a Nonprofit
Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that seeks to read brain activity using ultrasound, is being spun out of Forest Neurotech, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

Bronx building Mamdani used to showcase new housing commish's talents has 200 violations -- after favored nonprofit ran it into the ground (Rich Calder/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2026/01/11/us-news/bronx-building-mamdani-highlighted-to-showcase-nycs-new-housing-commissioners-talents-has-nearly-200-violations/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260111/p67#a260111p67

Mastodon announced fiscal sponsorship via WE AID,
a German nonprofit organisation that supports charitable projects within an established legal framework.
This partnership offers donors
tax-deductible contributions in Germany
and ensures verified integrity through WE AID’s oversight.
It also enables Mastodon to operate as a nonprofit entity,
strengthening the commitment to a user-first,
community-driven platform,
free from algorithmic manipul…

Mastodon Joins Forces with WE AID
We're partnering with WE AID as our fiscal sponsor for donations in Europe.

wow, all the headlines seem to be burying the lede that the newly added recordings are the infamous joe bussard collection (though maybe that's only headline news to record collectors) https://c.im/@didgebaba/115566845008488758

OpenAI's nonprofit foundation announces it's awarding $40.5M in grants this year to 208 nonprofits across the US; the nonprofit donated only $7.5M in 2024 (Shirin Ghaffary/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Mastodon announced fiscal sponsorship via WE AID,
a German nonprofit organisation that supports charitable projects within an established legal framework.
This partnership offers donors
tax-deductible contributions in Germany
and ensures verified integrity through WE AID’s oversight.
It also enables Mastodon to operate as a nonprofit entity,
strengthening the commitment to a user-first, community-driven platform,
free from algorithmic manipulation an…

Mastodon Joins Forces with WE AID
We're partnering with WE AID as our fiscal sponsor for donations in Europe.

#New_Public is testing their nonprofit alternative to #NextDoor / Local #Facebook Groups. This could be very good! <…

Top Heritage Officials Flee to Mike Pence's Nonprofit as Think Tank Fractures (Josh Dawsey/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/top-heritage-officials-flee-to-mike-pences-nonprofit-as-think-tank-fractures-28765f2b
http://www.memeorandum.com/251222/p26#a251222p26

Phishing attempt against Reporters Without Borders attributed to Russia-linked group https://therecord.media/phishing-attempt-reporters-without-borders-callisto-coldriver

"Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says"
#FossilFuels #Brazil #Climate

Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says
This November, as Brazil opened the curtains to host the UN Climate Conference (COP30), in its Pará state capital, Belém, the troubles orbiting the country’s environmental agenda were featured in a new report by U.S.-based conservation technology nonprofit SkyTruth, which is dedicated to satellite-based environmental monitoring. In the run-up to the climate summit, the study […]

Corporate algorithms and chatbots are taking over the internet, and it’s very bad.
Wikipedia, on the other hand, is a nonprofit made by and for human users who believe in sharing free, organized, accessible, quality information for the good of humanity.
Let’s not take that for granted.
-- Doug Lindner
https://

Doug Lindner (@douglindner.bsky.social)
Corporate algorithms and chatbots are taking over the internet, and it’s very bad. Wikipedia, on the other hand, is a nonprofit made by and for human users who believe in sharing free, organized, accessible, quality information for the good of humanity. Let’s not take that for granted. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/offshore-fossil-fuel-exploration-jeopardizes-brazils-climate-leadership-study-says/

Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says
This November, as Brazil opened the curtains to host the UN Climate Conference (COP30), in its Pará state capital, Belém, the troubles orbiting the country’s environmental agenda were featured in a new report by U.S.-based conservation technology nonprofit SkyTruth, which is dedicated to satellite-based environmental monitoring. In the run-up to the climate summit, the study […]

Paris-based AI voice startup Gradium, spun out of the nonprofit AI lab Kyutai, raised $70M led by FirstMark and Eurazeo, after launching in September (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-02/eric-schmidt-x…

Mastodon’s creator, Eugen Rochko,
is stepping down as CEO of the open source, decentralized social network and X riva
as part of the organization’s transition to a nonprofit structure,
announced at the beginning of the year.
The change is Mastodon’s most significant leadership overhaul to date, and one designed to ensure Mastodon’s longevity

Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures | TechCrunch
Eugen Rochko is stepping down as CEO of decentralized social network Mastodon. Felix Hlatky will now become the Executive Director as the company become structured as a nonprofit government by a board.

Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko is stepping down from the decentralized social network as part of its shift to a nonprofit structure overseen by a board (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/mastodon-ceo-steps-down-as-t…

Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures | TechCrunch
Eugen Rochko is stepping down as CEO of decentralized social network Mastodon. Felix Hlatky will now become the executive director as the company becomes structured as a nonprofit government by a board.

Researchers Are Hunting America for Hidden Datacenters https://www.404media.co/researchers-are-hunting-america-for-hidden-datacenters/

CANI files a CA ballot measure to let an oversight board review and undo nonprofit conversions in science and tech since Jan. 2024, indirectly targeting OpenAI (Keach Hagey/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-complet

Good Morning #Canada
If you are a vintage Canadian, you will remember a 1973 commercial comparing the health of a 30-year-old Canadian to a 60-year-old Swede or taking a #BodyBreak with Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod. The nonprofit organization #ParticipACTION has either motivated you to start an exercise program or caused you to feel guilty about being a couch potato. From 1971 to 2001, ParticipACTION operated independently, with government support, and focused on improving the health of Canadians through physical activity. It disappeared for a few years but was relaunched in 2007 as a nonprofit with guaranteed support from the federal government (funding and administrative).
Every year, they release the ParticipACTION Report Card, and for 2025, the data shows a failing grade in most categories. I acknowledge my contribution, or lack thereof. Despite the well documented positive impact of exercise, we are falling short.
#CanadaIsAwesome #GetActive
https://www.participaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025_ParticipACTION_Report_Card_Summary.pdf

MAGA-oriented voices say that they want fearless judges
— but many of them seem really to want judges who will do Trump’s bidding,
Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project,
a legal nonprofit that, like the Federalist Society, also espouses originalism,
but is more closely aligned with the MAGA movement, said too many of the Federalist Society’s leaders were “missing in action” during the Biden years,
when Trump faced criminal investigations and a length…

The Federalist Society Is Torn Between Its Legal Philosophy and Trump’s Demands
Guided by Leonard Leo, the society built a pipeline for traditional conservative judges. But that might not be enough for President Trump in his second term.

A broad retreat is underway in the nonprofit world.
After Donald Trump ordered his administration to root out “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion efforts earlier this year,
opening the door to investigations and funding cuts for offenders,
more than 1,000 charities rewrote their mission statements in forms they filed this year with the Internal Revenue Service,
removing or minimizing language tied to race, inequity and historically disadvantaged communities.<…

Deleting DEI
As the Trump administration ordered agencies to eradicate “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, we identified more than 1,000 nonprofits that removed such language from the mission statements in their tax filings.

Good Morning #Canada
My youngest daughter is visiting this weekend, and while cooking our family breakfast, we had a long conversation about #AI and #LLM applications. She works for a nonprofit - Rainbow Railroad - and is in charge of all their data applications and funding processes. Her manager is suggesting that they need to start exploring AI/LLM, perhaps to automate email responses to donors. Her response, backed by the fundraising team, is "no effing way will a machine talk to any donor." Losing the personal touch can kill an organization that relies on the emotional empathy and kindness of the public.
That led to a new discussion - are there examples of #AI being used for good. #AskEllyn, the nonprofit chatbot that supports breast cancer patients, was the only one we could name, unfortunately, because both my daughters have relied on it over the past few months.
Tell me about other positive examples of AI - bonus points if they're Canadian.
#CanadaIsAwesome #
https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/kitchener-ont-ai-chatbot-for-breast-cancer-patients-becomes-focus-of-national-clinical-research-study/