We are a group of volunteers providing technical consulting and donated infrastructure resources dedicated to supporting non-profits, mutual aid groups, and organizers in and around Minneapolis. To ensure the highest level of security and reliability, our architecture is built on a defense-in-depth model: privacy-first OpenBSD servers with full disk encryption at the core, paired with Cloudflare’s global edge for DDoS protection, serverless static hosting, optimized caching, and automated email obfuscation. Our goal is to offer stable, secure platforms and technical guidance—so you can focus on your vital work without worrying about corporate surveillance, data harvesting, or expensive subscriptions.
We believe in data sovereignty: your community's data belongs to your community. We custom-configure every setup to keep your organization resilient, secure, and self-reliant. Don't hesitate to reach out and ask how we can help!
Bring Us Your Problems — We’ll Help Find a Solution
You don’t need to know technical jargon, write a formal specification, or know what specific software you need. If your group is struggling with a digital bottleneck, an insecure or disorganized setup, or an expensive subscription service, simply tell us what’s happening in plain language.
We will work directly with you to understand the problem and find a sustainable solution:
- Always Free (For Basic & Solvable Needs): Wherever possible, we build, host, and maintain solutions directly on our donated OpenBSD infrastructure and free-tier edge tools. Our volunteer consulting, website hosting, open-source application deployment, and general technical support are 100% free of charge.
- Lowest Cost or Community-Subsidized (For Complex Needs): If your project requires external third-party resources (such as purchasing a custom domain name or dedicated high-volume mailboxes), we help you select privacy-respecting, ethical providers at their true, low at-cost rates (often just a few dollars per year) with zero markup. For grassroots groups with zero budget, our community donation fund helps cover and subsidize these external fees whenever funds allow.
Example Services & What We Can Build
Every group’s workflow is unique. Here are common examples of what we can set up, host, and support for your organization:
- Websites & Public Portals: Fast, accessible, and tracker-free informational websites, resource landing pages, or contact forms—hosted on a free yourproject.libreaid.org subdomain or your own custom domain.
- Custom Email & Community Mailing Lists: Professional organizational email addresses (e.g., organizer@yourgroup.org) using privacy-first mail hosts, discussion lists, and one-to-many newsletter distribution (e.g., Listmonk) with full SPF/DKIM deliverability configuration.
- Secure Team Chat & Document Collaboration: Private cloud storage and live document editing (Nextcloud, CryptPad) as surveillance-free alternatives to Google Drive, alongside encrypted group messaging setups (Signal, Matrix, Zulip).
- Custom MariaDB Databases & Internal Web Tools: Tailored relational databases (powered by MariaDB on secure OpenBSD) and lightweight custom web interfaces to manage mutual aid requests, volunteer shift scheduling, or inventory—plus custom scripts that automate notifications and form routing without expensive commercial subscriptions.
- Digital Security, Account Safety & Backups: Organization-wide password manager setups (Bitwarden), two-factor authentication (2FA/MFA) rollouts, security checkups to protect organizer and community data, and automated encrypted offline/offsite backups.
- Technical Consulting & Software Migrations: Untangling DNS and domain settings, auditing current tools, and helping you migrate away from proprietary or costly commercial tools to lightweight, self-hosted software.
Grassroots Bootstrapped & Community Funded
libreaid.org is a newly launched, volunteer-led initiative. To get this off the ground, I personally contribute $50 every month out of my own pocket to fund our core OpenBSD encrypted servers, bandwidth, and baseline hosting capacity.
Because this project is bootstrapped on a fixed personal budget, community donations are essential to help us grow sustainably, support more Minneapolis organizers, and deliver on our promises without burning out.
How your donations directly expand our impact:
- Scaling Beyond My $50/mo Cap: Adding more server capacity, high-speed bandwidth, and encrypted backup storage as more community organizations join.
- Service Fee Grants for Zero-Budget Groups: Covering unavoidable third-party costs (such as purchasing a custom .org domain or funding a year of privacy-first email hosting) on behalf of grassroots groups operating with zero funds.
- Fueling Demanding Rollouts & Volunteer Labor: Complex migrations, custom MariaDB builds, and emergency fixes require hours of intense focus. Donations provide modest volunteer support and put food in our bellies during demanding rollouts.
Volunteer Service Disclaimer & Limitation of Liability
While we implement hardened security and follow modern infrastructure best practices, all consulting, hosting, and technical support are provided by volunteers on a best-effort, strictly “as-is” and “as-available” basis with no warranties, uptime guarantees, or service-level agreements (SLAs) of any kind.
By requesting or utilizing Libre Aid resources, your organization acknowledges that you do so at your own discretion and agrees to release, hold harmless, and waive all claims or liability against our volunteer team and maintainers for any service interruptions, data loss, security incidents, or unforeseen technical issues. We strongly encourage all participating groups to maintain their own independent, offline backups of essential data.
Get in Touch / Request Resources
Whether you are an established non-profit or a grassroots mutual aid group, we would love to hear from you. To request technical assistance or server resources, send an email to hello@libreaid.org with the following details:
- Your organization or project name
- Your mission and the community you serve
- The technical challenges, bottlenecks, or hosting support you need help with