Sumana Harihareswara and Leonard Richardson challenge the science fiction & fantasy, Wikipedia, and open source communities to take action to support women in their communities: for the second year in a row, Sumana and Leonard will match every donation to the Ada Initiative up to a total of $10,000 until midnight August 27th PDT, one week from today Update: Generous donors like you have already met this matching donation! Thank you so much for your support of women in SF&F, Wikipedia, open source, and other areas of open tech/culture.

All donations go towards supporting women through programs like advocating for conference anti-harassment policies, training women to overcome Impostor Syndrome, and the AdaCamp unconference for women in open technology and culture. Donate now and help spread the word!

Why Sumana and Leonard are pledging $10,000 now

Sumana and Leonard are active in three areas where the Ada Initiative has helped improve the environment for women: science fiction and fantasy (SF&F), Wikipedia, and open source software. Sumana is Engineering Community Manager at Wikimedia Foundation, an open source expert, and an SF&F fan. Leonard Richardson is a writer who, like Charles Stross, has published both science fiction (Constellation Games) and open source software books (RESTful Web APIs).

Sumana explains why she and Leonard are making this donation: “The Ada Initiative’s work is useful in our own lives. When I needed an anti-harassment policy for my workplace’s technical events, and when Leonard wanted resources to advise his technical communities on diversity, we consulted the Ada Initiative’s resources. And the network I found via the Ada Initiative helped me write a keynote speech and respond to unwanted touch at a hackathon.

“But more than that, we know that we’re improving our world and helping science fiction, open source, and Wikipedia live up to our values. We believe in inclusiveness, compassion, empowerment, and equal and fair treatment for all, and the Ada Initiative opens the doors for more women to get to enjoy those values in the places we love.”

Help us win all $10,000 of this matching donation challenge! It will be close: This is an ambitious goal and we don’t always meet our matching donation challenges. But we think our supporters are up to Sumana and Leonard’s challenge: In the last 20 days, 11 people have already each given $1000 or more to support the Ada Initiative’s work: Alicia Gibb, Christine Spang, Matthew Garrett, Mike and Claire Shaver, Peter van Hardenberg, Pierre Phaneuf, Sara Smollett, Selena Deckelmann, and three anonymous donors. Dozens more have donated anywhere from $5 to $512 to support women in open technology and culture. And if you donate $128 or more, you can also get an Ada Lovelace pendant.

One more reason to donate now: If people like you help us meet the entire $10,000 challenge by August 27th, Sumana and Leonard will donate an additional $1,000 to the Ada Initiative.

About the Ada Initiative

The Ada Initiative is tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to increasing the participation and status of women in open technology and culture, which includes fan fiction and fan culture, Wikipedia, free and open source software, open hardware, open data, open education, and more. Since our founding in January 2011 by open source developers Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner, we have made hundreds of conferences safer and more welcoming for women, taught hundreds of women how to overcome Impostor Syndrome, and changed hundreds more women’s lives through the AdaCamp unconference for women in open technology and culture, among other things. Our work is only possible through the support of people like you. Read more about our programs, our progress in 2013, and our supporters.