Mastodon.ngo gives NGOs, nonprofits, and their communities a safe, trusted home in the fediverse.

What Is mastodon.ngo? Who Is It For?

Many NGOs and other nonprofits want to join Mastodon servers that are aligned with their values and administered by trusted people, but they don't know where to start. Some stick to the big instances. Others need to convince their internal IT departments to experiment with their own servers. Still others find all of this too stressful and confusing too deal with.

We created mastodon.ngo to give NGOs and nonprofits a safe, trusted home in the fediverse. Mastodon.ngo is administered by Hapee from Greenhost, Josh from Center for Digital Resilience, and Gillo, an information security specialist. We are experienced technologists working in human rights and security and we're dedicated to providing an accessible and sustainable platform for organizations and their staff. We are acting in our individual capacities and our collective organizations are not involved with this instance.

If you or your organization would like to join mastodon.ngo, please request an account and we will promptly review it.

A note about privacy and security

Mastodon is not especially private or secure by design. You should not share any sensitive information on Mastodon, including on this instance. If you are concerned with your identity being leaked or associated with certain people or groups, you should consider using a pseudonym or not using Mastodon at all.

Private messages: Private messages on Mastodon work differently from other social media apps. They are not truly private and they are not encrypted. They are stored in plain text on your instance's server, and are thus viewable by admins. If you wish to conduct a truly private conversation, we recommend you use an encrypted messaging app like Signal, Element, or Wire.

(Go to our info page for more on privacy and tips for using Mastodon.)

Code of Conduct

This code of conduct applies to all mastodon.ngo spaces, including public channels, private channels and direct messages. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the administrators.

Types of Harassment

Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, immigration status, religion, or other identity marker. This includes anti-Indigenous/Nativeness and anti-Blackness. Unwelcome comments regarding a person's lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment. Deliberate misgendering or use of "dead" or rejected names. Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they're not appropriate.

Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like "hug" or "backrub") without consent or after a request to stop.

Threats of violence Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.

Deliberate intimidation.

Stalking or following.

Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.

Sustained disruption of discussion.

Unwelcome sexual attention.

Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others.

Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.

Deliberate "outing" of any aspect of a person's identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.

Publication of non-harassing private communication.

Jokes that resemble the above, such as "hipster racism", still count as harassment even if meant satirically or ironically.

Microaggressions, which take the form of everyday jokes, put downs, and insults that spread humiliating feelings to people of marginalized groups

The administrators will not act on complaints regarding:

"Reverse"-isms, including "reverse racism," "reverse sexism," and "cisphobia" Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as "leave me alone," "go away," or "I'm not discussing this with you."

Communicating in a "tone" you don't find congenial

Criticism of racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of mastodon.ngo, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the administrator directly.

The admin reserves the right to exclude people from mastodon.ngo based on their past behavior, including behavior outside mastodon.ngo spaces and behavior towards people who are not in mastodon.ngo. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the administrator may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all mastodon.ngo spaces and identification of the participant as a harasser to other mastodon.ngo members or the general public.

Updates

The administrator reserves the right to update the Code of Conduct at any time at their discretion. Updates to the CoC will be communicated to users via email and posts from admin accounts. If you have any concerns about or suggestions for the CoC, please contact an administrator via DM.

License

This was adapted from the LGBTQ in Tech Code of Conduct and as such is licensed using a Creative Commons Zero License, meaning the contents are in the public domain.

Longevity

Adapted from Artist Alley: Will mastodon.ngo shut down? Nothing lasts forever, and this server will shut down one day. It's the admin's goal for this to not happen for a long time. They are planning to run this server for a minimum of 5 years (through 2028). When this server shuts down, they will provide at least 3 months of notice and will keep all export tools available to help people transition to a new server.

That said, they are human and life happens to everyone. What kind of events might cause these plans to change?

If they become physically disabled (or obviously if they die) and are unable to physically use a computer

If they are hit by sudden and extreme personal financial hardship

If the server becomes overrun with bots, spam, abusive content, harassment, etc

If the server becomes extensively disconnected from the rest of the network

If the server becomes too expensive to run

If the server usage drops to near zero

However, the admin will do their best to ensure that these scenarios only happen as a last resort.

Rules

Sexually explicit or violent media must be marked as sensitive when posting.

No spam or advertising.

No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or casteism.

No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.

No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.

No illegal content.

1. No sexually explicit or violent media.
2. No spam or advertising.
3. No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or casteism.
4. No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
5. No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
6. No illegal content.

1. monads.online: suspension