Our mission
Hundreds of millions of people live behind network censorship that decides which parts of the internet they may see. We believe internet access is a right, not a privilege — and that nobody should have to pay, register, or trust a stranger's promises to exercise it.
The OpenRung Foundation exists to make that belief practical. We build and operate a worldwide network of relays that helps people in restrictive network environments reach public websites and apps: always free, privacy-first, with no accounts and no advertising.
春色滿園關不住，一枝紅杏出牆來
"Spring fills the garden — no wall can shut it in; one branch of red apricot blossom reaches beyond the wall."
— Ye Shaoweng, Song dynasty. The poem behind our blossom mark: walls are real, and so is what grows past them.
What we do
- Operate core infrastructure. We run the network's Foundation relays and its broker — the matchmaking service that points each user to a relay that is healthy right now. Together with volunteer-run relays, they provide the network's capacity.
- Build open software. We develop the OpenRung apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the relay software that volunteers run. Every line of code is published under the GPL-3.0 license on GitHub, where anyone can read it, audit it, or build it themselves.
- Support a volunteer community. Volunteers around the world extend the network by running relays. We maintain the tooling, documentation, and honest safety guidance they need to do it responsibly.
- Keep it free. No subscriptions, no premium tier, no ads — and there never will be. Access to the network does not require an account, a phone number, or an email address.
How we are funded
OpenRung is funded by donations, not by users. Contributions pay for relay infrastructure and bandwidth, security work, volunteer tooling, and user support. The OpenRung Foundation is a Delaware nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 42-3594292); donations from U.S. taxpayers are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, and are processed securely by Every.org.
We will never charge users, run advertisements, or sell data. If those commitments ever became incompatible with keeping the lights on, we would rather shrink the network than break them.
Transparency and accountability
Trust in a censorship-circumvention tool has to be earned in the open. Our code is public. Our privacy policy says plainly what early-access builds collect and why, and the technical telemetry documentation is public on GitHub. Our FAQ answers uncomfortable questions honestly — including the real risks volunteers take. When something about OpenRung is imperfect, we say so.
Contact
Questions, feedback, or press: admin@openrung.org. Bug reports and technical discussion: GitHub issues. Announcements: our Telegram channel.
Legal & organizational information
openrung.org is the official website of the OpenRung Foundation. This domain is registered to, published by, and operated by the Foundation.
- Legal name: OpenRung Foundation
- Entity type: Delaware nonprofit corporation
- Federal tax status: IRS-recognized tax-exempt organization under IRC Section 501(c)(3), classified as a public charity under IRC Section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi). Effective date of exemption: June 18, 2026. Determination letter dated July 14, 2026.
- EIN (Employer Identification Number): 42-3594292
- Contact: admin@openrung.org
Our tax-exempt status can be verified by EIN 42-3594292 in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. Donations to the OpenRung Foundation are tax-deductible in the United States to the extent permitted by law. For written correspondence, please email admin@openrung.org.