I may have exposed myself to scrutiny by officials even posting about this, but did you know why Finnish Mastodon admins can't mention donations? Welcome to Finland’s rahankeräyslaki (Fundraising Act) - a law so problematic it's been submitted to UN human rights reviews and noted in OECD reports on Finland's civic space. Finnish people often say Finland is "Sääntö-Suomi" (Finland of Rules) because we have too many rules and laws. Most of them are there to protect us, but some work against us. It can go too far.
Here's the problem: The law defines "fundraising" as any appeal to the public to give money. "Appeal" means any verbal, written or other request or invitation. This includes simply stating "we accept donations" with any payment information or bank account number on your website.
The Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi) case shows how absurd this gets. Effi, a digital rights nonprofit, was prosecuted for rahankeräysrikos (fundraising crime) just for having text on their website saying they could accept donations per their bylaws, along with bank account details. No active solicitation. No manipulation. Just information. They fought this for years through multiple courts.
What makes it worse: Only registered organizations can even apply for a fundraising permit from the National Police Board. Individual Mastodon admins? Not eligible. You'd need to first register a nonprofit organization (constitution, board members, official registration with PRH), pay 50 €, handle annual financial statements, bookkeeping obligations, and tax filings, then apply for permission to ask for money to cover your €10/month server costs. All this bureaucracy just to mention a donation link.
The law was updated in 2020 to add "small collection" notifications (max 10 000 €), but the core problem remains: you cannot simply mention donation options without navigating this bureaucracy. The law treats someone running a community server the same as the Red Cross running nationwide campaigns.
This is why Finnish admins stay silent about funding and run things for free out of their own pocket. It's not that they're secretive - it's that Finland's fundraising law hasn't caught up with how the modern internet works. Effi has submitted complaints to UN human rights reviews calling this a violation of freedom of association.
So when you see a Finnish-run instance and wonder why there's no donation info: now you know. It's not a choice, it's compliance with a law written for a different era.
Obviously, I hate this law, and putting this information out there is risky for me. So let me be crystal clear: please don't donate us money. I don't encourage it at all as I am not allowed by law to do so, and I'm a law-abiding citizen, after all.
