Last month, we asked readers to donate to a couple of good causes in our 2025 Charity Drive sweepstakes. And boy, did you deliver. With the drive now complete and the donations all tallied, we can report that Ars Technica readers gave an incredible $42,936.83 to Child’s Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in this year’s drive. That doesn’t set a new record, but it beats last year’s total and raises our lifetime Ars Charity Drive donation haul since 2007 to over $585,000. Well done, Arsians!

Thanks to everyone who gave whatever they could. We’re still early in the process of selecting and notifying winners of our swag giveaway, so don’t fret if you haven’t heard if you’re a winner yet. In the meantime, enjoy these quick stats from the 2025 drive.

• 2024 fundraising total: $42,936.83

  • Total given to Child’s Play: $19,424.27
  • Total given to the EFF: $23,512.56

• Number of individual donations: 474

  • Child’s Play donations: 272
  • EFF donations: 202

• Average donation: $90.58

  • Child’s Play average donation: $71.41
  • EFF average donation: $116.40

• Median donation: $50.00

  • Median Child’s Play donation: $26.25
  • Median EFF donation: $66.95

• Top single donation: $3,000 (to EFF)

• Donations of $1,000 or more: 8

• Donations of $100 or more: 133

• Donation of $10 or less: 72 (every little bit helps!)

• Total charity donations from Ars Technica drives since 2007 (approximate): $585,872.01

  • 2025: $42,936.83
  • 2024: $39,047.66
  • 2023: $39,830.36
  • 2022: $31,656.07
  • 2021: $40,261.71
  • 2020: $58,758.11
  • 2019: $33,181.11
  • 2018: $20,210.66
  • 2017: $36,012.37
  • 2016: $38,738.11
  • 2015: $38,861.06
  • 2014: $25,094.31
  • 2013: $23,570.13
  • 2012: $28,713.52
  • 2011: ~$26,000
  • 2010: ~$24,000
  • 2009: ~$17,000
  • 2008: ~$12,000
  • 2007: ~$10,000