Benetech supports Martus development and deployment through grants and support contracts from a variety of sources.

Project Funding

Benetech largely funded the initial Martus design and development effort after the inception of the project in 2000. During the initial phase of Martus development, Benetech also received grants from the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to complete technical work on Martus client software. Benetech used this funding to hire Martus product management staff and start engineering development work. It also conducted market and field research for Martus in Sri Lanka, Guatemala and Russia.

Since the launch of the Martus software in 2003, a number of organizations have funded Martus training, consulting, software customization and feature development. These funders include the Asia Foundation which has supported Martus projects in Thailand, the Philippines and Nepal. Freedom House has funded Martus deployment in Mexico and Central Asia. The Oak Foundation has provided support for Martus projects as part of its core support for Benetech's Human Rights Program. The International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University has provided funding for technical development, the Martus reporting tool, continued translation of Maftus into Arabic and a Martus initiative in Iraq.

The U.S. State Department, which acknowledges the importance of strong encryption to protect human rights data, has provided funding for the development of an additional Martus security feature that erases data from a users local computer in the event of an adverse security incident. The U.S. State Department also provided funding for initial Martus translations in French and Arabic and Martus trainings in Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria.

Regardless of the source of funding, Benetech controls and manages all Martus software development which is always undertaken with open source software tools that support source code review.

Martus funders and Benetech staff do not have the ability to view human rights data encrypted by Martus or stored on secure Martus servers. Martus users are free to use any of the publicly available worldwide Martus servers to store their uploaded information, or develop their own backup solution for the bulletins. Benetech encourages Martus supporters to conduct code reviews of the open source Martus software to ensure trust and transparency.

Continued Funding

The total cost of Martus software development, training, outreach, consulting, customization and ongoing support from 2000 through June 2006 totals $2.8 million dollars. Approximately $1.4 million in funding has been provided by Benetech with the balance coming from outside funders and support contracts from large projects that use Martus. Effectively securing human rights data is costly and we need your support.

Benetech seeks funding from a variety of sources for continued Martus development and deployment. We do not directly compete for funds with human rights activists, who are our partners and customers. Rather, Benetech works with technology companies, foundations, universities and other funding sources that have a long-established and substantial commitment to human rights. In addition to monetary support, Benetech seeks service donations, including hosting for Martus servers, translation of software and documentation and source code review to ensure transparency.