About Batin
An institution built to be trusted, before it builds anything.
Batin is a Norwegian non-profit association. It exists to steward an ecosystem of free privacy software, funded by grants and donations, never by advertising.
What we are
A self-owning, not-for-profit association. No one owns it and no one profits from it; any surplus goes back to the purpose. Our job is to hold the money, the trademarks and the source code in trust for the public, and to keep the work honest and open.
- Free software, made available to the public at no charge, under free licences.
- Funded by grants and donations, with strict rules on what money can never buy.
- Governed openly: statutes, a board, and published decisions.
Where we stand
The association was founded on 26 June 2026 in Fredrikstad and is registered in the Norwegian register of legal entities. Right now we are building the institution: governance, transparency, and financial readiness.
The bank arrangement is being set up. We have not yet applied for or received funding. We are doing the unglamorous groundwork first, on purpose.
The order of things
We build the institution first, then the products. Security-critical software must be written and reviewed by funded, named engineers who put their reputation on the line. That is not something a volunteer effort or an automated tool should do alone, and we will not pretend otherwise.
So the sequence is deliberate: earn trust, secure funding, hire engineers, then ship software that has been built and audited by people. We promise nothing we cannot keep.