The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has lost its payment provider, Nexi, abruptly terminating contracts for over 450 supporters. Nexi cancelled the FSFE's contract without notice on March 7th, halting recurring credit card and direct debit donations. 450 current supporters using automatic renewal are affected, though the FSFE has already emailed them and updated donate pages with a new provider. The conflict arose when Nexi demanded access to private supporter usernames and passwords for a security audit, a request FSFE refused as unnecessary and potentially illegal. Despite 15 years as a customer, FSFE received no prior warning about the deadline for compliance. March 7 and March 10 mark the critical dates when the contract ended and FSFE learned of the cancellation, leaving existing accounts un-migratable.

This disruption threatens FSFE's financial stability and software freedom work, as some supporters may abandon donations due to the unforeseen hurdle. FSFE remains committed to free software but faces significant operational challenges.