Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). The goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere! The non-profit company Software Freedom International coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local SFD events to impact their own communities.

From 2006 onwards, it has been decided the Software Freedom Day to be held on the third Saturday of each September.

Objectives

• to celebrate software freedom and the people behind it
• to foster a general understanding of software freedom, and encourage adoption of free software and open standards
• to create more equal access to opportunities through the use of participatory technologies
• to promote constructive dialogue on responsibilities and rights in the information society
• to be inclusive of organizations and individuals that share our Vision
• to be pragmatic, transparent, and responsible as an organisation

Source: http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/