Same here - loving it so far! I was an advanced computer user in the late 90s and early 00s. Front line for early internet, did some light programming, etc. although I never went into tech as a career. All of that changed with smart phones since they're so much more locked down than a computer. I accepted that ads, data farming, and junk content were going to be a part of my life since everything moved towards corporate control. This year has been so great! Everything I use on PC officially has Linux support and I was able to ditch windows; now I'm moving away from websites with ads/trackers. Really feels like things are shifting back to how they should've been.
I will say it's probably too soon to donate to instances. You might want to wait a few weeks until groups gain credibility.