OTW Membership Drive
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The OTW Membership Drive is a semi-annual event in April and October in which the Organization for Transformative Works asks for donations to support its work. It is organized by the Development & Membership committee.
Drive Totals
| Year | April Goal | April Total | October Goal | October Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | NA | NA | NA | $2,338.00 |
| 2009 | NA | $11,142.00 | NA | $15,573.00 |
| 2010 | NA | over $8,000.00 | NA | $18,308.46 |
| 2011 | NA | over $3,600.00 | NA | $21,456.00 |
| 2012 | NA | $38,379.50 | NA | $18,896.33 |
| 2013 | NA | $53,243.99 | NA | $52,381.30 |
| 2014 | NA | $61,433.50 | $70,000.00 | $174,570.34 |
| 2015 | $100,000.00 | $96,684.00 | $175,000.00 | $170,000.00 |
| 2016 | NA | $97,155.54 | NA | $139,159.45 |
| 2017 | NA | $145,000.00 | $115,000.00 | $137,846.82 |
| 2018 | $100,000.00 | $130,084.00 | $130,000.00 | $193,068.87 |
| 2019 | $130,000.00 | $245,655.00 | $130,000.00 | $247,098.69 |
| 2020 | $130,000.00 | $458,501.00 | NA | $89,688.51 |
| 2021 | $50,000.00 | $264,918.85 | $40,000.00 | $195,009.65 |
| 2022 | $40,000.00 | $275,724.51 | $50,000.00 | $276,467.69 |
All amounts are in USD.
From 2009-2011 the first drive of each year was held in March. It was moved to April in 2012.
In 2015, the April drive was exceptionally held in May, starting on May 1, 2015[1].
Memorable Moments
On April 26, 2020, from 6:00 to 7:00 UTC, the total funds raised showed on the banner as $420,469.69.
"AO3 Discourse Season"
The OTW drive has always been an opportunity for critique, but many fans have noticed a pattern of increased criticism, mainly from antishippers, about the AO3 taking place on social media during and after every drive. The pattern may have started with the October 2016 drive, and at least since 2018 fans on tumblr and twitter have been commenting on it. The semi-annual event has been referred to in a number of ways: "AO3 fundraising wank"[2], "anti-ao3 wank"[3], "ao3 discourse season"[4][5][6], "ao3 donation season"[7][8], or simply "it's that time again"[9][10]. Some of the criticism focuses on specific AO3 policies or technical aspects of the site, but a lot of criticism about the drive itself also circulates; some fans ask why so much money is needed or argue that it's a scam or contains immoral content and people should donate to individual fan creators instead[11][12]. Many fans criticize the criticisms, arguing that much of it displays a lack of knowledge about OTW and the AO3, nonprofits in general, or the cost of website hosting.[10][13]
Another common complaint levied against the drive is that AO3 is allowed to ask for donations, but AO3 users are not[14][15][16][17]. In turn, this complaint usually prompts other fans to argue that these fans are ungrateful and don't remember the dark times before AO3 when everyone got a C&D letter from Anne Rice, that profiting from fanfic is illegal, that the OTW/AO3 would get sued, and/or that the OTW would lose its non-profit status if AO3 users were allowed to advertise on the site. Still other fans then point out that the counterargument itself is a myth and that while AO3 prohibiting commerce probably adds some protection, AO3 being noncommercial has nothing to do with OTW being a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the main reason that AO3 doesn't allow commercial promotion is that AO3 was started by fans who viewed fandom as a gift culture and didn't want advertisements clogging up the place. Furthermore, AO3 allows fannish original fiction, and the site chose to draw the line between fanwork and non-fanwork based on whether it was noncommercial rather than whether it contained pre-existing characters or settings.
Meanwhile, other fans have expressed frustration that their legitimate criticisms get ignored or lumped in with the uninformed hot takes.
Related Links
- The Mary Sue: The Bad Faith Attacks on Archive of Our Own Have to End, Archived version (Oct 15th, 2019)
- What’s going on with all the “if you donate to AO3 you’re evil” posting on Tumblr?, reddit discussion (April 14, 2021)
- anti-ao3-bingo's card, Archived version (April 2021 drive)
- purplebookcover's bingo cards, Archived version (October 2022 drive)
References
- ^ It's Your Turn - May 2015 OTW Drive, AO3 News, published on May 1, 2015.
- ^ I like that the AO3’s nomination for Hugo coincides with their fundraising drive and the bi-annual AO3 fundraising wank, Archived version, tweet by bossterkeaton, 4 April 2019.
- ^ the wisplet haaaaaaates ao3 fundraising time because it always causes anti-ao3 wank. #soproud, Archived version, tweet by rubywisp, 16 October 2018.
- ^ AO3 discourse season is upon us, Archived version, tumblr post by who-is-page, 13 October 2019.
- ^ *opens ao3 and sees donations drive banner* ah fuck its discourse season again, Archived version, tweet by dataghosts, 10 October 2019.
- ^ Happy Ao3 Fundraising Drive Discourse Season!, Archived version, tweet by ohminiplane, 24 April 2020.
- ^ my favourite thing about the constant rotation of ao3 discourse during donation seasons is that it does absolutely nothing and nothing changes and the site blasts pasts its donation goal every time in like 3 days, Archived version, tweet by smoreyellow, 19 October 2021.
- ^ i love ao3 donation season bcs every year I get to see people acting like thousands of strangers giving like 10 usd to a volunteer run website are personally oppressing them, Archived version, tumblr thread started by bauliya, 15 October 2021.
- ^ since it's that time again where people complain about ao3 for holding content they dont like (which isn't any different from a public library), i'd like to offer you ao3rdr which helps you blacklist whatever you want!, Archived version, tweet by beastranpo, 15 October 2021.
- ^ a b its that time of year where people on tumblr are shouting “if you donate to AO3 and not my personal gofundme you are EVIL”, Archived version, tumblr thread started by woman-respecter, 11 April 2021.
- ^ instead of donating to ao3 ask your fave fanfic authors for their ko-fis and give them the money. support artists, not the platform that encourages racist and pedophilic content pls -_-, Archived version, tweet by barksport, 10 April 2020.
- ^ why in the world would you donate to A03, a site notorious for hosting freak shit, when there are marginalized creators struggling out there you can pay directly to...., Archived version, tweet by SucculentBud, 9 April 2021.
- ^ tumblr thread started by gladnis, reblogged by fangasmagorical, Archived version, 16 October 2018. As of 18 October 2022, this tumblr post has 154,402 notes.
- ^ the fact that ao3 can just get tons of money and hoard it and never be 100% clear about what they're doing w/it while they take down authors who even so much as mention writing commissions or ko-fis, Archived version, tweet by princessxemnas, 8 August 2020.
- ^ The fact that ao3 does an extortion drive every year and have already made 4x their goal while they don’t let you link your kofi or commissions anywhere on ur fics/profile is laughable, Archived version, tweet by manglegrove, 10 April 2021.
- ^ Just saw a criticism that AO3 is hypocritical because they raise donation money but refuse to let people post patreon/ko-fi/paypal links on their AO3 fics so they don’t REALLY care about supporting writers. Listen. If you hate AO3 just hate AO3 don’t embarrass yourself, Archived version, tweet by venatrixlunaris, 18 October 2021.
- ^ ao3 getting millions of dollars almost every year in donations but as a fic author you cant even mention needing money in the end notes of your own fic because ao3 will ban you swiftly for that . cant even have a button thats like hey if you liked my works pls consider just $1, Archived version, tweet by hairmetals, 15 October 2022.