Annual Report 2021

2021 Annual Report – Organization for Transformative Works – cover by Maple.

Table of Contents

• LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
• PROJECTS
• Archive of Our Own
• Fanlore
• Legal Advocacy
• Open Doors
• Transformative Works and Cultures
• Fundraising and Outreach
• Communication and Public Relations
• People and Planning
• OTW 2021 BY THE NUMBERS
• TIMELINE 2021
• FINANCES
• Statement of Financial Position
• Statement of Activities
• Statement of Functional Expenses
• Statement of Cash Flows
• Program Expenses
• Notes to the Financial Statements
• ABOUT THE OTW / MISSION, VISION, VALUES
• Our Mission
• Our Vision
• Values
• ABOUT THE OTW / WHO WE ARE
• Board of Directors
• Emerita Board Members
• Committees

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Letter from the Board of Directors

Dear OTW donors, supporters, and volunteers,

We are pleased to present the OTW’s Annual Report for 2021, a year that saw continued growth and progress across the OTW’s projects. Here are just some of the highlights from the past year:

• Fanlore celebrated its one millionth edit in January;
• The Accessibility, Development and Technology (AD&T) committee deployed comment freezing on AO3 works and news posts, part of its ongoing work to give fans more control over their AO3 experience;
• Open Doors announced 20 upcoming imports of at-risk archives to AO3, and completed or legitimized 12;
• The Legal team continued to advocate for the protection of transformative works, including by helping German fans share their opinions on copyright law developments with legislators, and explaining what Tumblr’s Post+ announcement meant for fans and fanworks;
• Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC) welcomed a new editor team: Mel Stanfill and Poe Johnson;
• The Systems committee began work on an upgrade to the software behind Fanlore, while Transformative Works and Cultures upgraded its software to OJS 3.3.

The Board of Directors has continued to collaborate with and support all committees to the best of our ability as they work to improve our projects and ensure that the OTW can serve the needs of fans and fandom as effectively as possible. We wouldn’t be able to do this without the continued support and volunteer effort of fans from every corner of fandom. From all of us at the OTW: thank you.

With gratitude and best wishes,

The Board of Directors

Kari Dayton
Antonius Melisse
Rebecca Sentance
E. Anna Szegedi
Alex Tischer
Jess White
Kirsten Wright

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Projects

Archive of Our Own

In its twelfth year, the Archive of Our Own (AO3) continued to grow, jumping from 7 million posted works (in 2020) to over 8 million and surpassing 4 million registered users. Traffic continued to rise as well, with more than 2.04 billion page views in the month of December alone (2020: 1.70 billion). Although growth was more modest in 2021 than in 2020, monthly page views in December 2021 were 340 million higher than in January. AO3 saw a low of 56.7 million page views per day on January 4 and a high of 74.8 million on December 27.

Thanks to the Accessibility, Design & Technology (AD&T), Systems, and Tag Wrangling Committees, AO3 continued to improve while keeping pace with its growing traffic throughout the year. AD&T updated AO3 with 15 releases in 2021—including adding comment freezing, allowing users to hide specific works and works from specific users with site skins, and adding a tag limit on new works—and provided a one-time selective release of data about fanworks and tags on AO3. Systems brought capacity and performance improvements to AO3 with the installation of two new archive servers. Meanwhile, Tag Wrangling added approximately 6,700 canonical fandoms and brought the annual total number of tags wrangled to approximately 5 million (2020: 4.1 million). Tag Wrangling also made some improvements to its process for resolving issues involving tags incorrectly marked as synonyms of other tags that aren’t associated with any specific fandom.

The Policy & Abuse Committee received a record-breaking 29,500 tickets (2020: 19,000) as AO3 continued to see more users, while the Support Committee received more than 16,000 tickets (2020: 18,000), a decrease in tickets from the previous year due to AD&T’s and AO3 Documentation’s dedicated efforts at bug fixes, FAQs, and tutorials. The AO3 Documentation Committee made major updates to two of its FAQs, the Skins and Archive Interface FAQ and the Series FAQ, and made minor updates across its suite of user-facing help documentation.

Fanlore

Fanlore kicked off the year by surpassing 1 million edits in January, which it celebrated with a scavenger hunt on Dreamwidth. Across the year, the Fanlore Committee continued to engage with editors and fans through a Featured Article Face-Off on Twitter and Tumblr in which people voted for their favorite Featured Articles of 2020, four months of themed posts on social media (Femslash February, Bandom, Fandom in Colour, and Animanga), a Meet the Team social media series introducing people to Fanlore Committee volunteers, and the launch of its own official Discord server. Additionally, Fanlore hosted three annual challenges—the IFD Fanlore Challenge, the Bingo Challenge, and Stub September—which awarded participants with badges for completing editing challenges.

On the policy side, Fanlore announced an addition to its Identity Protection Policy that allows fans to remove associations between two fannish identities that they wish to keep separate, even if there is no link to a real-life identity. The committee also carried out a comprehensive update of the Wish List page, which included cleaning up outdated requests, adding links to new editor tutorials, and creating a new section for pages that need more international scope. Behind the scenes, Systems began work on upgrading the software behind Fanlore—including migrating to a newer version of Mediawiki, migrating from SphinxSearch to ElasticSearch as a search backend, and more—to be completed in 2022.

In total, Fanlore saw over 3,500 new pages and 82,500 new edits made, ending the year with more than 57,000 articles and 1,077,000 edits exploring the history, culture, people, and artifacts that make up fandom.

Legal Advocacy

The Legal Committee kept busy in 2021 working for the benefit of fans. Thanks in part to Legal volunteers’ testimony before the U.S. Copyright Office, the vidders’ exemption to the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions was renewed, allowing vidders for at least the next three years to continue decrypting DVDs, Blu-Rays, and digital sources to make fair uses of video clips. Legal chair Betsy Rosenblatt conducted a briefing with U.S. legislative staffers about fair use, and Legal submitted comments to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee opposing proposed changes to online copyright law. In addition, Legal met with the U.S. Copyright Office to discuss how copyright policy could incorporate fan interests as part of the Copyright Office’s “listening tour” meetings with copyright stakeholders.

Legal joined allies several times in 2021 to work toward common goals. Notably, Legal volunteers submitted comments to the U.S. Copyright Office in response to a Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry regarding implementation of the CASE Act, which would create a “small claims” tribunal in the U.S. Copyright Office for allegations of copyright infringement, and sent a letter to the newly-appointed U.S. Trade Representative supporting international copyright treaties that incorporate limitations and exceptions to copyright exclusivity.

Finally, Legal gave a number of interviews and answered various press queries throughout the year, and it kept fans and creators informed about what various proposals, legislation, and terms of service would mean for them. Working with the Communications Committee, Legal helped users understand what Tumblr’s “Post+” plan would mean for Tumblr users and fans more generally via a public post and some discussion with the press. Volunteer Casey Fiesler participated in a Town Hall for Internet Creators, where she and others discussed what the CASE Act means for Internet creators. Legal also informed users about copyright-law developments in Germany and helped users share their opinions with German legislators with a successful Change.org petition.

Open Doors

The Open Doors Committee had a very active 2021! The following 20 imports of archives or memorial collections to AO3 were announced:

• The Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
• The Croft Codex (Tomb Raider)
• The Disney Kink Meme (Disney fandoms)
• Echoes from the West (Saiyuki)
• FebobeFic (Lord of the Rings)
• FrodoHealers (Lord of the Rings)
• Gilmore Girls Adult Fic (Gilmore Girls)
• Gilmore Girls Slash (Gilmore Girls)
• The Harry Potter FanFic Archive (Harry Potter)
• HarryPotterFanfiction.com (Harry Potter)
• The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive (Star Trek)
• Land of Dreams (actor Oded Fehr)
• Lord of the Rings Fanfiction (The Lord of the Rings and The Lord of the Rings RPF)
• Of Elves and Men (The Lord of the Rings and The Lord of the Rings RPF)
• Sarek and Amanda Archive (Star Trek: The Original Series)
• The Snape/Weasley Archive (Harry Potter)
• 春日泽 [SpringFen] (Prince of Tennis)
• Thin Line (Harry Potter)
• Weaver of Dreams (actor Oded Fehr)
• West of the Moon (Lord of the Rings)

Meanwhile, the following 12 imports of archives to AO3 were completed or legitimized:

• The Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
• DoyleCordy (Angel: the Series)
• FebobeFic (Lord of the Rings)
• Gilmore Girls Adult Fic (Gilmore Girls)
• Gilmore Girls Slash (Gilmore Girls)
• I Will Remember You Marathon Archive [2005–2009] (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series)
• Land of Dreams (actor Oded Fehr)
• Octaves of the Heart: Sublime Archives (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series)
• Rawhide-fic (Rawhide)
• Sarek and Amanda Archive (Star Trek: The Original Series)
• The Tom Paris Dorm (Star Trek: Voyager)
• Twice Bitten (Blood Ties)

Open Doors also signed 15 Memorandums of Agreement with archive moderators and closed 231 tickets in 2021. Internally, Open Doors made significant updates to its eFiction archive processing code and developed procedures for importing works on behalf of a single creator. Finally, Open Doors created a new team structure for volunteer import assistants. This team completed 15 tasks throughout the year, including:

• Searching AO3 for works from eight archives to check for copies already uploaded by their creators
• Compiling three spreadsheets documenting all of the fanworks on each archive in order to track creator requests and manual importing progress
• Compiling two spreadsheets documenting all of the tags on each archive to be mapped by Tag Wrangling to counterparts that would be attached to fanworks during the import process
• Tidying the metadata of all fanworks on one archive
• Manually importing one archive

Transformative Works and Cultures

The OTW’s international peer-reviewed online journal of academic fan studies, Transformative Works and Cultures, released two issues in 2021: No. 35, “Fan Studies Pedagogies,” edited by Paul Booth and Regina Yung Lee, in March and No. 36, a general issue, in September. Both were released on schedule—a hallmark of TWC’s publication since the start. TWC also announced new co-editors Drs. Mel Stanfill and Poe Johnson to replace outgoing editors Drs. Kristina Busse and Karen Hellekson.

Fundraising & Outreach

Development & Membership held two successful membership drives in 2021. The April drive raised US$264,918.85 from 9,110 donors in 84 countries, including 4,348 who chose to begin or renew OTW membership. Meanwhile, the October drive raised US$195,009.65 from 6,700 donors in 77 countries, and 4,786 of those donors chose to begin or renew OTW membership. For each drive, the Finance Committee provided a budget update outlining the OTW’s current expenses and revenues, and the Development & Membership Committee developed new donation premiums and worked with Communications to produce two news posts. The Translation Committee translated the April posts into 35 languages and the October posts into 37 languages.

On top of preparing the OTW’s budget, Finance has supported the OTW by paying the bills, completing the 2020 financial audit, and ensuring that standard accounting procedures have been met.

Communications and PR

Communications continued to maintain the OTW’s social media presence throughout 2021 with modest growth on par with or exceeding that of 2020. One surprise was the decline in numbers for Weibo (around 3,000), likely because of a large but temporary surge in activity due to changes in Chinese access to AO3 in 2020. With Weibo’s numbers shrinking, the AO3 Status Twitter account once again showed the biggest growth, adding nearly 52,000 new followers. The Fanlore Twitter account added approximately 1,000 followers, and the new TWC Twitter account ended the year with 465 followers.

Communications continued several series of monthly posts during 2021. These included the internal and external OTW Newsletters and the Five Things a Volunteer Said series, which help familiarize readers with committee activities and what a volunteer’s experience is like. OTW Guest Posts continued to showcase a breadth of fandom activities to visitors, while OTW Signal reported on stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects. Communications also assisted other committees such as Elections, Development & Membership, Open Doors, Volunteers & Recruitment, Board, TWC, and Legal in releasing content including announcements and information for fans.

In terms of event planning, Communications celebrated International Fanworks Day in February with a variety of activities including a mini fanworks fest and online games. Communications also released posts marking various OTW milestones and recognitions, including International Volunteer Day and the OTW’s 14th anniversary.

In addition, Communications handled queries from fans, website visitors, and the press throughout the year, either responding directly or referring questions to other committees. Communications recorded 23 media mentions of the OTW and its projects, ranging from news articles to podcasts, some of which involved interviews with Communications volunteers or other OTW volunteers. One in particular also focused on the work of the Open Doors project.

People & Planning

The OTW held its seventh consecutive contested election for the Board of Directors, fielding four candidates for two open seats. Each provided a biography and platform, which were translated into 21 languages by the OTW’s Translation Committee, and participated in a series of Q&As and live chats. Ultimately, 2,305 ballots were cast, representing a turnout of 20.5% of eligible OTW members, who chose to elect E. Anna Szegedi and Kari Dayton. Antonius Melisse, the third place candidate, was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Kati Eggert for the remainder of her term (two years) when she stepped down for personal reasons on August 17, 2021.

The Volunteers & Recruiting Committee recruited for 25 roles throughout the year, processing 1,719 applications and completing 362 inductions and 252 removals. At the end of the year, the OTW had 1,010 volunteers.

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OTW 2021 BY THE NUMBERS

OTW 2021 By The Numbers – infographic by Maple.

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Timeline 2021

January

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.297).
• Fanlore celebrated reaching one million edits with a scavenger hunt.
• Fanlore ran a Featured Article Face-Off in which people voted for their favorite Featured Articles of 2020.
• Legal met with the U.S. Copyright Office to discuss how copyright policy could incorporate fan interests as part of the Copyright Office’s “listening tour” meetings with copyright stakeholders. It also discussed U.S. copyright questions in response to press queries.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming imports of Lord of the Rings archive FebobeFic, Prince of Tennis archive 春日泽 (SpringFen), and Tomb Raider archive The Croft Codex.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,300 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,700 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 444,000 tags.

February

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.298), including comment freezing on works and news posts.
• Communications celebrated International Fanworks Day (IFD) with several activities, including a Hidden Gems Works Celebration, a rec fest, and online games.
• Fanlore hosted its 4th annual IFD Fanlore Challenge, consisting of a week of daily editing challenges.
• Fanlore honored Femslash February with a month of femslash-themed social media posts.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming import of Lord of the Rings archive FrodoHealers.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 3,000 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,500 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 487,000 tags.
• Translation translated and uploaded several news posts into 37 languages for International Fanworks Day.

March

• AO3 recorded 68.6 million page views on Sunday, March 28, which was a new weekend high. 448 million page views were recorded for the whole week, which was 150 million more than the same time the previous year.
• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed two releases (0.9.299–0.9.300), including search index improvements and adding user and work IDs to work blurbs to allow hiding or highlighting via site skins.
• Accessibility, Design & Technology provided a one-time selective release of data about fanworks and tags on AO3.
• Board held its first public meeting of 2021, which included a financial update.
• Legal joined allies in sending a letter to the newly-appointed U.S. Trade Representative supporting international copyright treaties that incorporate limitations and exceptions to copyright exclusivity.
• Legal volunteer Casey Fiesler participated in a Town Hall for Internet Creators, where she and others discussed what the CASE Act means for Internet Creators.
• Legal submitted comments to the U.S. Copyright Office arguing for renewal and clarification of the vidders’ exemption to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anticircumvention provisions.
• Legal submitted comments to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee opposing proposed changes to online copyright law.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming imports of Harry Potter archive Thin Line, Harry Potter archive The Snape/Weasley Archive, Gilmore Girls archive Gilmore Girls Adult Fic, and Gilmore Girls archive Gilmore Girls Slash.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,600 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,400 tickets.
• Systems began work on a number of networking projects: configuring new firewalls and segmenting their internal network more so that a problem in one area is less likely to cause issues elsewhere.
• Systems began work on upgrading the software behind Fanlore, including migrating to a newer version of Mediawiki, migrating from SphinxSearch to ElasticSearch as a search backend, and more.
• Tag Wrangling named a new co-chair, Dre.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 479,000 tags.
• Transformative Works and Cultures released issue No. 35, “Fan Studies Pedagogies.”

April

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.301), including search index improvements.
• AO3 Documentation released an updated Skins and Archive Interface FAQ.
• Development & Membership raised US$264,918.85 from 9,110 donors in 84 countries in the April membership drive.
• Elections announced the 2021 election timeline and membership deadline.
• Finance posted the Organization for Transformative Works’ 2021 Budget and held a live chat about the budget and the committee’s work.
• Legal informed users about copyright-law developments in Germany and helped users share their opinions with German legislators with a successful Change.org petition.
• Legal joined allies to submit comments to the U.S. Copyright Office in response to a Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry regarding implementation of the CASE Act.
• Legal testified at hearings before the U.S. Copyright Office regarding section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, part of the every-three-year process of renewing and clarifying the vidders’ exemption that allows vidders to decrypt DVDs, Blu-Rays, and digital sources to make fair uses of video clips.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming imports of Lord of the Rings archive West of the Moon, Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Rings RPF archive Lord of the Rings Fanfiction, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer archive The Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive.
• Open Doors completed the import of Angel: the Series archive DoyleCordy.
• Open Doors made significant updates to its eFiction archive processing code.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,700 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,300 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 419,000 tags.
• Translation translated and uploaded content for the April membership drive in 35 different languages.

May

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.302), including an upgrade to Ruby 2.7.3.
• Fanlore featured a month of Bandom-themed social media posts.
• Fanlore published the first post in a new series on social media, Meet the Team, which introduces people to the volunteers working behind the scenes at Fanlore.
• Fanlore soft-launched its new official Discord server.
• Legal Chair Betsy Rosenblatt conducted a briefing with U.S. legislative staffers about fair use.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming imports of actor Oded Fehr-themed archives Weaver of Dreams and Land of Dreams.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,500 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,300 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 448,000 tags.

June

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed three releases (0.9.303–0.9.305), including ensuring that changes to tags aren’t saved until the taggable item (e.g. the work) itself is saved.
• Accessibility, Design & Technology posted about the growing traffic at AO3 and how it compared to growth in prior years.
• Development and Membership organized a mini-drive for anyone wanting to become a member in time to vote in the 2021 Board election.
• Elections announced four candidates for the 2021 Board election and posted their biographies and platforms.
• Fanlore concluded a Bingo Challenge event which saw participants taking part to complete their bingo cards and earn badges.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming legitimization of the import of Star Trek: The Original Series archive Sarek and Amanda Archive.
• Open Doors completed the imports of Lord of the Rings archive FebobeFic and Rawhide archive Rawhide-fic.
• Policy & Abuse named a new co-chair, Ranowa.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,400 tickets.
• Strategic Planning named a new co-chair, Kate Sanders.
• Support received approximately 1,200 tickets.
• Systems installed two new archive servers, bringing capacity and performance improvements to AO3.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 396,000 tags.
• Translation translated and uploaded Board election biographies and platforms into 21 different languages.

July

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.306), including several work tag cleanup tasks.
• Board held a public meeting to discuss two prospective new officer roles: one to aid the OTW in introducing paid staff and another to research options for diversity consultants.
• Communications celebrated SysAdmin Day by recognizing Systems in a public post.
• Elections published Board candidate Q&A responses.
• Fanlore announced an addition to its Identity Protection Policy that allows fans to remove associations between two fannish identities that they wish to keep separate, even if there is no link to a real-life identity.
• Fanlore featured a month of Fandom in Colour-themed social media posts.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming import of Star Trek archive The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,400 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,300 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 419,000 tags.
• Transformative Works and Cultures launched a new Twitter account.

August

• AO3 celebrated reaching four million registered users.
• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.307), including implementing a tag limit on works.
• Elections held four public chats with the Board candidates.
• Elections ran the 2021 Board of Directors election. E. Anna Szegedi and Kari Dayton were elected to fill the two vacant seats, and third-place candidate Antonius Melisse was appointed to serve the remaining two years of Kati Eggert’s term, following her decision to step down. All three took office on October 1, 2021.
• Fanlore publicly launched its new official Discord server.
• Legal helped users understand what Tumblr’s “Post+” plan would mean for Tumblr users and fans more generally via a public post and some discussion with the press.
• Open Doors legitimized the previously completed import of Star Trek: The Original Series archive Sarek and Amanda Archive.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,400 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,400 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 445,000 tags.
• Tag Wrangling made some improvements to its process for resolving issues involving tags incorrectly marked as synonyms of other tags that aren’t associated with any specific fandom.
• Transformative Works and Cultures upgraded its software to OJS 3.3.

September

• The Organization for Transformative Works celebrated its 14th anniversary.
• Board hosted a public meeting to welcome its new directors and elect officers for the coming year.
• Development & Membership named a new co-chair, Nrandom.
• Elections named a new co-chair, disjointed.
• Fanlore carried out a comprehensive update of the Wish List page, which included cleaning up outdated requests, adding links to new editor tutorials, and creating a new section for pages that need more international scope.
• Fanlore held its annual Stub September challenge, which encourages users to create and expand short “stub” pages. 236 new pages were created, and 3,422 edits were carried out.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming import of The Lord of the Rings and The Lord of the Rings RPF archive Of Elves and Men.
• Open Doors completed the imports of Star Trek: Voyager archive The Tom Paris Dorm, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series archive Octaves of the Heart: Sublime Archives, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series archive I Will Remember You Marathon Archive (2005–2009), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer archive The Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,100 tickets.
• Policy & Abuse and Support announced several changes to who is responsible for which kinds of requests.
• Support received approximately 1,300 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 342,000 tags.
• Transformative Works and Cultures announced that a new editor team comprising Poe Johnson and Mel Stanfill would be replacing editors Kristina Busse and Karen Hellekson over the course of the next year.
• Transformative Works and Cultures released issue No. 36, a general issue.

October

• Natalia Gruber and Lex de Leon completed their terms on the OTW Board of Directors.
• Antonius Melisse replaced Rebecca Sentance as OTW President, and Alex Tischer replaced Kirsten Wright as OTW Secretary.
• Development & Membership raised US$195,009.65 from 6,700 donors in 77 countries in the October membership drive.
• Fanlore featured a month of Animanga-themed social media posts.
• Finance posted an update to the 2021 budget and held a public meeting to answer questions about it.
• Legal announced that U.S. Copyright Office had renewed the vidders’ exemption to the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming import of Disney archive The Disney Kink Meme.
• Open Doors completed the import of Gilmore Girls archive Gilmore Girls Adult Fic.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,200 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,400 tickets.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 437,000 tags.
• Translation translated and uploaded content for the October membership drive in 37 different languages.

November

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed three releases (0.9.308–0.9.310), including ensuring that autocomplete tag suggestions will no longer rely on what the user enters matching the tag’s diacritics, displaying an error message when users try to leave kudos and run into the rate limit, and upgrading the Archive to Elasticsearch 7.
• Board prepared a position description for a Diversity Consultant Research Officer and opened it for feedback from committee chairs. The finalized role was then opened to internal applicants.
• Development & Membership co-chair Karen Wolf stepped down.
• Finance issued the 2020 audit, filed the tax return, and completed its chart of accounts update.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming import of Harry Potter archive The Harry Potter FanFic Archive.
• Open Doors completed the import of Gilmore Girls archive Gilmore Girls Slash.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,300 tickets.
• Support received approximately 1,200 tickets.
• Systems installed its first system with the latest Debian release.
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 348,000 tags.
• Volunteers & Recruiting co-chair Rachel Bussert stepped down.

December

• Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed one release (0.9.311).
• AO3 Documentation released an updated Series FAQ.
• Board held its last public meeting of 2021 and answered questions from attendees.
• Communications celebrated International Volunteer Day with a public post.
• Communications made the OTW’s 2020 Annual Report publicly available, along with an OTW 2020 By The Numbers infographic.
• Open Doors announced the upcoming imports of Saiyuki archive Echoes from the West and Harry Potter archive HarryPotterFanfiction.com.
• Open Doors completed the imports of Oded Fehr archive Land of Dreams and Blood Ties archive Twice Bitten, bringing the total number of imports completed in 2021 to 12.
• Policy & Abuse received approximately 2,600 tickets. Its annual total number of tickets reached approximately 29,500 (2020: 19,000).
• Support received approximately 1,200 tickets. Its annual total number of tickets reached more than 16,000 (2020: 18,000).
• Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 366,000 tags, bringing the annual total number of tags wrangled to approximately 5 million (2020: 4.1 million). Approximately 6,700 canonical fandoms were added in this year.

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Finances

Statement of Financial Position

As of December 31, 2021

	2021	2020
ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash & Cash Equivalents
Operating Cash	1,388,083.98	846,914.44
Operating Reserves	904,552.47	904,462.05
Certificate of Deposit	10,180.79	10,180.79
Donations Receivable	8,354.22	3,193.62
Prepaid Expenses	10,000.00	10,833.33
Total	2,321,171.46	1,775,584.23
Property, Plant, & Equipment
Servers & Equipment	741,204.64	691,514.64
Less: Accumulated Depreciation	(543,006.67)	(418,441.67)
Total	198,197.97	273,072.97
Other Assets
Deferred Expenses	12,500.00	22,500.00
Total	12,500.00	22,500.00
TOTAL ASSETS	2,531,869.43	2,071,157.20
LIABILITIES
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable	6,093.98	–
Total	6,093.98	–
TOTAL LIABILITIES	6,093.98	–
Net Assets
Without Donor Restriction	2,525,177.13	2,070,558.88
With Donor Restriction	598.32	598.32
Total Net Assets	2,525,775.45	2,071,157.20
TOTAL LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS	2,531,869.43	2,071,157.20

All currency amounts are presented in USD.

Statement of Activities

For the Year Ended December 31, 2021

	2021			2020
	Without Donor Restrictions	With Donor Restrictions	Total	Without Donor Restrictions	With Donor Restrictions	Total
REVENUE
Direct Contributions	756,400.71	–	756,400.71	850,176.94	–	850,176.94
Donations from Matching Programs	78,891.15	–	78,891.15	43,658.80	–	43,658.80
In-kind Revenue	186,587.50	–	186,587.50	186,587.50	–	186,587.50
Total	1,021,879.36	–	1,021,879.36	1,080,423.24	–	1,080,423.24
OTHER INCOME
Interest Income	90.42	–	90.42	231.72	–	231.72
Royalties	165.34	–	165.34	225.13	–	225.13
Miscellaneous Income	–	–	–	50.00	–	50.00
Total	255.76	–	255.76	506.85	–	506.85
RESTRICTED CONTRIBUTIONS
HPEF Grant for F. Coppa Vidding Book	–	–	–	–	5,161.62	5,161.62
Total	–	–	–	–	5,161.62	5,161.62
TOTAL REVENUES	1,022,135.12	–	1,022,135.12	1,080,930.09	5,161.62	1,086,091.71
EXPENSES
Program
Archive of Our Own	300,000.71	–	300,000.71	278,857.78	–	278,857.78
Open Doors	4,153.34	–	4,153.34	5,589.08	–	5,589.08
Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC)	2,349.00	–	2,349.00	1,831.00	–	1,831.00
Fanlore	11,894.41	–	11,894.41	9,417.89	–	9,417.89
Legal Advocacy	91,302.50	–	91,302.50	91,302.50	–	91,302.50
Con Outreach	–	–	–	–	–	–
HPEF Grant for F. Coppa Vidding Book	–	–	–	–	4,563.30	4,563.30
Fundraising & Development	58,376.56	–	58,376.56	63,935.53	–	63,935.53
Management & General	99,440.35	–	99,440.35	91,624.77	–	91,624.77
Total	567,516.87	–	567,516.87	542,558.55	4,563.30	547,121.85
Change in Net Assets	454,618.25	–	454,618.25	538,371.54	598.32	538,969.86
Net Assets, beginning of year	2,070,558.88	598.32	2,071,157.20	1,532,187.34	–	1,532,187.34
Net Assets, end of year	2,525,177.13	598.32	2,525,775.45	2,070,558.88	598.32	2,071,157.20

All currency amounts are presented in USD.

Statement of Functional Expenses

For the Year Ended December 31, 2021

	Archive of Our Own	Open Doors	Transformative Works and Cultures	Fanlore	Legal Advocacy	Program Total	Fundraising	Development	Fundraising & Development Total	Management & General	TOTAL
In-Kind Expenses	52,215.00	2,065.00	–	–	91,302.50	145,582.50	2,950.00	–	2,950.00	38,055.00	186,587.50
Banking Fees	182.44	5.19	45.00	10.10	–	242.73	18.72	11.28	30.00	95.42	368.15
Insurance Expenses	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8,976.75	8,976.75
Postage & Shipping	421.20	889.68	–	23.40	–	1,334.28	13,430.80	–	13,430.80	2,924.79	17,689.87
Auditing	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11,000.00	11,000.00
Financial Services	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	15,308.66	15,308.66
Contractor Services	6,605.00	–	–	–	–	6,605.00	–	–	–	–	6,605.00
SSL Certificates	1,563.30	–	–	86.85	–	1,650.15	–	–	–	86.85	1,737.00
Legal Filing Fees	750.00	–	–	–	–	750.00	–	–	–	250.00	1,000.00
Financial Filing Fees	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	16.32	16.32
Server Equipment	871.33	–	–	48.41	–	919.74	–	–	–	48.41	968.15
Server Hosting	87,688.76	–	–	4,733.66	–	92,422.42	–	–	–	6,389.04	98,811.46
Hosted Provider	–	120.00	–	–	–	120.00	–	–	–	480.00	600.00
Plug-ins	–	16.17	–	–	–	16.17	–	–	–	32.83	49.00
Website Hosting	–	341.01	1,500.00	–	–	1,841.01	–	–	–	908.98	2,749.99
Website Domains	54.48	475.93	–	–	–	530.41	–	–	–	2,211.06	2,741.47
Website Monitoring	8,439.00	–	–	–	–	8,439.00	–	–	–	–	8,439.00
Productivity Tools	14,548.17	240.36	–	–	–	14,788.53	4,944.00	796.00	5,740.00	5,664.25	26,192.78
Subscription Services	14,553.51	–	804.00	763.75	–	16,121.26	–	155.00	155.00	763.75	17,040.01
Premium Merchandise	–	–	–	–	–	–	5,224.82	–	5,224.82	–	5,224.82
Transaction Fees	–	–	–	–	–	–	30,845.94	–	30,845.94	–	30,845.94
Total Expenses Before Depreciation	187,892.19	4,153.34	2,349.00	5,666.17	91,302.50	291,363.20	57,414.28	962.28	58,376.56	93,212.11	442,951.87
Depreciation	112,108.52	–	–	6,228.24	–	118,336.76	–	–	–	6,228.24	124,565.00
Total	300,000.71	4,153.34	2,349.00	11,894.41	91,302.50	409,699.96	57,414.28	962.28	58,376.56	99,440.35	567,516.87

Statement of Cash Flows

For the Year Ended December 31, 2021

	2021	2020
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Increase in Net Assets	454,618.25	538,969.86
Adjustments to reconcile change in net assets to net cash flows provided by operating activities	–	–
Depreciation	124,565.00	91,672.19
Subtotal	579,183.25	630,642.05
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents due to changes in operating assets and liabilities	–	–
Donations Receivable	(5,160.60)	7,161.97
Prepaid Expenses	833.33	(199.33)
Deferred Expenses	10,000.00	(19,166.67)
Accounts Payable	6,093.98	(447.34)
Total	590,949.96	617,990.68
Cash Flows for Investing Activities
Cash paid for purchase of property and equipment	(49,690.00)	(167,090.31)
Net increase in cash	541,259.96	450,900.37
Cash, beginning of year	1,761,557.94	1,310,657.57
Cash, end of year	2,302,817.90	1,761,557.94

All currency amounts are presented in USD.

Figure 1: Program Expenses

	2021	2020
Program Services
Archive of Our Own
Banking Fees	182.44	240.62
Postage and Shipping	421.20	–
Contractor Services	6,605.00	37,386.25
SSL Certificates	1,563.30	2,277.60
Legal Filing Fees	750.00	–
Server Equipment	871.33	1,118.08
Server Hosting	87,688.76	69,092.51
Website Domains	54.48	317.00
Website Monitoring	8,439.00	8,439.00
Productivity Tools	14,548.17	12,600.70
Subscription Services	14,553.51	12,666.06
Depreciation	112,108.52	82,504.97
In-Kind Expenses	52,215.00	52,215.00
Total	300,000.71	278,857.78
Open Doors
Banking Fees	5.19	2.93
Postage and Shipping	889.68	–
Hosted Provider	120.00	110.00
Plug-ins	16.17	16.17
Website Hosting	341.01	97.75
Website Domains	475.93	3,177.34
Productivity Tools	240.36	119.88
In-Kind Expenses	2,065.00	2,065.00
Total	4,153.34	5,589.08
Transformative Works and Cultures
Banking Fees	45.00	–
Website Hosting	1,500.00	1,500.00
Subscription Services	804.00	331.00
Total	2,349.00	1,831.00
Fanlore
Banking Fees	10.10	13.37
Postage and Shipping	23.40	–
SSL Certificates	86.85	31.70
Server Equipment	48.41	62.12
Server Hosting	4,733.66	3,706.43
Website Domains	–	317.00
Subscription Services	763.75	703.67
Depreciation	6,228.24	4,583.61
Total	11,894.41	9,417.89
Legal Advocacy
In-Kind Services	91,302.50	91,302.50
Total	91,302.50	91,302.50
Con Outreach
In-Kind Services	–	–
Total	–	–
HPEF Grant for F.Coppa Vidding Book
Professional Services	–	4,563.30
Total	–	4,563.30
Program Services Total	409,699.96	391,561.55
Fundraising & Development
Fundraising
Banking Fees	18.72	18.72
Postage and Shipping	13,430.80	13,419.66
Productivity Tools	4,944.00	–
Premium Merchandise	5,224.82	15,221.51
Transaction Fees	30,845.94	31,933.21
In-Kind Services	2,950.00	2,950.00
Total	57,414.28	63,543.10
Development
Banking Fees	11.28	11.43
Productivity Tools	796.00	381.00
Subscription Services	155.00	–
Total	962.28	392.43
Fundraising & Development Total	58,376.56	63,935.53
Management & General
Banking Fees	95.42	190.76
Insurance Expenses	8,976.75	8,764.00
Postage and Shipping	2,924.79	2,733.36
Auditing	11,000.00	10,500.00
Financial Services	15,308.66	14,653.67
SSL Certificates	86.85	480.70
Legal Filing Fees	250.00	–
Financial Filing Fees	16.32	80.00
Server Equipment	48.41	62.12
Server Hosting	6,389.04	5,290.98
Hosted Provider	480.00	594.49
Plug-ins	32.83	32.83
Website Hosting	908.98	513.21
Website Domains	2,211.06	271.00
Productivity Tools	5,664.25	4,115.38
Subscription Services	763.75	703.67
Depreciation	6,228.24	4,583.61
In-Kind Services	38,055.00	38,055.00
Management & General Total	99,440.35	91,624.77
Total Expenses	567,516.87	547,121.85

All currency amounts are presented in USD.

Notes to the Financial Statements

Organization for Transformative Works, Inc.

December 31, 2021

Note 1 – Description of Organization

Organization for Transformative Works, Inc. (“the Organization”) was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Delaware on September 5, 2007, and has 501(c)(3) nonprofit status under the Internal Revenue Code. The OTW was established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. The OTW is a collaborative effort initiated and driven by fans for fans. Over 900 volunteers contribute to the OTW’s five major projects (Archive of our Own; Open Doors; Fanlore; Legal Advocacy; Transformative Works and Cultures) as well as fundraising, membership development, and internal management and administration.

Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Accounting

The financial statements of the Organization are prepared on the accrual basis of accounting in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”).

Financial Statement Presentation

The Organization utilizes Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 958, Not-for-Profit Entities. Under FASB ASU 2016-14, the Organization is required to report information regarding its financial position and activities according to two classes of net assets: net assets without donor restrictions and net assets with donor restrictions.

Net assets and changes therein are classified and reported as follows:

• Without donor restrictions – Net assets that are not subject to donor-imposed stipulations
• With donor restrictions – Net assets subject to donor-imposed stipulations that will be met either by actions and/or the passage of time or net assets subject to donor-imposed stipulations that will be maintained permanently.

The Organization has net assets with donor restrictions of $598 as of December 31, 2021.

Donations Receivable

The Organization considers receivables from donors to be fully collectible; accordingly, no allowance for doubtful donations is currently required. If donations receivable amounts should become uncollectible, they will be charged to operations when that determination is made.

Contributed Materials and Services

Contributed materials and services are reflected in the financial statements at the estimated fair value of the materials and services received. The contributions of services are recognized if the services received either: (a) create or enhance non-financial assets or (b) require specialized skills that are provided by individuals possessing those skills and would typically need to be purchased if not provided by donation. This is in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 958.

Contributed services of $186,589 and $186,589 were recorded as operating contributions during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The contributed services consist of legal services donated to the Organization by the volunteers of the Legal Committee.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash

The Organization maintains cash at one financial institution which may exceed federally insured amounts at times.

Investments

Investments in marketable securities with readily determinable fair values and all investments in debt securities are reported at their fair values in the statement of financial position. Unrealized gains and losses are included in the change in net assets. Investment income and gains restricted by donors are reported as increases to unrestricted net assets if restrictions are met, either by passage of time or by use, in the period of reporting in which the income and gains are recognized.

The Organization accounts for investments in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures. FASB ASC Topic 820 includes a fair value hierarchy that is intended to increase consistency and comparability in fair value measurements and related disclosures. The fair value hierarchy is based on inputs to valuation techniques that are used to measure fair value that are either observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect a reporting entity’s pricing based on their own market assumptions.

The fair value hierarchy consists of the following three levels:

• Level 1: Inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
• Level 2: Inputs are quoted prices for similar assets in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable, and market corroborated inputs which are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.
• Level 3: Inputs are derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or value drivers are unobservable and require the entity to make its own assumptions.

Property and Equipment

Donations of property and equipment are recorded as in-kind contributions at their estimated fair value at the time of donation. Such donations are reported as unrestricted support unless the donor has restricted the use of the donated asset to a specific purpose. Assets donated with explicit restrictions regarding their use are reported as restricted support. Absent donor stipulations regarding how long those donated assets must be maintained, the Organization reports expirations of donor restrictions when the donated or acquired assets are placed in service as instructed by the donor. The Organization reclassifies temporarily restricted net assets to unrestricted net assets at that time.

Property and equipment are depreciated using the double declining balance methods over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which are 5 years. Maintenance and repairs of the assets are charged to operations as incurred. Significant improvements or renewals of assets are capitalized.

Contributions

Contributions received are recorded as contributions with donor restrictions or contributions without donor restrictions depending on the existence and/or nature of any donor restrictions. Contributions which have any restrictions satisfied in the same period they are received are recorded as increases in net assets and are reflected as without donor restrictions.

The Organization received a contribution with donor restrictions of $5,162 during the year ended December 31, 2020. The contribution came from HP Education Fanon, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to promoting the benefits of reading, and is to be used only to support Francesca Coppa’s book on the history of fan vidding. $4,563 has been spent on copy editing and graphic design for the book as of December 31, 2020.

The Organization did not receive any contributions with donor restrictions during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Functional Allocation of Expenses

The costs of providing program services, fundraising, and administrative functions are summarized on a functional basis in the statement of activities.

See Figure 1 for a summary of Program Expenses.

Income Taxes

The OTW is a 501(c)(3) organization exempt from Federal income and State franchise taxes under provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 1902(b)(6), Title 30 of the Delaware State Taxation Code respectively. As such, no provision for income taxes has been provided in these financial statements.

Note 3 – Investment Assets

The Organization’s investments are valued as follows:

Level 1 Investments
Asset	2021	2020
Certificates of Deposit	$10,180.79	$10,180.79
Total	$10,180.79	$10,180.79

Note 4 – Fixed Assets

	2021	2020
Servers	$704,367.67	$644,009.96
Server Hardware & Upgrades	$33,431.62	$44,099.33
Firewall	$3,405.35	$3,405.35
Total Assets	$741,204.64	$691,514.64
Accumulated Depreciation	$(543,006.67)	$(418,441.67)
Fixed Assets, Net of Accumulated Depreciation	$198,197.97	$273,072.97

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About the OTW / Mission, Vision, Values

OUR MISSION

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate.

The OTW represents a practice of transformative fanwork historically rooted in a primarily female culture. The OTW will preserve the record of that history as we pursue our mission while encouraging new and non-mainstream expressions of cultural identity within fandom.

OUR VISION

We envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative and are accepted as a legitimate creative activity. We are proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. We preserve our fannish economy, values, and creative expression by protecting and nurturing our fellow fans, our work, our commentary, our history, and our identity while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans.

OUR VALUES

• We value transformative fanworks and the innovative communities from which they have arisen, including media, real person fiction, anime, comics, music, and vidding.
• We value our identity as a predominantly female community with a rich history of creativity and commentary.
• We value our volunteer-based infrastructure and the fannish gift economy that recognizes and celebrates worth in myriad and diverse activities.
• We value making fannish activities as accessible as possible to all those who wish to participate.
• We value infinite diversity in infinite combinations. We value all fans engaged in transformative work: fans of any race, gender, culture, sexual identity, or ability. We value the unhindered cross-pollination and exchange of fannish ideas and cultures while seeking to avoid the homogenization or centralization of fandom.

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About the OTW / Who We Are

The Organization for Transformative Works is run for fans by fans. The directors of OTW’s Board are all active in fandom, as are the more than 900 other volunteers serving on our committees.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kari Dayton (she/her) first found fandom at a very young age via Sailor Moon, but it would be several more years until she found fanfic in the Harry Potter fandom. (She strongly believes in Trans Rights and loves the work that has been done to distance the amazing HP fandom from the hateful vitriol the creator espouses.) Although many plot bunnies live in her head, she hasn’t written much fanfic and prefers to work behind the scenes as a Tag Wrangler, a committee she joined in 2018. She is an active Tag Wrangler Supervisor (since 2019), and enjoys helping with admin work and brainstorming ways to make Wranglers’ lives easier.

During the day, she works in tech for a VoIP company, and is the main internal trainer and technical lead for her department. Her day job includes writing and updating documentation, being a resource for coworkers in her department and related departments, answering questions (via chat and email), and training new hires. She is known at her company for helping departments cooperate, facilitating communication between departments, being the person who knows things, and in general thinks information silos are a disservice to all. She’d be happy to train you on any task you’d like to know more about–just ask!

Antonius Melisse (President) is a person from the Netherlands who strongly believes that one should never stop learning new things. He has gotten certifications, at university and otherwise, in English Language & Literature, Journalism, two methods of software testing (ISTQB and TMAP Next) and PHP development. At the moment he is working as a Symfony back-end developer.

As for past management experience, he has been a board member for a musical-theatre group he was part of (singing as a bass), and has had a management job where he was in charge of students searching for jobs for the summer.

He got introduced to fandom by some long-time friends he made while playing World of Warcraft. Together they wrote fics and original stories on the forums for their guild. When one of the friends mentioned they’d been translating for the OTW for a while and there was an opening in the Dutch language team, he jumped on the opportunity and has been a part of the Translation committee since February 2016. In the past he has also volunteered for the Policy & Abuse Committee.

Currently, he does a bit of podfic every so often, usually for The Witcher, but he appreciates most fantasy and sci-fi fandoms.

Rebecca Sentance has been in fandom for around fifteen years, starting on Quizilla where she would read second-person fanfics in fandoms like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragonball Z. However, her first ever fanwork was an Enid Blyton fanfiction that she wrote at the age of five—long before she ever dreamed there might be whole communities of people publishing and reading these works online. She discovered AO3 in 2011 and slowly began to learn about the organisation behind it and its many other projects, which led to her delving into fandom history and fan academia, and learning about the vital importance of preserving and defending fanworks of all kinds. While she was eager to be a part of the OTW, she didn’t manage to catch an open recruitment round until mid-2015, shortly after finishing her postgrad studies, when she saw a posting for AO3 Documentation volunteers—the perfect fit for someone who loves all things to do with words. She later found her way onto the Transformative Works and Cultures and Fanlore committees, and now devotes a significant portion of her time to being part of this amazing community of fans. When not volunteering with the OTW, she can be found lurking in various parts of Marvel fandom and procrastinating on her latest fic.

E. Anna Szegedi discovered fandom years before she even knew what the word meant. She wrote her first fanfic (for Heroes of Might and Magic III) in pencil on printer paper at age eight. Her first venture into online fandom was through a small forum dedicated to Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy, which was also where she published her first multi-chapter fanfiction. Discovering English forums and fansites motivated her to learn English, and reading (and writing) fanfiction in English fueled her love for languages.

She joined the OTW Translation committee in 2017. As an avid user of AO3, Anna was excited to help make the OTW’s projects more accessible to those who didn’t speak English. Later, she became a volunteer manager for the committee, working to train and support Translation volunteers in their tasks.

Anna holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and American Philology and a Master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation. She works in the administration department of a university, being responsible for handling admissions and day-to-day support for international students.

Alex Tischer (Secretary) works as an ECC veterinarian, currently in the UK. Has been in fandom since before the millennium and has migrated through more fandoms than can be listed here. Has been a member of the OTW since its founding and volunteered for just as long. Apart from media fandom has also somehow ended up in the weird and wonderful world of sports—which are very niche groups that resemble fandoms in surprising ways. When not dealing with sick pets, Alex can be found doing assault courses, climbing and trail running nearly as often as consuming media.

Jess White is an avid consumer of all things fandom, and has been since she discovered her aunt’s Kirk/Spock zines in the early 90s. She then graduated to scribbling her own fanfic in notebooks with sparkly pens, then eventually creating content on message boards, individual fandom forums, livejournal, and eventually AO3. Jess has volunteered in the OTW for the past six years, predominantly in the Policy & Abuse Committee. She has also worked briefly in Support (for about two years) and is currently also volunteering with Fanlore as a Policy and Admin volunteer. Outside of fandom, Jess has been a teacher for fifteen years.

Kirsten Wright is a member of the OTW Communications team. She first joined in 2014 at the recommendation of a former professor. She currently moderates the OTW Facebook page, as well as the LiveJournal and Dreamwidth accounts. She previously moderated the OTW Twitter account, and both the Fanlore Twitter and Tumblr accounts. Kirsten first found organized fandom as a young teenager, and never looked back. At various points, fandom has served as a teacher and friend, and is ultimately how she discovered her career in United States political campaigns. She’s a notorious fandom hopper, but has written the most for The Social Network. Her favorite genre of fic is slice of life. She has definitely opened more than one 200k fanfic after midnight during the work week.

NON-DIRECTOR OFFICERS

Yuechiang Luo (Treasurer)

Emerita Directors

2021

• Kati Eggert
• Natalia Gruber
• Lex De Leon

2020

• Claire P. Baker
• Jessie Casiulis
• Danielle Strong

2019

• Kristina Busse
• Priscilla Del Cima

2018

• Matty Bowers
• Atiya Hakeem

2017

• Aline Carrão
• Katarina Harju
• Alex Tischer

2015

• Eylul Dogruel
• Soledad Griffin
• Andrea Horbinski
• M.J. MacRae
• Cat Meier
• Jessica Steiner

2014

• Franzeska Dickson
• Anna Genoese
• Nikisha Sanders

2013

• Julia Beck
• Maia Bobrowicz
• Ira Gladkova
• Kristen Murphy

2012

• Francesca Coppa, PhD
• Naomi Novik
• Jenny Scott-Thompson

2011

• Rachel Barenblat
• Hele Braunstein
• Sheila Lane
• Allison Morris

2010

• Naomi Novik
• Rebecca Tushnet, JD
• Elizabeth Yalkut

2009

• KellyAnn Bessa
• Susan Gibel, JD

2008

• Cathy Cupitt, DCA
• Michele Tepper, PhD

COMMITTEES

Accessibility, Design, & Technology
AO3 Documentation
Communications
Development & Membership
Elections
Fanlore
Finance
Legal
Open Doors
Policy & Abuse
Strategic Planning
Support
Systems
Tag Wrangling
Translation
TWC
Volunteers & Recruiting
Webs

Read about our current committees here.