I. THANK YOU!
Our April membership drive was a massive success! Nearly 10,000 donors from 86 countries showered the Organization for Transformative Works with donations, totalling over US$245,000 and leaping over the fundraising target! Thank you so much to everyone who donated, signal boosted, and cheered us on. Your support means the world to us.
Development and Membership led the drive, keeping track of donations and answering everybody’s questions. Special thanks go to Translation and Communications for getting the word out about the drive–in 28 languages!
If you want to know more about where those donations go (or what they grow), check out the OTW’s 2019 Budget that the Finance committee recently made public.
II. ASKING FOR YOUR HELP
Communications is preparing an article about virtual cons and would like to talk to anyone who’s attended or organized one to learn about your experiences. If that’s you, please use our contact form to let us know how to get in touch with you. Anything you can share would be helpful!
III. AT THE AO3
Did you hear that the Archive of our Own is a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work? Thank you to everyone who nominated us! Check out our “For Your Consideration” informational packet that will be sent to all eligible Hugo voters.
Celebrations did not stop regular business, however. Behind the scenes in April, Accessibility, Design & Technology continued to make improvements to the Archive.
In April, Policy & Abuse and Support received 1,000 tickets each. In March, Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 202,000 tags.
IV. LEGAL ADVOCACY
In the beginning of April, the OTW Legal team filed a Comment with the government of New Zealand as part of New Zealand’s regular review of its Copyright Act. The comment discussed the many social and cultural values of laws that permit and promote creation of transformative works, and argued that New Zealand should retain and expand fair dealing policies to advance those policies. Huge thanks to the many New Zealand fans who sent testimonials–your stories are powerful and helpful!
Also in April, OTW Legal testified at U.S. Copyright Office Roundtable Hearings as part of the Copyright Office’s study of the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions for Internet Service Providers. Our testimony focused on ways in which the safe harbor provisions have encouraged an explosion of expression on platforms like the AO3. We encouraged the Copyright Office to remember the wide variety of Internet platforms and not to presume that large commercial operations like YouTube are the only kinds of platforms out there.
V. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEEPS
As of 26 April, the OTW has 757 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New Committee Staff: Frogzanity, GoldenFalls, mambo, Nisha Gode and Vavvaflo (All Support) and 3 other Support Staffers
New TWC Volunteers: Cameron Salisbury (TWC)
Departing Committee Staff: Cameron Salisbury (TWC) and Patrycja Zarzecka (Support)
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: Tirnisse
Departing Translation Volunteers: ncastro and 3 other volunteers
For more information about the purview of our committees, please access the committee listing on our website.
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.