Every year, the OTW’s expenses increase. Watching the trends as we grow and change is always an adventure, and fitting the numbers into a budget can be as challenging as a round of Sudoku.
Here are nine quick and quirky facts about the OTW’s expenses:
- 990 is the US Federal Tax return filed by the organization every year to report our income and expenses. Copies are available by request.
- US$828 was the total cost for the year to keep our main website, transformativeworks.org, up and running.
- 78% is the amount by which the OTW’s income grew in 2014, thanks in large part to the generosity of donors during the October fundraising drive.
- 6 staff members were sponsored to represent the OTW at seven conventions on two continents—staffing information tables, leading panels, and networking with fans and tech professionals.
- US$5,122.57 paid for server colocation in Europe, one of several sites where OTW servers live.
- US$412 provided a much-needed upgrade to ticketing software for both the Abuse and Support committees, which work to address problems and answer questions for AO3 users.
- US$3,456.00 came up twice in 2014—first as the total cost for two members of Accessibility, Design & Technology to attend training sessions for Elasticsearch (the search engine software that AO3 uses), and again as the cost for more than a dozen OTW volunteers to take part in communications training.
- 2 contractors worked closely with the OTW in 2014—one with Accessibility, Design & Technology and a second with the Board of Directors—for a total cost of US$2,685.00.
- 1 person’s donation can make a difference.
The OTW’s new expenses in 2015 will include upgrades to servers; expansion of outreach at conferences and conventions; consultants to provide additional support to AO3 and transformativeworks.org; and assistance in managing the software used for our donor database. Existing expenses will continue, including an increase of 10% in both monthly colocation fees and insurance premiums.
Every donation, large or small, helps cover the costs mentioned here and so many more, from stamps for the occasional piece of old-fashioned paper mail to providing the chat rooms in which our volunteers collaborate on and contribute to the myriad projects under the OTW umbrella. Monthly subscriptions are a great way to help cover those expenses and provide a steady stream of income in the six months between our two annual fundraising efforts.
Once again proving that 1 person’s donation can make a difference, this drive we have a generous matching gift opportunity. We currently have 350 generous donors who support the OTW through recurring donations. If we can increase that to 400 donors, an anonymous donor will donate US$3,600! These recurring contributions can also count towards a premium. Any total donation over US$50 is eligible to receive a donor premium gift.
Come join us as we face new challenges this year. Make a donation and help us become bigger and even better in 2015.