Archive of Our Own

The Organization for Transformative Works's April Membership Drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of $362,171.85 raised, far exceeding our goal of US$150,000. These donations came from 9,702 people in 87 countries: thank you to every single one of them, as well as to all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive!

We are particularly pleased that 8,035 donors chose to take up or renew an OTW membership with their donation. The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation, so if you donate now you'll be able to vote in the 2026 OTW Board elections, which will take place in August. And our exclusive thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

In case you missed it, earlier this month AO3 exited open beta! Earlier this year, we also reached 10 million users and 17 million fanworks. We’re awed by all these milestones we’ve reached as a community, and, as always, are very grateful for all your support.

These milestones would not be possible without the hard work of the volunteers who are part of the Accessibility, Design, & Technology committee (AD&T). AD&T is the team behind developing, updating, and maintaining the AO3’s software and infrastructure, whose work you can keep up with by reading the release notes posts with the list of code updates and fixes. Recently, our AD&T volunteers and contributors moved collections to Elasticsearch as well as made improvements to bookmark filtering and sorting.

If you're familiar with coding and would like to help, we welcome contributions from anyone! Check out our Contributing Guidelines and other documentation on our GitHub repository. All contributors are credited in our release notes.

If you're interested in helping AO3 but don't have any coding experience, consider contributing to AO3 in some other way, such as by donating!

We’ve prepared new donation gifts for this Drive as well, such as the US$350 Fix-It Kit, for when you need to do a little fix-it for canon; and the US$100 tech travel bag for all your fic reading and fanwork creation needs!

As per usual, we have a sticker set at the US$45 level, with a theme in celebration of the inherently human and collaborative nature of fannish culture and fandom, as well as encouragement of new beginnings.

Fiber Art Weavers, who generously donated OTW-themed recycled cotton blankets previously have kindly donated some more this Drive! We’re very excited to add them to our donation gifts at the US$600 level, but please note that these are limited in number and cannot be saved up for with a recurring donation unlike the other gifts. Once again, thank you so much to Fiber Art Weavers for their donation!

If you want a gift but don’t want to donate all at once, you can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Simply select a thank-you gift that your recurring donation will be adding up to, and once you’ve “saved” enough to get your item, you will get an email from Development & Membership to confirm your shipping address. You must respond to this email for the donation gift to be sent to you. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you. For more information regarding donating, refer to the Donations and Membership FAQ.

A donation of US$10 or more will also allow you to become a member of the OTW. OTW members have the right to vote for the Board of Directors—the OTW’s governing board. You have until June 30, 2026 to become a member if you would like to vote in this year’s election, which will be held in August. For more information about OTW elections, refer to our elections website.

While we hope that many of you will take this opportunity to donate and join the OTW, we're grateful for the support of all members of this community, in all its many forms! Whether you create, share, comment on or kudos fanworks on AO3; edit Fanlore; read Transformative Works and Cultures; or spread information from OTW Legal, you all help shape the OTW and its projects every day. We are grateful for your time, energy, and engagement!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

Update April 24 13:27 UTC: We are grateful for all your enthusiasm for the OTW-themed blankets! Unfortunately, our limited supply has now run out and it is no longer available as a donation gift. All other items are still available.

The Organization for Transformative Works's (OTW) October membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of US$288,692.28 raised. We are particularly pleased that 7,339 donors chose to either take up or renew OTW membership with their donation, exceeding our goal of 4,500 members.

These donations came from 8,753 people in 79 countries: thank you to every single one of them, as well as to all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive! The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year round and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation, so if you donate now you'll be able to vote in the 2026 OTW Board elections, which will take place in August. And our exclusive thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate!

Thanks again to our donors, our volunteers, and everyone who supports the OTW and its projects. We can't wait to see what milestones we hit in the future.

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.

AO3 continues to grow and pass new milestones. This year alone, we celebrated having nine million users, one million Mandarin Chinese fanworks, and 15 million fanworks—have you ever wondered how we keep up behind the scenes?

One of the places your generous donations go to is our Systems committee, who have been hard at work upgrading the servers that power AO3’s database and search systems, to keep up with the ever increasing amount of users and activity.

Systems maintains the infrastructure to support the OTW's projects, as well as internal systems. This includes our three server racks, numerous servers, and networking equipment, which can be seen below. Our all volunteer team regularly monitors our servers and responds to outages as quickly as possible to restore service, in addition to performing routine upgrades and maintenance to ensure the OTW's projects remain available. They also occasionally publish postmortems and presentations about AO3’s infrastructure on their AO3_Systems AO3 account.

We’ve prepared various donation gifts for this Drive as well! As usual, we have our US$45 sticker set. At the US$75 level, we have this year’s pin (the AO3 logo in disguise as a butterfly!) and a new spinning keychain with the AO3 and OTW logos. This month, we have also replaced our old duffel bag with a water bottle + pin combo.

If you want a gift but don’t want to donate all at once, you can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Simply select the gift you prefer on the donation form, and if you choose to not donate for the gift in one sitting, it will automatically get set up as a recurring donation. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you.

A donation of US$10 or more will also allow you to become a member of the OTW. OTW members have the right to vote for the Board of Directors—the OTW’s governing board. You have until June 30, 2026, to become a member if you would like to vote in next year’s election, which will be held in August of next year.

While we hope that many of you will take this opportunity to donate and join the OTW, we're grateful for the support of all members of this community, in all its many forms! Whether you create, share, comment on or kudos fanworks on AO3; edit Fanlore; read Transformative Works and Cultures; or spread information from OTW Legal, you all help shape the OTW and its projects every day. We are grateful for your time, energy, and engagement!

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.

The Organization for Transformative Works's April membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of 269,766.01 USD raised, far exceeding our goal of 75,000 USD. These donations came from 8216 people in 82 countries: thank you to everyone who donated, as well as all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive!

We are particularly pleased that 7064 of donors chose to take up or renew OTW membership with their donation. The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year round and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation, so if you donate now you'll be able to vote in the 2025 OTW Board elections, which will take place in August. And our exclusive thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate!

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.

Ever since its foundation in 2007, the Organization of Transformative Works (OTW) has been run for fans, by fans. We’ve been happily overwhelmed by the continued growing interest and support in our projects from the fans of different generations around the world, and we're extremely grateful for the financial support from OTW members and donors, which has helped us build up a reserve fund while covering our projects' day-to-day expenses.

These funds and your kindness and support are crucial when one of our projects encounters issues, such as the downtime and slowness that the Archive of Our Own (AO3) experienced over the past few months. We’ve been taking important steps to resolve these issues and remain thankful for your support and patience during this period.

While our volunteers have been hard at work keeping AO3 stable, this period has once again proven the strength and resilience of fans. Thanks to your generous donations and continuous support, we have been able to keep AO3 and the rest of our projects, running as a non-profit driven by our volunteers. In light of this, we would like to encourage you to donate and become a member during our first membership drive of this year!

As per usual, we have prepared various donation gifts:

Want to show off your love for AO3 on the go? For a donation of US$100, you can now write down your notes and carry a piece of fandom in your bag with a brand-new 5.5”×7.5” (14 cm x 19 cm) AO3 notebook!

By donating US$45, you can get a random selection from our sticker stash (be prepared for a surprise)!

You can also become a member of the OTW by donating US$10 or more. Keep in mind that being a member of OTW is not the same as having an AO3 account—OTW members can vote for the annual OTW Board elections and their information is not connected to any of their accounts on AO3, Fanlore, or any of our other projects.

You can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Once you select the gift you’d like, your future donations can get added to the total, even if your current donation amount isn’t sufficient. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: please contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you.

Curious about how donations are spent? Visit our past budget posts or annual reports to find out more. If you have any other questions regarding donations and membership, you can visit our FAQ or contact Development and Membership.

While our members and their donations are crucial for us to keep our projects like Fanlore, Open Doors, Legal Advocacy, Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC), and the AO3 running, don’t be discouraged if you can’t contribute financially! We appreciate the endless support and commitment of this community: whether it’s publishing or commenting under a work on AO3, editing on Fanlore, or reaching out to Open Doors about fanfiction archives that are at risk. You can also check out our Volunteering Page to find out how to get more involved through volunteering opportunities.

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.

The Organization for Transformative Works's October membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of $214,698.86 raised. We are particularly pleased that 6020 donors chose to either take up or renew OTW membership with their donation, far exceeding our goal of 4,500 members.

These donations came from 6,955 people in 86 countries: thank you to every single one of you, as well as to all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive! The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations year-round, and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation. If you donate now, you'll be able to vote in next year's OTW Board election, which will take place in August 2025. Our exclusive thank-you gifts are also available whenever you donate!

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.

Do you remember that one fanfic that kept you reading until dawn for the very first time? Or the fan art or video that led you to dig out all the works its creator shared? Have you ever tried to look into the stories of the authors who wrote fics before you were even born? You can find all this and more on Fanlore - the wiki for fanworks, fan creators, and fannish history!

Fanlore is a project run by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) with the goal of providing fans a place to record and share their histories, experiences and traditions. Fanlore records both the history and current state of our fan communities – fan works, fan activities, fan terminology, individual fans and fannish-related events. You can read about what fandoms were like in the olden days and document memorable events in your own fandoms, all on Fanlore! Check out the wiki’s New User Portal or join the Fanlore Discord server to connect with other editors and users.

We would not be able to preserve these cherished pieces of fandom history without the generous donations of our fellow fans and volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep all our projects running. As always, we have some shiny new donation gifts!

You can choose to display your love for fandom with some of our new thank-you gifts. For a US$40 donation, we have a new sticker set featuring popular AO3 tags. You can show off a bumper sticker saying "my other car is a ship" for a donation of US$50. For a donation of US$75 or more, you could carry home your groceries with a white and red shopping bag or you can announce your love for AO3 with our rainbow kudos pin.

You can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Select the gift you want, and if the total for that donation doesn't reach the amount needed for the gift you selected, future donations will be applied to the gift you’re saving for. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you.

A donation of US$10 or more will also allow you to become a member of the OTW. OTW members can vote for the Board of Directors – the OTW’s governing board. Donating now and checking the “I wish to be a member” box will make you eligible to vote in the 2025 OTW Board Election.

We hope that many of you will take this opportunity to donate and become a member to support projects like Fanlore, Open Doors, Legal Advocacy, Transformative Works and Cultures, and the Archive of Our Own. Your contributions help keep our projects successful for new and long-time fans alike!

The Organization for Transformative Works's April membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of $207,088.91 raised, far exceeding our goal of $50,000. These donations came from 6073 people in 70 countries: thank you to every single one of you, as well as to all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive!

We are particularly pleased that 5206 donors chose to either take up or renew OTW membership with their donation. The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year round and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation, so if you donate now you'll be able to vote in the 2024 OTW Board elections, which will take place in August. Our exclusive thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate!

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.

The OTW has recently completed two surveys with our project users to find out more about what they know about our work. In our 16th Anniversary Survey, 87% of the 67,474 fans who responded said that they had never heard of OTW's Open Doors. However, in our International Fanworks Day (IFD) 10th Anniversary Survey, over 60% of survey takers said they did know that the OTW preserves fandom archives, although only 28% knew that we help preserve physical fanworks as well.

So we'd like to put a spotlight on the important work that this OTW project does. Open Doors began in 2009 by facilitating donations of fan creations, such as zines, audio and video tapes, and ephemera, to academic libraries who house and preserve them. In 2012, they began the first of over 100 digital archive imports to AO3. This project imports archive content in all languages and formats.

In 2022, they went one step further and created the AO3 Fanzine Scan Hosting Project, through which fanfiction and fanart originally published in print fanzines is imported to AO3.

When you support the OTW, you support the work of Open Doors and all our projects in preserving the history and works created by fans over decades. And for those who are able to donate, we have some items we think you'll find worth keeping as well!

Our IFD survey revealed that over 11% of the survey takers had created fannish poetry. But if you haven't yet, with a US$75 donation you can try your hand at it with our new poetry magnets featuring fun fannish words!

For a US$40 donation, we now have a new sticker set of animal themed OTW + project logos.

You can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Just select the gift you want, and if the total for that donation doesn't reach the amount needed for the gift you selected, future donations will be applied. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you.

A donation of US$10 or more will also allow you to become a member of the OTW. OTW members have the right to vote for the Board of Directors — the OTW’s governing board. You have until June 30, 2024, to become a member if you would like to vote in this year’s election, which will be held in August.

We hope that many of you will take this opportunity to donate to keep Open Doors doing their work, as well as Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. And for all of those OTW members who are renewing their membership, thank you for your continued support!

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.

After the Archive of Our Own (AO3), Fanlore, and our donation form went down due to the DDoS attacks in July, many fans responded by donating in the following months. We greatly appreciate both your generosity and your desire to respond to the attacks with this show of support. We received a 35% bump in donations in July and August of 2023 compared to July and August in 2022.

That's why, during our usual October membership drive, we want to encourage you to become a member of the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) — the nonprofit organization behind AO3 and Fanlore, among other projects — and continue to be involved. Our drive donation banner on AO3 will thus be tracking new members and not money raised.

What is OTW membership?

You can become an OTW member with a donation of US$10 or more. Membership will allow you to vote for candidates seeking to join the Board of Directors—the OTW's governing board. You have until June 30, 2024 to become a member if you would like to vote in next year's election, which will be held in August.

• In order to become a member, you must select "Yes" to the question at the end of the donation form.
• You cannot become a member by donating US$1 ten times: it must be at least US$10 in a single donation.
• While employer matching cannot be used for membership, fans in the U.S. might be able to double their contributions that way. (Contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you!)

Being an OTW member is not the same as having an AO3 account.

Your OTW membership has no connection to any account you may have at AO3 or any of our other projects, and an OTW membership does not provide access to any online space. This was a deliberate choice made by the OTW early on, to ensure that your reading history, works you've created, and edits you've made on Fanlore aren't tied to your wallet name or payment information.

But besides being able to vote in the OTW Board elections, you get cool merchandise if you've been a member for multiple consecutive years.

And speaking of cool merchandise, here are some new thank-you gifts that donors can receive:

AO3 pin is 1.5 inches/3.81 centimeters long

Contracted Unified English Braille sticker reading "I [heart] my fandoms" is 3 inches by 2.5 inches/7.62 by 6.35 centimeters

These thank-you gifts start at US$40. You can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Instructions on how to set this up will be included in your donation receipt.

Find out more

If you have any questions about membership and donation, either check out our FAQ or contact Development & Membership.

We appreciate all your donations, volunteering, encouraging messages and fun memes. And for those who would like to help spread the word about our membership drive, use #otwmembers in your posts! That will help us spot your messages and signal boost.

Thanks for your support and we hope to have more of you join us!

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.

The Organization for Transformative Works' April membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we exceeded our fundraising target of US$40,000, with a final total of US$275,724.51 donated by 7,528 people in 84 countries. We are particularly pleased that 5,810 donors chose to renew or begin OTW membership.

Thank you so much to everybody in our global community who shared, posted about, or donated during the drive. Your support underpins our ongoing mission: to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture, in all its myriad forms. We’re glad that this is as important to you as it is to us.

And if you're just now hearing about the drive - don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year round, and all of our membership perks and thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate.

The Organization for Transformative Works was conceived, designed, and built by fans. We are supported by the volunteer labor of the fans who staff us and we are also supported by the financial generosity of our members. This April, as we launch our biannual membership drive, we want to explain some of the benefits of OTW membership, which is available to those making donations of US$10 or above; and also describe some of the other ways in which we share our appreciation with our donors.

We understand that for many of our visitors, it won't be possible to donate to the OTW during this drive; and we want to stress that every member of our community is valued, whether your contribution is financial or whether it comes in the form of volunteer hours, creative work, wiki articles, kudos, or comments. You all make the OTW what it is and we are grateful for each and every one of you.

For those who are able to donate, the perks start at just US$10. Each one-time donation of US$10 or above entitles the donor to become a member of the OTW for the next calendar year. OTW members have the right to vote in annual elections for the OTW Board of Directors, the body which oversees the OTW's activity and strategic direction. The next elections will be held in August this year. You can find out more about the elections process here, at our elections website.

OTW members also receive an exclusive social media icon, which they can use across whichever sites they choose; and we are able to reward long-term donors with exclusive thank-you gifts marking three, five, and ten years of continuous membership. Check out the launch post to find out more about these exclusive premiums.

As always, we also have a variety of thank-you gifts available to those donating to the OTW in specific amounts. This drive, we're pleased to make two new gifts available: a new sticker set, which you can select with a donation of US$40 or above, and an exclusive playing-card pack. Each card depicts a fannish term of the kind you might see in AO3 tags. We hope that, as well as playing card games with them, you'll be able to use them to create on-the-spot creative challenges with friends or for yourself. We look forward to seeing what you come up with! The card pack is available to donors giving US$100 or above. More information about this and our other thank-you gifts are available at our donations page.

If that amount isn't feasible for you, don't worry. You can use smaller, recurring donations to meet the set amount. Visit our recurring donations page to set up a donation at whatever frequency and price point is doable for you. You'll receive instructions on how to register for the thank-you gift of your choice in your donation receipt. The gift will be set aside and, once your donations reach the designated level, will be sent out to you.

If you're in the US, where the OTW is a registered non-profit, you might be able to multiply your donation at no additional cost to yourself with an employer matching scheme! Speak to your HR department to find out whether this is something offered by your workplace.

You can find out more about how previous donations to the OTW have been spent by visiting our budget post. And once again, if you're able to give, please accept our thanks and click through here to visit our donations page.

The Organization for Transformative Works’s October membership drive is over, and we’re delighted to say that we raised a total of US$195,009.65, far outstripping our goal of US$40,000. This was made possible by the generosity of 6700 donors from 77 countries worldwide, of whom 4786 chose to begin or renew OTW membership. We are so grateful, as always, for our global community. Thank you! Your support enables us to continue working in service of our mission: to further the interests of the fans we represent by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in all its many forms.

We would also like to thank the volunteers whose service made this drive run so smoothly, and all of the users who posted, tweeted, and talked about the drive to their friends and acquaintances. Your help is invaluable in helping us to achieve our goals. We appreciate you all so much!

Finally, if you haven’t yet had time to make a contribution, don’t worry! We accept donations all year round. OTW membership, which is available to those making donations of US$10 and above, lasts for a full year from the date of the most recent US$10 donation; so anybody donating now will be eligible to vote in next year’s election for the OTW Board of Directors. The thank-you gifts we offer for donations of US$40 or above are also available on an ongoing basis. It’s always a good time to give!

The Organization for Transformative Works is a labor of love. It was created by fans, for fans. We are a nonprofit organization, and we rely 100% on donations: the donation of time from our volunteers, and the donation of funds from the community we serve. Today marks the beginning of our biannual membership drive, when we ask that those of you who are able to do so consider making a financial contribution to support our work. You can read about how we spend your money in our budget.

Your donations to the OTW support our work across all our projects: from the Archive of Our Own to Fanlore; from our academic journal, Transformative Works and Cultures, to our fanworks rescue project Open Doors and our Legal committee’s advocacy for transformative works worldwide. Donors also benefit more directly. With any one-time donation of US$10 or more, you can choose to take up an annual membership of the OTW, giving you the right to vote for our Board of Directors in the election that we hold in August every year.

Members also receive a digital icon which can be used on your AO3 or on social media profiles; and those who have maintained OTW membership for three, five, or ten years are eligible for exclusive commemorative gifts. Find out more about membership and voting here.

Those making donations of US$40 or above are able to select from a number of thank-you gifts. New this year are an OTW tumbler in limited-edition white, and a brand-new sticker set. If you can’t afford to make a donation of this size, don’t worry: we’ve got you. You can opt to set up a recurring donation at a level that suits you and let our Development and Membership team know which premium you’d like to save up for. Once your donations hit the eligible level, they will dispatch your gift.

The Organization for Transformative Works is a registered non-profit in the US, and donors in this country may be able to take advantage of matched giving schemes from their employer. Please consider speaking to your workplace to find out whether this is a possibility for you!

If you aren’t able to make a donation this time, please consider sharing this post with others, and know that we appreciate your support however you are able to give it. Thank you for your money, your time, and your love. We wouldn’t be here without it!

Now that the Organization for Transformative Works’ April membership drive has ended, we would like to thank everyone who participated. We are stunned and grateful to say that during the drive, we raised US$264,918.85 from 9110 donors in 84 countries, far exceeding our target of US$50,000. We also increased our membership to 16,842 members total. You are incredible: thank you!

We’d particularly like to offer our sincere thanks to our OTW members. During this drive, we had 4,348 donors choose OTW membership. Thank you for your donations, year after year. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to fund our projects: you really are the bedrock on which the OTW is built. To show our appreciation, we now have a membership rewards program. After three, five, and ten years of OTW membership, members will be eligible to receive exclusive gifts! And of course, it’s our OTW members who vote for our Board of Directors. More news on our upcoming elections will be forthcoming soon.

This drive wouldn’t have been possible without all of our volunteers, who worked so hard to make sure everything ran smoothly. Thank you all for your help! We’d also like to extend our gratitude to everyone who talked, tweeted, or posted about the drive. Your support made a real difference. Thank you so much!

And finally: this drive has officially ended, but you can make a donation and join the OTW year-round. You have until June 30, 2021 to become a member in time to be eligible to vote in our next election in August!

The Organization for Transformative Works was founded by fans for fans in 2007, with the mission of serving fandom by preserving and encouraging the creation of transformative works. Fourteen years later, our commitment remains unwavering. Whether through legal advocacy against fan-unfriendly legislation worldwide, rescuing endangered fanworks, recording fan history, providing a venue for fan studies scholarship, or hosting your fanworks old and new, the OTW is working to protect fans and the transformative works they create.

But we can't do it without your help. As we do in April and October every year, over the next three days we are asking you to consider joining the OTW and donating to support our work. If you aren't able to donate at this time, please consider sharing news of our drive with others in your fandom networks, and please know that however you show your commitment to the OTW, your participation and enthusiasm are very much appreciated.

To express our gratitude for the generosity of our donors, we have a new addition to our array of thank-you gifts. You can claim the rainbow kudos sticker set when you make a donation of US$40 or above. Yes, you can finally award kudos to your friends, pets, and household items!

Remember, if you are not able to donate at this level but would like to claim this or another thank-you gift, you can do so by choosing to donate a smaller amount on a regular basis through our recurring donations page. Just contact our Development and Membership team once you have set up your recurring donation and let them know which item you would like to save up for. They will begin counting your running total towards the thank-you gift of your choice.

Donations of US$10 or above also make the donor eligible for OTW membership. Members will receive a special digital icon, which you can use on your account on AO3 or on social media. More importantly, membership enables you to vote in the annual elections to the OTW's Board of Directors. Find out more about membership and voting here.

For OTW supporters in the United States, one easy way to add value to your donation is through employer donation matching. Many employers will make equivalent donations to charitable causes supported by their employees: why not speak to your employer to see if they offer this perk?

No matter if you’ve been around for every drive since our inception, or if this is your very first, we’re grateful for your support and involvement. Let’s work together to make this drive a success: and if you are able to do so, donate today!

The bi-annual membership drive of the Organization for Transformative Works is over and we are delighted to say that while we didn't reach our goal of 5,000 new members, we registered a total of 2,660 memberships across 69 countries, bringing our fundraising total for the period to $89,688.51. Thank you so much!

We are so glad that so many of you have taken this opportunity to formalize your support for the OTW. The OTW is a nonprofit organization and we depend on the creative, financial and logistical contributions of fans around the world. As detailed in our recent budget post, the generosity of our members supports our archival, legal, academic, and technological work and helps us to continue to serve our mission of preserving fanworks and fan culture. Thank you!

And if you haven’t yet registered your membership, don’t worry! The OTW accepts both members and donations all year round.

The Organization for Transformative Works was conceived, built by, and designed for the people who use our services. That’s what makes us unique! Whether it’s the lawyers, system administrators, and other volunteers who keep our projects running; the donors whose generosity ensures our financial health; or the writers, artists, and other contributors whose hard work populates Fanlore, Transformative Works and Cultures, and the Archive of Our Own, none of what we do would be possible without the time, love, and dedication of individual fans.

We are stronger together than we are apart. That’s why today we are asking you to consider either becoming a member of the OTW or, if you’ve already joined us, renewing your membership. Membership requires a donation of just US$10 and lasts for a full calendar year.

When you become a member, you will become eligible to vote in the elections for the OTW Board of Directors, which are held annually in August. You will also receive a social media icon which you can use on your AO3 profile or other social media platforms to let everybody know that you’re part of the OTW!

This year, we’ve also introduced a new benefit for recurring members. If you’ve made membership donations for each of the last three, five, or ten years, you are now eligible to receive exclusive thank-you gifts! Three-year members can claim a bookmark (to be used in all the fic you have printed for offline enjoyment, of course). Five-year members are eligible to receive a sticker to display on laptops, lockers, or anywhere else of their choosing. And our valued ten-year members will have access to an OTW fridge magnet. The designs for all of these premiums will be revealed towards the end of this year and are exclusive to long-standing OTW members.

Whatever the nature of your support for the OTW, it is thanks to you that we’ve been able to develop and thrive over the last thirteen years. We appreciate every contribution that our users make; and we hope that by joining us as members this year, you’ll be able to strengthen your connection to our work.

The OTW’s April fundraising drive is over, and we are humbled by your incredible generosity. Your donations far surpassed our initial goal of US$130,000, bringing our total to US$458,501 donated by 14,905 people from 96 countries. We are beyond grateful, and as committed as ever to this community that we’re all building together, every single day. We cannot thank you enough for helping our mission and for ensuring that our projects will grow even more in the future.

The OTW is a nonprofit, which means that every single dollar you donate goes towards our work, protecting fanworks and fan culture for everyone. This year, you've supported the Open Doors committee as they worked to mitigate the impact of the Yahoo Groups closure, collaborating with group members and moderators to import content onto Archive of Our Own. You have helped to fund the purchase of new servers for the AO3, which will facilitate greater stability as our user base continues to grow. And you have supported our Legal committee as they argued against fan-unfriendly legislation around the world. (You can find a lot more detail about how our funds are spent in our most recent budget post.)

With your help, we're able to continue actively supporting fanworks and serving the evolving needs of the fannish community year after year. So thank you, once again; we are truly overwhelmed by your support and generosity. And don't worry: if you want to donate outside of the drive period, the OTW accepts donations all year round!

(Please note that due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, it is possible that delivery of some donation gifts may be delayed. You will find the most up-to-date information about this on our donations page.)