Five Things Cesy Said

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with Cesy, who volunteers with the Finance Committee.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

Finance committee manages paying bills and keeping us legally compliant, publishing the accounts and getting them audited, filling in the right forms so we remain registered as a non-profit and can collect employer matching donations. We work with the rest of the org to budget our money.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

Very variable - most weeks will be a mix of answering emails within the committee or from other committees, replying to a discussion in committee group chat, or attending a committee meeting and taking minutes. We review payment requests that come in from other committees to determine if the requests are in line with the OTW’s financial policies and procedures. We may have follow-up questions with the volunteer who requested the item, or send it to Board for their review.

Other weeks will be busier if it's budget time and we need to check spreadsheets to compare figures, email out to all the committee chairs, or proofread posts. Other members of the committee do monthly bookkeeping and record various accounting transactions, save all of the relevant documentation needed such as invoices or receipts, produce the annual financial statements, work with the auditors for the annual audit report or sort our state registrations. In the USA, we have to be registered both federally and in every single state that we might receive donations from, which needs a lot of paperwork to be signed and posted, though some states accept forms online these days.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I originally joined in 2009 while Archive of Our Own (AO3) was still in closed beta, as l'd been a coding volunteer for Dreamwidth, and they mentioned AO3 as being another friendly project. I wanted to improve my programming skills and spend time with fannish friends doing something useful. Over the years, l've held a variety of roles within the OTW. I rejoined Finance after there had been a change of Treasurer and Board to help the new team find missing info, document what had been done previously and sort things out.

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

Dealing with people - we have many different cultures represented, lots of styles of business and volunteer communication, and it’s easy to make a mistake and upset people. A moment of carelessness or tactlessness can take a lot of time and effort to recover from and repair the relationship.

What fannish things do you like to do?

I read a lot of fic. I’m mostly an old-school lurker, I try and kudos or comment or bookmark or rec. I write a little, I’ve tried recording podfic, and I watch vids occasionally. I’m known among my friends for picking up new fandoms by osmosis and never watching canon, because I struggle to watch long-form TV or films.

---

Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.

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.