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!