Autostraddle turns thirteen tomorrow! Do you remember thirteen?
Do you remember the awkwardness of being on that cusp of teenager-hood? The loneliness of being a 13-year-old weirdo? Maybe you were afraid you’d never find another weirdo like you. We’ve felt that. We remember. That’s why Autostraddle was founded! Because a group of queer people knew we needed a space of our own where we could let our guard down and write and share and exist. And when you got here, did your shoulders loosen up? Did you look around and think ”am I home?”
Today we’re asking you, will you pay that forward? Will you celebrate our Thirteenth (!!!) birthday with us by becoming a member?
We’re holding this space for as long as we can because we need it to be here. We’re continuing to build a community of queer and lesbian and trans people because we need each other.
And I am asking you to be a part of that work. If you haven’t yet, will you join? A+ members are a vital part of this space. The 6,700 people who’ve already signed up are KEY to our survival. They are why we are here, indie and queer after thirteen long years.
If you’re already a member or maybe you don’t want to sign up just yet, you can also leave us a birthday gift! Your gift will fund our work this year and help us stick around for years to come.
It isn’t a question anymore, whether or not Autostraddle should keep going.
About 13,000 people have put their gay dollars where their mouths are and supported us over the past two pandemic years.
That’s right. 13,000 is the number of people who are A+ members or who’ve supported an Autostraddle fundraiser. There are not redundancies in this number. Since the start of 2020, 13,000 people have said they want us to stick around. And about 75% of those contributions? Yeah, they’re $50 or less. Lots of people, doing what they can, have the ability to make a HUGE DIFFERENCE. (And A+ starts at just $30 a year, or, if monthly, $4 a month.)
Because if you join them, if you join A+, then we will give you one hell of a thirteenth year! AND BEYOND!
Autostraddle is 50% funded by A+ members. This isn’t about one person funding everything we do. This is thousands of people collectively making a whole HALF of everything we do, every second of every day possible. In 2021, another 26% of our funding came from our fundraisers, 6% from merch sales 2% from affiliates. 84% of the money that keeps us here and running comes from readers. We are truly made possible by people like you. And as our part of the bargain, we promise to try to make you proud of this place and to keep your money 100% gay!
The rest of the money that funded us last year came from a mixture of Covid-19 Small Business Grants (PPP!) and advertising. This year, there’s no PPP. We’ve had to take out an SBA loan so we could avoid the immense strain that fundraising yet again at the start of the year would have put on us. We’ve hired Anya, Director of Brand Partnerships, who is at work every day to help us find businesses who may actually want to market to you. However, we have a long year ahead of us and we have to grow A+ to survive.
We need 300 people to sign up for A+ during this drive to keep us on track for the year.
Riese joked with me that she actually needs $200,000, which is true. It’s also true that we need more than 300 people to sign up this year — but we’re taking this a bite at a time. We’re asking you to join A+ and to help us raise $13,000 for now for our mini birthday fundraiser. This money is an important part of our plan for making it through the year. We know that pop-ups suck and that you’re going to get a lot of emails, but we think, maybe you do, too, that it’s a small inconvenience for getting to keep this place around. So, what do you say?
You can read more about all the benefits of being A+ member here. Besides knowing that you are a key part of keeping this indie queer media site around, you get bonus content, too! Depending on your member level, you can get really cute perks which I will send to you personally.
Thank you, if you can support. (And if you cannot, that’s why we keep Autostraddle majority free-to-read!) You don’t have to do it all, we just need as many people as possible to do something, to be a part of a collective choice to keep indie queer media here — we are only asking you to do what you can. Because if everyone does what they can, then we’re going to be able to do some incredible work this year. That’s how we’ve done things for 13 years, and that’s how we’re going to get it done for years to come. Thank you for being a part of this indie queer publication that could. We’re so glad you’re here.
HAPPY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY FRIENDS!!!
A Schedule of Wicked Cool Things Happening During Our 13th Birthday Celebrations
Autostraddle’s 13th Birthday AMA
TOMORROW Tuesday, March 8th, 8am-6pm PST! Join us! Ask us things! Anything, even!
Friday Night Open Thread (on a Thursday!)
Vanessa’s bringing the Open Thread back in honor of our 13th birthday! This is NOT A+ content. It’s open to one and all! Check the site on the eve of Thursday March 17th for more!
13th Birthday A+ Pop-Up Discord!
Saturday March 19th starting at 11am PST through Monday March 21st at 6pm PST! Check the A+ e-news or the Autostraddle website on the 19th for login info!
AND the A+ Discord Senior Staff Hang (chat with Carmen, Riese, Heather, Kayla, Anya, Laneia, and Nicole!)
Monday March 21st from 4pm to 6pm PST on the A+ Pop-Up Discord. Come Hang!
All this, and if I may say so myself, a fuckton of delectable birthday content, both free and A+, is headed your way!
I won one of the gift memberships last year when my financial situation wasn’t great and it’s so nice as it ends to have just upgraded that to silver now I’m in a better situation. So not technically a new member (have been since 2018) but glad to be contributing for my membership again.
We’re so glad to have you here!!
I won one of the gift memberships last year when my financial situation wasn’t great and it’s so nice as it ends to have just upgraded that to silver now I’m in a better situation. So not technically a new member (have been since 2018) but glad to be contributing for my membership again. 奇力片