Frequently Asked Questions - Membership

Absolutely! We welcome anyone who wants to support the organization. To become a member, fill out the membership form and make a donation. The minimum annual donation for membership is US$10. A membership entitles you to one vote in organization elections.

Individuals can become members in the OTW; corporations and other organizations cannot, though they can donate. Memberships cannot be shared; if you’re a member, that membership is yours alone.

A membership lasts for one year from your most recent donation of US$10 or more. If you’re already a member, and you donate $10 or more again, the expiration date of your membership moves forward; it is always one year from your most recent $10-or-more donation.

No. We will never charge a fee to use any of our services, nor will we place paid advertising on fanworks.

The OTW is a member-supported nonprofit organization, like the US organizations National Public Radio or Public Broadcasting Service. Your donation helps us provide services not just to you personally but to all who might want to use them. Becoming a member also gives you a stake in the organization, and as mentioned above, confers the right to vote in OTW elections. For more information about our elections process, please visit the OTW Elections website.

The requirement that most nonprofits use for membership is a minimum donation. This is a straightforward and easy-to-check requirement, and ensures that each member is a single individual (as opposed to one person creating multiple membership accounts in order to have multiple votes).

These fees also go to help support the OTW—to pay for our operating costs for both the organization and for all of our projects, so that we do not need to use advertising or charge fees to users. We intend to keep our minimum donation low in order to ensure that it is not a barrier to entry for anyone who cares about the organization, but we hope that most members will give more if they can!

Yes. The IRS has approved OTW's tax-exempt, nonprofit status. One of the benefits of our nonprofit status is that any donation that you make to the organization, including your US$10 OTW membership fee, is now tax-deductible in the United States! Even better, your past donations are also tax-deductible, back to our date of incorporation: September 5, 2007.

Please note that if you are located outside the US, your contribution may or may not be tax-deductible. You should consult with a tax adviser and see whether a gift to a US 501(c)(3) qualifies for a tax deduction under your local laws.

In order to ensure that all voting members of the OTW are in fact real people, and to hold fair elections, we cannot allow gift memberships. Supporters are welcome to make donations in honor of others through our form, but the donations will not confer voting rights or membership status.

We thank you for it, and we sing your praises! Additionally, if you donated US$10 or more, then the date of your membership’s expiration moves forward.

Your membership lasts for one year after your most recent donation of US$10 or more. Therefore, if you donate today, your membership will last until one year from today. If you donate as much again tomorrow, your membership will last until one year from tomorrow. And so on.

No matter how much you donate, your membership still only lasts for one year from the most recent US$10-or-more donation, and only confers one vote.

The OTW firmly supports the right of users to separate fannish and nonfannish identities. Donating to the OTW and using the OTW's services are entirely separate—if you choose to donate or become a member (and we hope you do!), you do not need to tell us your fan identity, and we will not have any connection between your fan identity and your financial information or real-life identity.

Only non-membership donations can be made with cash or a money order. For membership purposes, we need to be able to connect your payment with a bank account or credit card so that we can verify that you’re a real person and an individual when we hold elections.

OTW memberships can be purchased with a family member’s/business credit card or bank account if the address associated with the card/account is the same as the address given by the new OTW member (and, of course, if the new OTW member is authorized to use that card/account!).

There will not be a public members list at this time. Please see our Privacy Policy for specific information on under what circumstances we may be obliged to release donor information to third parties. Members are encouraged to identify themselves as such on their own sites, blogs, and journals, and we provide a page of official OTW supporter graphics for this purpose.