Ok, donations! Some of you may be wondering: Where does my money go when I donate to NaNoWriMo?

To which I have a very long story to relate. Please get comfortable in that office chair, as I intend to yammer.

This is a very weird time for NaNoWriMo. What started as a group of 21 people in 1999 grew to 5000 participants in 2001, and will likely grow beyond that in 2002.

For the first two years of the event, I paid for everything out-of-pocket. It was easy to do. The only real expense in 1999 and 2000 -- apart from the kick-off barbecue and Thank God It's Over party -- was my time. I probably spent about 30 hours of organizing time in October, and another 30 in November. I volunteered it gladly. I couldn't have imagined anything I would have rather been doing.

When the numbers of Wrimos spiked so dramatically in 2001, NaNoWriMo unexpectedly took over my life. What had started as a lark had become a full-time job three months out of the year, and I happily ran myself ragged organizing meet-and-greets, corresponding with people wanting to set up chapters around the world, answering press questions, doing bookkeeping, packing up and mailing t-shirts…you name it. Between October 1 and the end of December, I logged about 250 hours of NaNoWriMo time.

It was an absolute dream come true - being wholly immersed in something that was both fun and creatively wacky and personally enriching. The financial side, though, was a little tricky. Last year's costs - not including my time -- totaled $6644. It seemed like a mind-boggling figure for such a small organization, but the little things add up.

Our total donations last year came to $3754. Of the 5000 participants, and over 700 winners, we received donations from 135 people. These awesome folks, along with those kind souls who ordered t-shirts, brought us close to the break-even point by the end of November 2001.

Here is the challenge: If National Novel Writing Month is to grow beyond its current scope (or continue to exist at all), it needs to have funding that will support an infrastructure of people entirely dedicated to getting up and maintaining new message boards, people who are dedicated to helping form writers groups and organize get-togethers, and dedicated to providing the kind of support and encouragement that has made National Novel Writing Month such a fun place to be for the past three years.

Which is why we have a suggested donation of $10 for participants this year. $10 is about the cost of a movie ticket (and a third the cost of a parking ticket!), but it will make a world of difference in the kind of event that NaNoWriMo can be and will become.

Out of the donation money will come payments for administrative work (both mine and, if things get crazy, a part-time helper during November), technical work and maintenance of the site, and site graphic help. It will also pay for web hosting, office supplies, Bay Area party space rental and treat costs, and -- knock on wood -- a complete site redesign in 2003. Thirty percent will also, alas, go towards taxes.

And hopefully we'll have a little left over to instigate a few more surprises over the course of the year.

With warm regards (and a ceasing of the long-windedness),

Chris Baty
Director, National Novel Writing Month

Donating money

To donate, send a check made out to National Novel Writing Month to:

National Novel Writing Month
PO Box 21413
Oakland, CA 94620

PayPal members can click here:

Tax-deducing your donations

Media Alliance has generously agreed to be Nanowrimo's fiscal sponsor, meaning they are loaning us their status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Which means that you can donate to National Novel Writing Month tax-free.

Media Alliance does take a small cut from each donation to cover their overhead, however. So if you don't care about deducting your donation from your taxes, the best bet is to send checks directly to Nanowrimo headquarters.

For tax-deductible donations, make your check payable to National Novel Writing Month, and send it to:

National Novel Writing Month
c/o Media Alliance
814 Mission St., Suite 205
San Francisco, CA 94103

Transforming Your Laptop Into Pure Love

If you have a working laptop that you don't need anymore, donate it to National Novel Writing Month! We'll loan it out to a grateful, computer-less Wrimo during November. You can sleep soundly at night knowing that your old beast of a machine is helping some amateur novelist build that messy piece of literature they've always dreamed of creating.

Laptops should have a working floppy or CD-ROM drive, a printer port, and be able to run some sort of Windows or comparable Mac operating system. Ideally, they would also have Microsoft Word or similar word processor installed, though that's not a necessity.

Before mailing any computer equipment, send our laptop librarian (laptop_librarian@nanowrimo.org) an email with the machine's sexy stats. And if you would like to see about checking out one of our machines for the month of November, the above email address is good as well.

If you have any questions about donations or suggestions for funding, just give us (donations@nanowrimo.org) a holler.

Big thanks to 2002 donors: Kristina Knight, Steven Mon, Maureen Harte, Todd Czapski, Michelle Brose, Philip Locke, Marrije Schaake, Cynthia Closkey, Audrey Zarr, Erica Greer, Anne Hawley, Beverly Gillen, Jonathan Sowers, Scott Dierdorf, Timothy Harroun, Katherine English, Jenny Barber, Jennifer Novesky, Sandra Jones, Alicia Casiano, Janet Casiano, Ann Leckie, Jeffrey Lester, George Cole, Jamison Novak, Kevin Herstad, David Anderson, Curt Hauta, Jon Jackson, Moonlight Press, Maurice Forrester, Derek Poore, Heather Sieberg, Lauren Ayer, Melissa Squires, Janene King, Jacob Kerr, Sue Braiden, Connie Saunders, Curt Merrill, Audra Friend, Ronald Beyers, Julie Sorrell, Darren Norris, Christy Shorey, and Anna Torborg.

And 2001 donors as well!

Wendy Smith, Rachel Ramsay, Michael Jasper, July Belber, Rebecca Braverman, Marrije Schaake, John Tchoe, Teresa Coraggio, Lynda Foley, Stephen Ramey, Mark Safransky, William Pietri, Tim Lohnes, Netizen X, Jeffrey Howe, Rob Block, Lisa Nichols, Cynthia Closkey, Corinne Dodge, Janine Smith, Sharon Vogt, Ryan Ozawa, Jacqueline Thomason, Russell Kremer, Ronald Zack, Elly Millican, Lauren Ayer, Allan Hollingsworth, Theresa Fortner Ward, Ned Baugh, Michael Judge, Janet Kagan, John Mchale, Susan Griffin, Sally Zink, Debra Vodhanel, Michael Sadler, Abi Kenyon, Loretta Chen, Patrick Murphy, Sharon McKinney, Carolyn Koesters, Kirsten Love, Maida Tilchen, Tim Lopez, Maurice Forrester, Sadalit Ross, Benj Vardigan, Stephanie Lee, Cindy Hollmichel, Lindsay Edmunds, Deborah Novacek, James Wong, Liz Dunn, Tish Bastian, Mark Teppo, Roberta Batorsky, Emmett Hickman, Julie Raybon, Rachel Lennon, Chris Fladgate, Derek Thurber, Grace Godlin, Elizabeth Fauskin, Paula Lippert, Karen Cooper, Linda Westerschulte, Peggy Wallace, Dave Logan, Kate Leigh, Mark Thurber, Terrie Murray, Jay Fang, Lise Marken, Ellen Freudenheim, Howard Mann, John Zilly, Regan Brown, Julie Masterson, Mara Bushanksy, Grant Baillie, Yvonne Tsang, Michelle Loidl, Darby Dixon III, Sara Fuchs, Rob Robertson, William Shelby, Barbara Nickless, Dan Strachota, Jennifer Wedel, Lorraine Rice, Elizabeth Bagby, Ned Raggett, Sarah Hoyt, Jennifer McGraw, Wendy Woodland, Brett Aronowitz, Richard Williamson, Christine Freeland, Fred Wodnicki, Miriam Baer, Greg Riedesel, Cabe Franklin, Jerry Seeger, Robyn Gallagher, Lorna Hinson, Darren Norris, Oz Levanon, Stefanie Hollmichel, Rebecca Campbell, Sandra Pilarski, Katherine Leigh, John Childers, Katherine Karns, Connie Saunders, Jody LaFerriere, Sharon Vogt, Madeline Denes, Jeffrey Lester, Andrew Otewalt, Betsy Blake, C C Holland, Suzanne Palmer, Anne McKneally, Alice Webber, Rise Sheridan-Peters, Andrea Vander Pluym, Erin Tidwell, Rosalind Palmer, Caroline Hastings, Maureen Harte, Paul and Antoinette Hewitt, Ian Hagemann, and Josh Lacey!