Donate to Critters

Donate to Critters

Fund Drive

I'm particularly hoping to upgrade the Critters site with a bunch of user requests (as well as pay for the costs of running Critters), so my fundraising goal is $4,500. We're currently 70.9 % there. Woohoo! Thanks!

What's it for? Well, paying the bills to keep Critters going, certainly, and folks have asked for a variety of upgrades to the web site and how things work. The site design is, well, 1995 :-) and could use a good revamping to make it easier to use and read. [Was! As you can see, making progress on that!] Lots of new features requested that I'd like to add, like an award for the Critters who give the most helpful critiques (as voted on by members), handling non-text-only manuscripts and critiques for those who wish it (like Word docs, etc.; but only for those who want it, since I know it's an issue for some of you), a web-based critiquing page where you could make comments in-line, improved discussion forums, watch lists for certain authors, and lots of others. Anyway, it needs some work, so if you're of a mind to donate, I'd appreciate it!

As the founder of Critters, I get asked often if anyone can help by donating to Critters. It does cost a few thousand dollars a year for the server & net connection, and a fair bit of my time, so a donation would be very appreciated. However, I want to make it clear I am committed to NOT charging any fees for Critters and donations are purely voluntary. In other words, I am adopting the same funding model that I did for Nyx (see sidebar).

The "Nyx model"

Nyx is the world's first free Internet service, which I founded over 20 years ago, and which is still running under this model that I set up -- see www.Nyx.net. It's now a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, but still follows the funding model I established back then: If you like it and want to donate, your donations go toward running and improving it. Donations are purely voluntary, so everything remains completely free. Nyx has flourished this way for a long time on donations, proving that you don't need to charge fees to provide good services (which was what I wanted to demonstrate when I created Nyx, and which I suspect has helped keep Internet access costs from being exorbitant, as they were heading back then). It's similar to the public radio/TV model, but in the "Nyx model" there's no government funding -- and no holding people hostage during fund drives. :-) Everything's low key, no pressure.

Thus the idea is that donations are 100% voluntary. If you like Critters and want to make a donation, I'd be very grateful. If you like Critters but don't feel inclined to donate, there are other ways you could help out, but if none of those work for you, that's cool. (If you don't like Critters, well, what are you doing reading this?... :-)

If you feel the urge, you can donate via credit card (Visa/MC/Amex/Discover) or PayPal...

$

... or you can send cash/checks to me by mail at: 

Andrew Burt
P.O.Box 16143
Golden, CO 80402

(Note that donations are purely voluntary. Critters is free, and there's no pressure to donate.)

If you'd like to help but would prefer some other path, other ways you can help that I'd appreciate would be:

  • If you understand pretty well how Critters works (e.g. how the rules work or how to format manuscripts, etc.), you could volunteer to be a support person, a member of the CritTech'ers. Just drop me an email.

  • Spread the word. While Critters doesn't have any need to advertise, it does help get the word out to new writers if you mention it in places it appears to be unknown.

  • You could do extra critiques. Critters is first and foremost about doing critiques, so the more quality critiques you do, the more you help yourself and everyone else.

  • Or you could donate to the SFWA Literacy Fund, which was created for the encouragement of genre reading and literacy in general, with funds to be disbursed by an oversight board, per guidelines as the SFWA board sets. Funds may be used, for example, to assist existing literacy charities or to assist schools/libraries in promoting or purchasing genre literature, such as via grants, traveling exhibits, etc.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy Critters and find it helpful!

And an extra thanks to all these Critter members who've donated: 


Henry Wheat         
Peter Gray         
GUY A DEMARCO        
christine golden         
Christopher Graves         
Janice Clark         
Cheryl A Gilbert        
LaZealtrice Hall         
Alan Ashworth         
Anne Pinckard         
Hilary Sklar         
Howard Baird         
Gerald Francis         
Abigail Carter         
Jacqueline Harrah         
Paul Comstock         
Charlotte Allery         
Sonia Timms         
Lisa Lejune         
Brian Clarke ( Lynda McDowell )     
Charles Steevens         
kenneth bowman         
Christopher Kastensmidt         
Daniel Swenson         
Steven Hurlburt         
Gary Beharry         
David Hamilton         
Rainer Puetz         
David Drazul         
Regina Patton         
Adam La Rusic        
Michael O'Connell         
Blakely Lord         
Nathan Wilcox         
Morgan Beard         
ATLFROG.com          
Jeannette Cheney         
Tiffany Egan         
Joe Latessa         
Christian Roberts         
Rick Farnsworth         
Sirius Fiction         
Vincent Jorgensen         
PT Howard         
Jakob Drud         
Stuart Allison         
Kelly Harmon         
Carole Ann Moleti        
Byron LaMastus         
After-School Activity Providers, Inc.       
Zebra Skimmers Corp.        
Guy A DeMarco        
Stanley Spielbusch         
Michael Heald         
Joel Davis         
Morgen Marshall         
Boukje Balder         
Kieran Morgan         
Rupa Bose         
Temple Dithyramb         
Richard McCoy         
Robert Nadal         
Timothy Webster         
Jacob Brauner         
Joe Murphy         
Jo Thomas         
Samantha Johnson         
Kimberly Lundstrom         
Patrick Rabe         
Robert Nadal         
Timothy Webster         
Jacob Brauner         
Joe Murphy         
Jo Thomas         
Samantha Johnson         
Kimberly Lundstrom         
Patrick Rabe         
Lawrence Vernon Jr        
Karl Bunker         
kelly christiansen         
Lara Lasner         
Blakely Lord         
Tim Keating         
Rupert Merkin         
Benjamin Cairns         
Mike Rumfitt         
Richard Levine         
Marie Ratliff         
Roger Thibault         
Benjamin Crowell         
Mark L Suplinskas        
Leah Cypess         
John Waterman         
Guy De Marco        
William Shockley         
Ron Moore         
Susan Taylor         
Christine Golden         
Richard McCoy         
Simon Cooper         
Robert Howard         
Lucy Schmeidler         
Jakob Drud         
Michael Heald         
Larry Hodges         
David Rodoy         
Jon Tyson         
Robert Grieve         
Rupa Bose         
Morgen Marshall         
Charlie (Charlotte) Allery        
Adam La Rusic        
Jason Wipf         
Mike Morell         
K B Retterson        
Christine Golden         
Brian Burt         
Julie Long         
Nye Joell Hardy        
Anna Lascurain         
Rupa Bose         
Robert Nadal         
Katherine Villyard         
Manek Mistry         
Larry Hodges         
Larry Hodges         
Anne Kaelber         
Tracylea Byford         
Dayne Kedigh         
Robert Howard         
Sharon Wahl         
Michael Seidel         
James McEwan         
Dante Amodeo         
Karl Snyder         
Marilyn Klimcho         
John Martinez         
Caron Mason         
Gary J. Beharry        
Marcy Davis         
Peter Farrar II        
Justin C Grudzien        
Alex Holden         
Elizabeth Shack         
R.W. Hawkins         
SW ARTS LLC Mike Morell      
Rupa Bose         
Mike Shea         
Scrivenshafts.com          
James Isilay         
Jim Adam         
Matthew Miller         
Matthew Peterson         
William Ledbetter         
Shelley Lesher         
Frederic Baril         
Charles L Frenz        
Steven Kubrak         
Larry Hodges         
Wayne Vernon         
Theodore Grosch         
Jennifer Booker         
Christopher Johnson         
Karl Bunker         
G.F. Armoury Books        
Abizer Nasir         
Pamela Wallace         
Bethanie Hull         
David Eland         
Larry Hodges         
Jonathan Bain         
Candice Bundy         
M P Ericson        
Sheila Crosby         
Richard Levine         
Jenna Tong         
Brendan Hogg         
Jeffrey Spock         
Arthur Bangs         
Wenonah Lyon         
Debra Kraft         
Christopher Camp         
Chris Gerrib         
Teresa Thorne         
SC Bryce         
Lara Lasner         
Lucy Katzberg         
Hillary Sinclair         
Stephen Pearl         
Martin Williams         
Sirius Fiction         
Blake Crouse         
Jon Radoff         
Jacob Brauner         
A.C. Dorrance III        
Carol Hightshoe         
Jill Boehm         
Kelly Latham         
Margaret Graham         
"A Happy Critter" from San Jose CA    
Karen Hansen         
Richard Lyon         
Mike Shea         
Lesleigh Force         
Ekabooboo          
Ian Creasey         
Al Bogdan         
Abizer Nasir         
Janice Clark         
Irene Schaft         
Scott Johnson         
Larry Hodges         
Lea Greenaway         
Marek Fludzinski         
Adam Smith         
Ross Young         
Larry Hodges         
Michelle Korri         
Rupa Bose         
Scott Van Kirk        
Jana Hobbs         
Damian Sinclair         
Greg Nyberg         
Carl Frederick         
Theresa Brandt         
R.W. Hawkins         
Irene Schaft         
Jeanette Cheney         
Joel Boyce         
Nye Marnach

Thanks!!!
--Andrew Burt,
Founder of Critters