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remaining to get ...'s bills paid
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swell people have supported us so far this month

We are not a big corporation, we’re just a small group of creatives working on this labor of love in our spare time. But long-form content is expensive to make. You’re probably willing to pay for a novel or a video steaming service, so why not do the same for us? If just a fraction of the people who viewed this page set up a $5 annual donation⁠—five bucks a year!⁠—our money problems would go away.

We are one of the few remaining specimens of an endangered species: publications which discover, research, and write original material. In our 18+ years we’ve published 778,623 words, released 351 podcast episodes, curated 36,308 links, and displayed zero ads. Please help prevent our extinction. We choose to be reader/listener funded because we deeply dislike ads.

Since 2021 we’ve been holding on by our fingernails, but they’re starting to peel off. It’s getting grim. Would you please consider lending a hand? Canceling is legitimately super easy.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

  • Annual
  • Monthly
  • One-Time
  • More Options

Note: If you make a donation through one of these alternate channels, and you want to receive the same reward you would through our normal donation system, please send an email to webmaster@damninteresting.com to arrange fulfillment.

Donate via Venmo

/u/DamnInteresting

Donate via Paypal

Support us via Patreon

You can set up a monthly contribution via our Patreon Page.

Paper check

If you prefer to send a paper check, please make it payable to Alan Bellows and mail it to:

Alan Bellows
PO Box 16551
Salt Lake City, UT 84116

Buy a Print

We get a few hot nickels whenever someone buys a print from our collection.

Calculating...

Recent Donation Totals

  • February 2024: 180 donors, $343.29 short. 😕
  • January 2024: 181 donors, $402.1 short. 😕
  • December 2023: 188 donors, stretch goal met! 😁
  • November 2023: 181 donors, $399 short. 😕
  • October 2023: 176 donors, $554 short. 😕

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change/cancel a recurring donation?

The most direct way is to visit the Stripe Customer Portal, which will verify your identity by emailing you an access code. There, you can update your billing info or cancel your recurring donation. Or, if you prefer, you can cancel by visiting this page. If all else fails, you can email alan@damninteresting.com. Don’t worry, we won’t resent you for canceling⁠—far from it! We know that life gets in the way, and priorities shift. We sincerely appreciate that you supported us while you were able.

Where does the money go?

We pay our authors, editors, narrators, sound-designers, and anyone else who commits time to help us make new stuff. Every month we also pay our operating costs, which include web hosting (Dreamhost), podcast hosting (SoundCloud), content delivery network, Slack, audio library subscriptions, music licenses, newspaper archive subscriptions, and other stars in our constellation of recurring expenses. Anything above that pays for things like author payments, research materials, FOIA fees, equipment, software, research-related travel, etc. Whatever remains is paid to authors/editors as residuals.

What happens if you miss your goal?

If we fall short one month, we survive. If it happens two or three months in a row, our ability to afford to stay online will be in peril. However we will never resort to ads, so if our readers/listeners decide we are not worth supporting directly, we will shut down non-essential systems, pay the bills until we cannot, and then we will move on to something else.

Is there another way to donate?

Have a look under the “More Options” tab above to see options for Paypal, Patreon, etc.

What is the “stretch” goal?

We have two donation goals each month: the “survival” goal that pays the bills and keeps us running, and the aspirational “stretch” goal that kicks in once the survival goal is met. It’s an effort to inch our monthly contributions up to a higher level, one that might give us the opportunity to grow and increase our output eventually. It also serves to smooth out the bumps on months when we don’t meet the survival goal. We consider it a successful month if we meet the survival goal, and anything beyond that is appreciated, but not strictly required.

How can I stop the site from occasionally asking for donations?

If you have already donated, you can silence all donation-related messages on the site by going to the search box and entering !donor (that’s an exclamation point, then the word ‘donor’ with no space). When you hit Enter, this special code will suppress all donation-related messages in that browser for a long period of time. Similarly, you can enter !hush if you have resolved to never donate no matter how much of our bandwidth and brain-fruit you consume.

Why would you share your secret ‘hush’ code with everybody?

We require donations in order to survive, but we gain nothing from pestering people who can not or will not donate. Life is short and we are realists.

How can I help if I’m broke?

We appreciate the thought! If you are listener of our podcast, one of the nicest things you can do for us is to rate and review our podcast on your service of choice (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, etc). That makes it more likely for new listeners to discover us. Also, since we aren’t fans of advertising, the best way for other potential donors to find us is for you to tell your friends, share links to our content, etc.

If you wish to lend us psychological support, simply drop us a line.

Miscellany

If you have any questions and/or suggestions, send some electrons to alan@damninteresting.com.

Damn Interesting is not a 501(c)(3) charity and donations are not tax-deductible.

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