Within three months of news breaking out that NaNoWriMo was closing their website no longer pulls up.
They launched, informally, in 1999 just one year after Google and 16 years after the internet. If you are like our leadership you remember the days of internet coming through phone lines and fighting over internet connection or calling someone. AOL was in charge and their chatrooms took off. No one monitored what we did or who said what. It was pure chaos of the early internet.
In 2006 NaNoWriMo became a Nonprofit Organization formally. The goal was to create a 50,000 word manuscript in one month. Something people thought was too heavy handed. Around 1,776 words a day to be precise.
Thanks to Reddit and a video on Youtube some of the problems are clarified.
The Email is set out below.
To Our NaNoWriMo Community:
We come to you today with sad news. After six years of struggling to sustain itself financially, NaNoWriMo (the nonprofit) will begin the process of shutting down.
Explaining how we got here is both simple and complex. The funding woes that have threatened so many nonprofits in recent years are an unextraordinary trend. Many beloved organizations announced their closure last year. Many more are fighting for their lives. Media coverage of financial crisis within the sector—especially among arts nonprofits—has been widespread.
Yet, there are ways in which NaNoWriMo is extraordinary—and reasons why we had hoped we could buck that trend. The sheer size of our community, its global reach and its longevity, held at impressive levels, even during a tumultuous year. There is no shortage of writers who want to participate in NaNoWriMo. Yet, building a community and being able to sustain it are two different matters. 2024 was a revelatory year.
In order to fully understand how we reached this decision, and why we view it as the only alternative, we encourage you to watch this video about the State of NaNoWriMo. The video also contains some important acknowledgments and information about the logistics of our next steps. Most importantly, the video shares real data and information that the organization has not discussed previously. The plot is thicker than you might think.
(Video mentioned, by Kilby Blake)
We recognize that the closure of NaNoWriMo represents a huge loss to the writing community, and that grief over this outcome will be exacerbated by the challenges of the past sixteen months. This is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned. And—believe us—if we could hit the delete button and rewrite this last chapter, we would. But we do have hope for the epilogue.
What’s next for NaNoWriMo, the indebted nonprofit, is much different from what's next for actual Wrimos. We hold no belief that people will stop writing 50,000 words in November (and April, and July) or stop seeking support for the journey they’re on. Many alternatives to NaNoWriMo popped up this year, and people did find each other. In so many ways, it’s easier than it was when NaNoWriMo began in 1999 to find your writing tribe online.
Our greatest hope at this moment is that you do two things: support arts nonprofits you love (they really, truly need you) and keep writing words. Your stories matter.
Thank you for all you have done for the organization, and especially for each other, over all these years.
Sincerely,
The NaNoWriMo Team
A Few Additional Notes
We anticipate that some people might want to log on and capture information that is meaningful to them, like their lifetime word count or stats from previous seasons or challenges. We also anticipate that some folks on the Young Writers Program website may not have backed up work that they wrote directly into our system, and may wish to do so at this time. If there is something you feel you need to retrieve, you are welcome to try. However, our site tends to crash a lot when overrun with too much traffic (chronic technology underinvestment is mentioned in the video). We apologize for any inconvenience if the site gets crashy.
If you are a recurring donor, thank you for your ongoing support of the organization (truly). We have cancelled all recurring donations on our end in order to ensure that you will not be charged as we transition into our next phase. If you want anything from the NaNoWriMo store, please0 don't delay. We will shut that down soon as well.
Finally, we have observed that, at times of change, many members of our community are in want of spaces to process these new developments, and that, historically, we have hosted many all-community online spaces. Unfortunately, we have very limited resources to reply individually to comments or to moderate our social spaces at this time. We will do our best but make no guarantees.
Insight into the budget revealed that they were in debt. Had there not been a public outcry in 2023, they might have already begun to scale back their operations. In 2020, they secured a loan, which likely didn’t improve the bottom line.
In 2023, there was a complaint that made it to the board. This complaint was about a Forum Moderator acting in an unbecoming way towards minors. When this complaint came to light, others spoke up about other complaints that were reported but never handled properly. It unveiled a deep, unsettling issue in the operations of NaNoWriMo.
They did not conduct background checks or ensure child safety classes for the volunteers in moderator positions. Volunteers and donations are the backbone of a nonprofit. They also have an obligation to be transparent with the public that comes from the government at inception.
The still-smoldering ashes of these problems came in the form of MLs speaking up. The organization improperly handled the problem once again. The following comes from a wonderful former ML whom I still regularly communicate with in my area. She was a volunteer for 16 years and has been a wonderful asset.
They wanted to perform background checks of every ML in the world and keep the information on a US server. This was concerning for international MLs.
They wanted the MLs to take on roles that they had not agreed to, including year-round forum moderation, even if they were never on forums.
Rather than including MLs in the decision process, they told them what they were going to require them to do.
Questions were unanswered or vaguely answered.
This was all a big issue that came on top of these volunteers using their own money to ensure places to gather and write.
The following information came from a document unanimously taken during a meeting with MLs and NaNoWriMo HQ (Kilby).
There were many questions asked between arrest reports, public events, onboarding for volunteers, background checks abroad, worldwide legality, ID verification, and more. From many of the notes, it seems there was a lack of responsibility on the side of NaNoWriMo. Kilby didn’t outright take accountability under the organization she was representing in the call. (Looks like Zoom from screenshots.)
If you wish to see the notes, please click here.
All of this further eroded public trust. This did not assist in their financial issues. It probably made it worse. Add in the lack of website updates, and it was a disaster waiting to happen. Technology moves fast, and the internet does not forget.
Why do we bring this up?
Our founder realized what was really needed and decided to step in. After watching the problem unfold and ensuring what the community wanted, Self to Shelf was created. The members helping to shape this nonprofit are parents, aunts, teachers, and other members of the writing community dedicated to safety and education.
Our goal is to ensure that volunteers are vetted and up to date on safety guidelines. There will be guidelines to agree to beyond just the nonprofit side. This way, we know those coming to volunteer have a high regard for the community. Educators will need to verify their employment every semester. This is due to an influx of cases against educators in recent years. We will aim to host events in child-protected areas for safety and have the parents involved.
We want to ensure you have the information you need, but also the safety to guarantee our community does not see these issues again.
Tell us what you think!
