I’ve talked about why we’re crowdfunding and what will happen if we don’t reach our goal. Now it’s time to get into some detail: who will your money actually go to? And how will we make sure we pay them properly?

The money we raise through this campaign will cover:

• two major projects to improve AniFem: a website overhaul and podcast transcripts
• three expenses from running the campaign itself: perks, videos, and campaign management

For every one of these costs, we’ve made a point of giving work to a member of our community and paying them fair rates for it.

Cost 1: Website Overhaul

Who gets the money?

I’ve known for years that our website would need a professional overhaul at some point – and that this work would go to long-term AniFem advisors Katy and Chris.

Why them?

While you may know them as the team behind Yatta-Tachi, Katy and Chris are also a professional designer and developer respectively, each with 10 years of experience in their field.

As a visual designer, Katy’s work ranges from traditional print to digital assets. Her main specialty is web design, where she focuses on clean, fun, attractive designs, while still aiming to ensure they pass the highest accessibility standards available. Katy’s clients include J-Novel Club, Crunchyroll, and YouTube channel Glass Reflection, among many others!

Chris specialises in custom built responsive websites, with an emphasis on speed and accessibility. His clients fall everywhere on the spectrum, from private jets to foundation repair, and from salsa to pizza to honey! Our plans for growth are wide-ranging and ambitious, and Chris has the technical experience to support that.

We’ve been fortunate enough to benefit from Katy and Chris’s expertise since the earliest days of AniFem, but they’ve always had to stand back and watch me fudge my way through tasks they could clear in a fraction of the time to a much higher standard. There’s no-one better able to make the AniFem site easy to use, truly accessible, and structured to support our long-term ambitions.

How did we decide what would be a fair rate?

Katy and Chris set their rate and I agreed without negotiation. They do this professionally, they know what their work is worth.

Cost 2: Podcast Transcriptions

Who gets the money?

This work will go to the core AniFem team: the writers, editors, and administrators who make everything on this site possible.

Why them?

First of all, it makes sense because these are the people who have planned and participated in the podcasts. It’ll be much quicker and easier for them to identify unusual proper nouns, source links to materials we refer to, and clarify any less audible moments.

Second of all, these are the people who committed to AniFem when it was just an idea, and have worked consistently since long before we had the money to pay them. From my perspective, offering this team first refusal on work like this is just the right thing to do.

How did we decide what would be a fair rate?

I didn’t have a clear idea of how to pay fairly for this, so I spoke to a couple of professional transcribers who recommended $1 per minute of audio.

Cost 3: Campaign Perks

Who gets the money?

Reward development and fulfilment is the most complicated part of the crowdfunding process, and involves a few different suppliers. This is especially complicated for AniFem, because our rewards will include the first ever AniFem merchandise!

These won’t just be generic products with an AniFem logo slapped on though. We’re carefully selecting merchandise to form a limited edition range we think you’ll love, featuring designs exclusive to this campaign!

On the logistics side, Awesome Merchandise will produce the merchandise (including T-shirts!) and send them all to Floship, which will post them to all of you worldwide.

On the exciting side, professional illustrator and long-term AniFem supporter Teri is turning our vague ideas into beautiful, brand-appropriate merchandise.

Why them?

Awesome Merchandise and Floship were recommended to me by friends who’ve had good experiences with them in comparable situations. We’ve never made merchandise, let alone tried shipping it, so following the personal recommendations of trusted friends should keep the logistics as smooth as possible.

As for Teri, she gave me a business card and offered her help in person after my panel at Crunchyroll Expo in 2018. At this year’s Crunchyroll Expo we talked more seriously about her art and the possibility of a commission, and I knew I wanted her to be involved.

Most importantly though, her portfolio blew me away. As well as original illustrations, Teri has created art for brands as diverse as Family Guy, Futurama, Star Trek, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Princess Bride, DC Entertainment (Batman, Justice League, etc), Benedict Cumberbatch, and Weird Al Yankovic!

How did we decide what would be a fair rate?

As with Katy and Chris, Teri does this for a living and knows what to charge. She set her rates, and I accepted them.

Cost 4: Campaign Videos

Who gets the money?

I created our pre-launch video myself using a tool called Lumen5. I paid a little to upgrade from their free service so we could increase the video quality and remove their branded end card.

The full campaign video will be a three-minute combination of my talking head, anime clips, and some simple graphics. A real-world contact of mine offered to film the talking head part, and I asked video producer Callum to source the anime clips, create the graphics, and edit the entire video.

Why them?

I lucked out with the filming part. I had planned to record myself on my phone with a tripod, using my podcasting microphone to ensure good audio, but a contact of mine with professional film equipment offered to light and film me properly.

Callum made a name for himself through his own YouTube channel The Canipa Effect, and has since contributed to Crunchyroll, Anime News Network and Otaquest. When he visited the UK to be a judge at this year’s Scotland Loves Anime film festival, I talked through my plans with him in person and knew he’d be a good fit.

How did we decide what would be a fair rate?

My film equipment contact has repeatedly refused all payment. I finally and grudgingly accepted this because a) filming isn’t a source of income for him. b) my alternative, to record myself on my phone, would have cost nothing, and c) if someone avoids giving me a price after days of messages and in person requests, my options to pursue it are very limited.

(Rest assured, though, that he was given dinner and drinks on the day and will be required to accept a pub beverage or several in the near future.)

For Callum’s part, which is significantly more time-consuming and creative, neither of us had a clear idea of a fair rate. So I contacted a filmmaker friend of mine with experience in this area, found out what she would consider a fair day rate for a video editor and offered that amount to Callum.

Cost 5: Campaign Management

Who gets the money?

…Me. For the first time ever, since founding AniFem in 2016, I’m preparing to bill for my services.

Why me?

My vision, passion, and pragmatism is what meant we could:

• start AniFem in the first place
• pay writers within three months
• pay all writers, editors, and administrators within a year
• break even after just 18 months
• make a profit in our first year

I’ve also worked in crowdfunding before, under the significantly more complex and higher-stakes circumstances of equity crowdfunding. That experience gave me a solid education in crowdfunding principles, tools, and tactics – and a taste for highly successful campaigns!

How did I decide what would be a fair rate?

It’s impractical to predict, or even to log, exactly how much time I’ll put into the campaign. The work began months ago, and will continue at least until all the perks have arrived safely.

So I’m focusing on a four-week period: two weeks before launch when I’m actively marketing, and two weeks post-launch, within which I plan to meet our goal.

Let’s say full-time work is 35 hours a week. On top of that, I’m publishing an editorial like this one every Thursday and Saturday. Using existing AniFem rates then, that four weeks of work comes to 140 hours at $15 an hour, and eight features at $50 each. In total, $2,500 to create and run the entire campaign. That seems like a fair starting point.

So I’ve decided to make my pay a 10% cut of whatever we raise – once all other costs have been paid.

If we meet our goal, my pay will be under $2,500. If we far exceed it I may earn more, as a direct result of doing an objectively good job.

And if we fall short…

In my last post, I said that costs for creating and running the campaign will be the highest payment priority, followed by the website, then by transcripts.

That was almost true.

My fee will be the last to come out of the funds we raise. If we’re short $1,000, it will come out of my pay, not our transcripts. If we’re short $2,500, I won’t get a penny for what is currently a full-time job.

I built AniFem on the principle of getting people paid fairly for their work… but I’m the CEO, not a freelancer. I can’t sacrifice accessibility measures to pay myself.

Don’t misunderstand though: I am by no means in such a comfortable financial position that I can afford to work for free. I just trust in our ability to meet our goal – and I’m putting my money where my mouth is to prove it.

Planning to contribute? Give me some peace of mind and register your support on our pre-launch page now!