Anita Sarkeesian has disclosed what she has done with the Kickstarter money

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
UPDATE: FF has outlined what is planned for the future. She will be doing a new video series and hiring more people:

• Begin a new video series examining the representations of men and masculinity in
video games

• Begin a miniseries presenting examples of positive female characters in video
games[

• Continue producing Tropes vs Women in Video Games beginning with “Women as
Reward”

• Continue and expand efforts to advocate for equitable online spaces by educating
and consulting on issues of gendered online harassment

• Expand the organization by hiring new staff members

• Complete a rebranding of Feminist Frequency including a new logo design and
website

• Create Feminist Frequency merchandise
Click to expand...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/566429325/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/posts/1115560

The Original Plan

Back in 2011, I created a series of six relatively short videos called Tropes vs Women that examined a handful of harmful gender tropes primarily found in television and movies. After their release, I received many positive messages from viewers who had felt uncomfortable when they saw these themes in their favorite media, and after watching my video series, they could finally articulate why. Because of the positive feedback I decided to do a follow-up series. I had been wanting to do some extended episodes on video games and since many of the tropes on my list were highly prevalent in gaming, the Tropes vs Women in Video Games kickstarter was born.

Initially, I imagined that each of the five videos would be about 10-12 minutes, give or take, with episode structures similar to the original series: description of the trope, relatively quick overview, a handful of game examples from major titles, and a brief 101-style ‘why does this matter’ analysis. I envisioned my audience primarily as young women, largely feminists or those already dissatisfied or uncomfortable with the status quo. I budgeted the initial project at $10,000. I set the Kickstarter goal to $6,000 and was anticipating an additional $4,000 in grants. This would cover the costs of production, equipment, games etc. and I would continue to volunteer time to produce the episodes.
Click to expand...

So What Happened?

Much to my surprise and delight, I raised the initial $6,000 within 24 hours. As support for the project continued to pour in, I quickly expanded the number of videos I was going to produce and set up more stretch goals including an increase in production quality and a classroom curriculum. It wasn’t until halfway through the fundraiser that the harassment campaign began, and it’s never stopped. Not only did this harassment change my life, but it also forced me to fundamentally change the way I approached this project.

...

Back in June of 2012, I never imagined that the initial surge of harassment would not only increase in volume, but continue for years to come. One thing was immediately apparent, however: the harassers had made it their mission to pick apart and distort every minuscule detail of my work and even my personal life in order to try to discredit, defame, and ultimately silence me. My arguments and examples had to be airtight; I felt I could not afford to make a single mistake or error. That was, and is, a lot of pressure.
Click to expand...

What We’ve Accomplished

I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished with Feminist Frequency over the last two years. We’ve released six long-form episodes in the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series plus an accompanying animated video narrated by Jennifer Hale. Our YouTube channel has garnered over 17 million views and our Twitter account now has over 230,000 followers.

...

One of the most hopeful signs for me is how often developers have expressed their appreciation for my work. I have been invited to speak at game studios like EA DICE, Bungie, and ArenaNet. Developers at both indie and major game studios continue to reach out to me personally to tell me how our video series, and our larger work at Feminist Frequency has played a significant role in shaping internal conversations at all levels of production. Developers who were responsible for some of the games that I have critiqued in my series have graciously accepted the criticism and have promised to do better in the future.
Click to expand...

Financials

When our kickstarter campaign ended on June 16, 2012 we raised a total of $158,922. Here is a breakdown of how the funds have been used:
Click to expand...

fec850fa1aca955aaad416d9ed738335_large.png


If you are interested in learning more about Feminist Frequency as a nonprofit and our work, please take a look at our 2014 Annual Report [PDF].
Click to expand...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4z6qa561roidh5/femfreq_annualreport2014.pdf?dl=0

I never knew that she made Feminist Frequency into a nonprofit organization.
 
In befo... not surprised.


The breakdown seems reasonable. She wouldn't need that much to buy the games and systems by comparison.

People need to realize that taking on this effort likely prohibited her from having a full time job, she and her staff need to be able to cover living expenses. Its not like she bought a sports car.
 
Did she ever mention she was setting up a non-profit? Odd if she didn't. Could have helped massively alleviate concerns about the videos being incredibly late.
 
I don't think this discloses anything to be honest, according to the graph she pretty much pocketed a large portion of the money she got instead of investing it into her video production.

I hadn't realized it will soon be 3 years since this was funded, either. It's crazy she hasn't fulfilled even half of what the KS entailed.

Thanks to generous contributors, we received a substantial increase in donations at the
end of the year, raising just over $230,000 in December alone. This unexpected increase
in revenue will allow us to dedicate these new resources in 2015 to expanding Feminist
Frequency’s writing and support staff as well as our programming
Click to expand...

Wow okay, I didn't know she was still receiving donations and in that order.
 
Still don't see why it matters how she spent the money. As long as she delivered on the product promised, she had no obligation to do anything with all the extra money. When people donate to KS projects and vastly over give, each person is only entitled to what is being promised in the KS. If people want to vastly over pay for something, that is on them and not the KS campaign owner.

She could have pocketed the majority of the money that was over the original goal and I see nothing wrong with that as long as she delivered the product promised. Now if people want to argue the product she put out was shit, or not out in a timely fashion, that is fair. Or that she hasn't delievered the product at all (but IMO keep the focus of criticism here).

Also IMO this break down (if she wants to really disclose info), doesn't say much.

Edit: for those pointing out she hasn't delivered what she promised. I wasn't trying to argue she had. More that, I often see people focus on the total amount she made. But the issue IMO is her failing to deliver the product and not that she made 100k. Or am I viewing this wrong?

If so, my apologies. But I just think if people are willing to over pay way past a KS goal, the KS owner is only obligated to deliver what they promised. So the issue for me is not that she made 100k, but that she hasn't delievered the product promised.
 
Oh wow. I didn't expect her/FF to provide a breakdown like this. I wonder what the reaction on the interwebs is going to be like..
 
Azula said:
Still don't see why it matters how she spent the money. As long as she delivered on the product promised, she had no obligation to do anything with all the extra money. When people donate to KS projects and vastly over give, each person is only entitled to what is being promised in the KS. If people want to vastly over pay for something, that is on them and not the KS campaign owner. She could have pocketed the majority of the money that was over the original goal and I see nothing wrong with that as long as she delivered the product promised. Now if people want to argue the product she put out was shit, or not out in a timely matter, that is fair.

Also IMO this break down (if she wants to really disclose info), doesn't say much.
Click to expand...

But it seems she didnt:
jett said:
I don't think this discloses anything to be honest, according to the graph she pretty much pocketed a large portion of the money she got instead of investing it into her video production.

I hadn't realized it will soon be 3 years since this was funded, either. It's crazy she hasn't fulfilled even half of what the KS entailed.
Click to expand...
 
Azula said:
Still don't see why it matters how she spent the money. As long as she delivered on the product promised, she had no obligation to do anything with all the extra money. When people donate to KS projects and vastly over give, each person is only entitled to what is being promised in the KS. If people want to vastly over pay for something, that is on them and not the KS campaign owner.

She could have pocketed the majority of the money that was over the original goal and I see nothing wrong with that as long as she delivered the product promised. Now if people want to argue the product she put out was shit, or not out in a timely fashion, that is fair.

Also IMO this break down (if she wants to really disclose info), doesn't say much.
Click to expand...

Well, she in fact has not yet delivered the promised product. She's not even at the half-goal.
 
Schobeleth said:
Oh wow. I didn't expect her/FF to provide a breakdown like this. I wonder what the reaction on the interwebs is going to be like..
Click to expand...

Well as you can see in this thread already is that people are going to be banging on about the wages/salary portion, ignorant of the idea that 44% to pay staff is a totally acceptable portion for ANY project.

Besides, if she wanted to fleece the money, don't you think she'd put it into things like buying equipment or contractors?
 
foltzie1 said:
Ok the math isn't hard but here you go.

$158,922 X .44 = $69,925.68 for wages and salaries.
Click to expand...

divided by 3 for an annual wage.

doesn't seem even close to worth it, given all the shit shes personally got from the interwebs for daring to suggest that there may be elements of videogames that are socially regressive.
 
jett said:
Well, she in fact has not yet delivered the promised product. She's not even at the half-goal.
Click to expand...

I'll edit my post, but the point I see often argued by people is that she made a shit ton of money she didn't deserve. In my eyes, the amount of money she made over her goal is irrelevant. If people want to over pay a goal in a KS, then the KS owner can totally pocket that.

The issue is her not delivering what is promised. Not that she made 100k +
 
I still don't get why it matters. If someone raised 100 thousand dollars for a project and pocketed 90 thousand of it for their 'salary', well... what difference does it make so long as they deliver something resembling what they said they'd deliver? An individual contributor is paying the same either way. If you don't like it then you don't understand crowdfunding and you should probably stop getting involved in it.

Actually I do get it, hateful little idiots are looking for something to pin on her. But the rest of us should be smart enough to not care what hateful little idiots think.
 
Although that said, I'm not sure of her phrasing; the way she writes she makes it sound like she's already spent all the money, which surely can't be possible already.
 
Garjon said:
Well as you can see in this thread already is that people are going to be banging on about the wages/salary portion, ignorant of the idea that 44% to pay staff is a totally acceptable portion for ANY project.

Besides, if she wanted to fleece the money, don't you think she'd put it into things like buying equipment or contractors?
Click to expand...

True. I think people are mostly going to be asking where the rest of the videos are, if that. I haven't been completely following her progress, just watching them as they get finished.
 
Oh geez. Well I guess giving this to harassers for them to use to continue harassing, doesn't really change things for the worse considering they were going to continue harassing anyway.
 
jimi_dini said:
Wait, so all funds have been used?

How will those missing videos get funded now? Or maybe I'm not up to date and all the promised videos were released already?!?!
Click to expand...
You should click on the dropbox link in the OP if you want to know more.

FF, as a nonprofit, apparently, keeps receiving donations. FF got 441K in donations in 2014.
 
Wow, they've received nearly $400,000 in donations since GamerGate started. Kinda funny that GG put FF in the black for the year.
 
Garjon said:
Well as you can see in this thread already is that people are going to be banging on about the wages/salary portion, ignorant of the idea that 44% to pay staff is a totally acceptable portion for ANY project.

Besides, if she wanted to fleece the money, don't you think she'd put it into things like buying equipment or contractors?
Click to expand...

This is exactly why people are going to be talking about this. Most KS money goes to salary from looking at other projects that I've backed. It's not even that much money if you being to split it.

I don't understand why people treat her like she's the gaming antichrist.
 
jett said:
You should click on the dropbox link in the OP if you want to know more.

FF, as a nonprofit, apparently, keeps receiving donations. FF got 441K in donations in 2014.
Click to expand...

That's insane. 441k in donations alone?!?!

For the work they do, that's insane.
 
Doomburrito7 said:
Exactly. Technically I can run a Kickstarter for any type of project and then give most of the extra money to myself and list it as a "salary"...
Click to expand...

Well, of course. That's the point of kickstarter. You give money to a person, and that person takes it and does a job or a product. In her cases the videos.
It's like a salary.
 
foltzie1 said:
Ok the math isn't hard but here you go.

$158,922 X .44 = $69,925.68 for wages and salaries.
Click to expand...

Seems totally reasonable even if that's all for 1 person. If its for more than 1 person than there certainly shouldn't be any hard feelings. Whats an average income for someone with her education level and all that?
 
ankor77 said:
Seems totally reasonable even if that's all for 1 person. If its for more than 1 person than there certainly shouldn't be any hard feelings.
Click to expand...

There's at least 2 people getting paid. Her and Jonathan McIntosh.

Someone on /r/gamerghazi pointed out that she's making less than minimum if we only take the Kickstarter and donations into account.
 
I wonder if any of those wages go to the security teams she requires for public events now, or if those are paid for by the universities and businesses where she does her talks.

Insane to even have to type that sentence.

jett said:
I don't think this discloses anything to be honest, according to the graph she pretty much pocketed a large portion of the money she got instead of investing it into her video production.

I hadn't realized it will soon be 3 years since this was funded, either. It's crazy she hasn't fulfilled even half of what the KS entailed.
Click to expand...

The videos are much more in depth and lengthier than they were originally intended, though. It took them a very long time to get going, but since then they have been (somewhat) consistent and only improving with time. I'd rather she take her time and put out more quality and in-depth examinations, personally, than have her hurry just to check the boxes. I would assume most people who get something out of the videos would feel that way, but maybe not.

Turin Turambar said:
Well, of course. That's the point of kickstarter. You give money to a person, and that person takes it and does a job or a product. In her cases the videos.
It's like a salary.
Click to expand...

A lot of people seem to still have a very big problem with the idea that this is her job that she gets paid for, even though we back kickstarters to make video games on GAF all the time -- which is also someone's job, and part of the kickstarter funding goes to that salary.
 
jett said:
Well, she in fact has not yet delivered the promised product. She's not even at the half-goal.
Click to expand...

What she has done so far is really promising (and even better than what expected), and she's working in order to close the project as promised; she didn't disappear, she's still on track,and keeps updating everyone. The fact that the project needs more work is part of the development process itself; if even big publishers cannot release games on time, I don't see why a single person couldn't.
 
jett said:
You should click on the dropbox link in the OP if you want to know more.
Click to expand...

Is that dropbox link something official?

and well, one of the pledge rewards was:
A DVD copy of all Tropes vs. Women in Video Games episodes in the web series. PLUS all of the above!
Click to expand...

So those people haven't received it yet, because not all videos were made? I'm just curious.
 
ankor77 said:
Seems totally reasonable even if that's all for 1 person. If its for more than 1 person than there certainly shouldn't be any hard feelings. Whats an average income for someone with her education level and all that?
Click to expand...

Even if its for one person (which I doubt) it be like that person making 35/hr and working full time.

I dunno her education level but she's a competent speaker. I know when I do conferences I charge a lot more than 35.

It's kinda gross how some are so quick to jump on "I need the wage breakdown!" Not only is it simple to do with basic math, but does it really bother you if she made 70k from this? What arbitrary line do you draw where it's ok?
 
The fact Anita hasn't even come close to deliver the product she promised is seriously worrying. If this was any other Kickstarter, questions would be getting asked. And they should be getting asked.
 
Fargo_Dog said:
The fact Anita hasn't even come close to deliver the product she promised is seriously worrying. If this was any other Kickstarter, questions would be getting asked. And they should be getting asked.
Click to expand...

Its almost like this whole topic is specifically answering those questions
 
SeanR1221 said:
Even if its for one person (which I doubt) it be like that person making 35/hr and working full time.

I dunno her education level but she's a competent speaker. I know when I do conferences I charge a lot more than 35.

It's kinda gross how some are so quick to jump on "I need the wage breakdown!" Not only is it simple to do with basic math, but does it really bother you if she made 70k from this? What arbitrary line do you draw where it's ok?
Click to expand...

I think the only argument that holds water, is if backers want to say she failed to deliver the product she promised. But outside of that I agree with you.
 
SeanR1221 said:
Even if its for one person (which I doubt) it be like that person making 35/hr and working full time.

I dunno her education level but she's a competent speaker. I know when I do conferences I charge a lot more than 35.

It's kinda gross how some are so quick to jump on "I need the wage breakdown!" Not only is it simple to do with basic math, but does it really bother you if she made 70k from this? What arbitrary line do you draw where it's ok?
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

The damage that Youtube video compression has done to graphics discourse is immeasurable
Opinion 
20
906
neocycle replied
  • Poll
Poll: What is your opinion on Druckmann and the job he has done leading Naughty Dog?
2 3 4 5 6
267
9K
nial replied
Xbox has the games. Sony has the sales. How???
2 3 4 5 6
296
14K
Woopah replied
Nintendo has jersey patch deal with Seattle Mariners
10
482
Guardian Monkey replied
what is a music genre that Rockstar has underrepresented in GTA?
2 3
121
4K
Efren is G.O.A.T. replied
Top Bottom