nonbinarymanipulator:

spirantization:

not to sound too much like a millennial who has lived through two major economic downturns but like, i don’t think banks should be able to give you 0.1% interest and call it a “high interest savings account” with a straight face. thanks for the 10¢ i guess, if i find a dime on the sidewalk i’ll have doubled my free money for the month

and then turn around and say 6% is a low interest rate when you’re the one paying them

olderthannetfic:

thesociallyanxiousrebel:

cryptvokeeper:

krifz:

cryptvokeeper:

Yknow what while I’m here I know we as a website agreed to oppress the business majors but all the bullshit that comes around every April over ao3’s business practices makes me think we should’ve kept at least one to explain to people how nonprofits, despite their name, still need money to function and do not in fact run on rainbows and dreams alone

Woo! It’s a good thing y’all didnt oppress accounting majors because we understand this stuff better than business majors. (We were around before capitalism and we’re already set up for after capitalism.)

First things first - I dont regularly use or donate to AO3 but I have made an account to see what the fuss was about. Fanfiction just isnt my thing but I see why people like it.

AO3 is a 501©(3) organization. What that means - No Profit for owners or investors. What that does NOT mean - no cash at year end or not paying employees a livable wage/salary. If you’re contrivance with a non-profit is that they allow their employees to survive under capitalism, then you need to rethink your priorities.

That being said, AO3 has no employees. All work is volunteer based. ABSOLUTELY ZERO people are making money from this site. (Outside of contractors and professionals who are vendors and not affiliated with AO3.)

I’m going to break down the 2019 Audited Financials because that’s the most recent. And compare them to the budget and notes:

The auditor’s opinion is “unmodified.” That means these are as accurate as they get.

Their assets: $1.3M in cash. $197k in the value of the servers. (That’s the price they bought the servers minus depreciation. Depreciation is a tool we use to slowly devalue fixed assets over time. Without it, companies would recognize huge losses at year end when they sell old assets. That’s not reliable information when you’re trying to analyze the financials.) Why would a non-profit need a million dollars in cash? Partly to fund the next year’s work - it looks like they’re trying to bring on new servers which can cost upwards of $400k each time. They also have a history of protecting fans from people like Anne Rice who wants to sue them into debt and oblivion. We’ll talk about the legal stuff later. But in the case they would lose an expensive case, they need funds on hand to pay that out.

Revenues - this is the money in. They received $733k in donations and the like. Their expenses are about 37% of these. Which tells me, they are focused on managing their cash balance, and doing well. Again. No organization would survive if they had no cash at year end.

You might see the “In-Kind Revenue” and not know what that means. $190k is a big amount. But if you look at their expense statement on page (4) you’ll see “In-Kind Expenses” for the same $190k. In-kind means services in kind of cash. Or services instead of cash. So they had $190k of pro-bono (donated) legal work in 2019. They mention it in the budget and later in the audit footnotes. There are other “professional fees” for about $28k. That’s also legal/audit work but they had to pay cash for. It wasn’t donated.

Cash expenses:

Server fees = $79k (these are higher than 2018 because they installed a new server.)

Transaction fees = $27k (these are charges from your banks/credit cards/paypal to process donations. They are roughly 3% of donations which is about correct.)

Contractor fees = $15k (the budget noted they paid for a security test - this is actually a pretty low cost for something like this.)

Supplies = $14k (I couldn’t find notes on this but it’s similar to 2018, so it’s probably just normal business things.)

Postage = $12k (This is high compared to 2018, but I hazard a guess it’s related to sending out promotional items for donations.)

Advertising = $10k (looks like a new cost this year, but is related to fundraising efforts. And might be related to those promo items.)

Other non-cash expenses:

In-kind = $190k (those donated lawyer fees we talked about earlier.)

Depreciation = $74k (again this is an accounting process that every company with fixed assets does.)

The cash flows statement just confirms which expenses were and weren’t cash. And it shows us that they have $1.3M available for the next year. Glancing at the 2020 budget they planned on spending a third of that to upgrade servers. And they have another $400k budgeted for 2021. Honestly to me, the cash looks low considering some years (2018 in particular,) their legal work was valued at half a million. There is a risk that they would have to pay that amount out of pocket the same year they plan to bring on a new server upgrade.

So all in all, if you want to donate to AO3, this looks like a reliable organization to donate to. There is no evidence in the financials that they don’t deserve the donations. (And if you do donate, remember it is a tax credit!) I also don’t see any verifiable reasons not to donate. If you have other places you would rather place your donation, that’s fine! Do that! But there doesn’t seem to be a reason to campaign against their fundraising efforts.

This is a really neat breakdown! And it’s explained so that idiots like me who don’t know how stuff works can understand!

I’m kinda new on this scene…really great explainer here, but I really hope this isn’t a debate I’m gonna have see every time ao3 collects money

Hate to break it to you, but that is exactly what’s going to happen.

I’ve already seen all of the usual suspects from 2018 and 2019 and, like this post, 2020, pass by during this April 2021 drive. I’m sure we’ll see them all again in October too. (Thanks, tumblr, for your horrible lack of timestamps unless one turns that shit on with xkit.) No doubt there are classic drive wank posts from 2017 and before and I just haven’t noticed because literally every six months, all the posts look the same.

aspiringwarriorlibrarian:

harostar:

shiny-good-rock:

catsi:

twice now, i have been called by scammers pretending to be bankers telling me i’d been scammed by someone else, and that they, the scammer/banker, would cancel the fraudulent transactions made in my name as soon as i gave them a bit of information to confirm my identity.

the second guy called me from my local bank branch’s number and told me “someone in another city is attempting to make purchases with your debit card information” and after i expressed obvious distress he told me “don’t worry, this is what i’m here for. we’re going to get your cards/accounts cancelled/closed and then we’ll all i need you to do is verify the 6-digit code that i’ve sent to your phone”

that 6-digit code was the code to reset my online banking password which i didn’t realize at the time. he then got into my online banking account and e-transferred himself $2,800. my bank reclaimed the money but i had to close my bank accounts, then open new bank accounts, cancel my debit and credit cards, get new debit and credit cards, alert two credit unions that i was a victim of fraud, change all my fucking passwords, etc etc

sorry if this shit is obvious to other people but it was not to me so:

if someone calls you, claiming to be from your bank telling you that there are suspicious charges on your account, hang up on themandcall the number on the back of your debit card. worst case scenario, you hung up on someone and called a different person back but at least now you know you’re talking to someone from the bank. best case scenario, you just hung up on a scammer and are already on the line with someone to report it.

keep your head on a fucking swivel out there

oh that is awful. i actually just had training at my job about how to spot a scam and unfortunately the incidence of phone scams has gone up MASSIVELY over the last several years.

op, i am so, so sorry you went through that and i hope that your funds get recovered. <3 that is a terrible thing to go through.

for other folks who may not know what to look for, here are some things to keep in mind to try to avoid a scam:

is an institution contacting you out of the blue?

even if it’s a company or agency you trust, it’s generally unusual to be contacted if you aren’t expecting a call. and like in the op’s case, scammers will often pretend to be from an institution you likely already know and trust. she is absolutely right to recommend that you hang up and call a verified number. any legitimate agency should already have your personal information on file and should not ask you for it by phone, text, or email out of the blue.

scammers can easily spoof the number they call from and the name on the caller id, and will sometimes even create a soundscape in the background to make it more convincing.

are they creating some kind of pressure to act?

this can come in the form of either a carrotor a stick. in some cases, they’ll offer some kind of prize in exchange for your help, like claiming abandoned money or getting access to lottery winnings. in others, they need you to help them with a problem, like claiming that they’re trying to help a relative but can’t do in their own.

are they creating a sense of urgency?

the pressure of a deadline makes it more difficult to stop and think about whether the call is trustworthy–the exact kind of thing that would prevent them from stealing your shit. often, they’ll try to ramp up the tension of the situation by putting pressure on you.

i’ve even heard of cases where they correctly spoof caller id information from a relative of the person they’re calling (like a grandchild) and claim that the relative was in a car accident and they won’t call 911 unless you send them money.

are they telling you to send money using a specific method?

this doesn’t really apply to op’s situation, but often, scammers will ask you to send them money using a particular method like gift cards or money transfers. similarly, don’t ever deposit a check and send money “back” to somebody–it may end up bouncing and then you are out whatever you sent them.

-

final tips:

it may help to run through some scenarios in your head or read about examples of common scams BEFORE you’re on the phone with someone trying to steal your shit, and try to take some time to really think about how you will respond if you get a phone call like that.

and lastly, if it does happen to you, it is not your fault. these people are professional bastards and they make it their work to find vulnerabilities and exploit them.

there’s nothing wrong with you for assuming that strangers aren’t going to violate your trust. this shit istraumatic, and it may be worth looking into professional supports like therapy if that’s something you think will help.

if you have been scammed or think you saw a scam, report it to the FTC if you’re in the US (folks in other countries, feel free to add your relevant reporting agency). they can’t always recover your funds, but scammers can’t be stopped if they don’t get reported.

<3

In terms of scams involving Law Enforcement:

First and foremost, a LEGITIMATE call would go something like:

“I’m Officer/Deputy/Detective/Investigator LastName from Department. I am calling you concerning x.”

Request their badge number, if they have not provided it yet. 

If they ask for any of the following, fucking HANG UP.

• Money 
• Banking/Financial information
• Your Social Security Number

When in doubt, inform the officer that you are going to call their department back to verify their identity. This is ROUTINE, especially by businesses that deal with secure information like Banks and Insurance. 

If they claim that there is a major Fine or warrants or whatever out for you, inform them that you are going to call the Court directly about it and/or that you want to meet in person at the Department to sort things out. 

Any sort of legal paperwork MUST be served to you IN PERSON. There’s no handling a Warrant or Summons or other court paperwork over the phone. Personal Service is required, so anyone trying to get you to do anything over the phone OTHER than arrange a meeting for Service is scamming you.

Fines are handled through the court, so an Officer is never going to attempt to collect. 

Anyone telling you that they need a code NOW to handle fradulent claims is a liar. The wheels of paperwork turn slow and always need a few days to be processed fully. If anyone is trying to make you give up something, anything, now, hang up immediately and call the institution itself to report fraud.

Quantifying your goals

Coming up with goals is easy.

Everyone has a version of themselves that they’d like to be.

Someone who for instance, wakes up early on time; someone who gets work done fast; has enough free time in the world to pursue hobbies; avoids procrastination and so on.

Listing goals like this is child’s play:

1. I want to be rich

2. I want to wake up early

3. I want to work out everyday

4. I want to get good grades in my classes

But after listing it comes the problem. The first half of the issue has been tackled. But now what?

How do I work towards that goal now?

Let me teach you how to quantify goals.

There’s no point in having goals if you can’t quantify them.

I’ll use the exact four goals above to show you what I mean.

1. “I want to be rich.”

What does “rich” mean to you? What amount of money is “rich” to you? The amount isn’t the same for everyone. By simply saying that, you’re going nowhere because there’s no specifications.

Here’s an alternative:

“By the end of 2022, I should have X amount in my savings account. I have come to this amount by calculating my expenses and income. In order to live the lifestyle I want, I should have X amount in my savings.”

This is a better plan. Now you have something to actually work towards, a number, and not just an ambiguous “rich.”

2. “I want to wake up early.”

A lot of people, including myself, struggle to wake up early. How do you achieve the goal of waking up early?

Let me share my own example with you. I tend to get up at 8 am. My goal is to wake up at 5:30 am.

I have already established my main goal. Now I’m going to create steps for it.

I know that I can’t jump from 8 am to 5:30 am, because my body won’t be able to take it.

So I create short goals. Achievable goals.

For the next 10 days, I’ll get up at 7:30 am.

10 days after that, 7 am.

10 days after that, 6:30 am.

And so on.

By creating steps to my goal, I now have a strategy ready. I have quantified my goals.

The same applies to working out and getting good grades.

3. “I want to work out consistently”

= “I want to work out at least four times a week.”

4. “I want to get good grades”

= “I want X GPA by the end of this semester.”

Visualising goals is easy.

Strategising them is challenging.

Executing them is challenging.

By strategising your goals, you’re able to create a game plan. By creating a game plan, you’re able to follow through that plan. Execution then becomes a breeze.

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Work

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