Hey folks, Alasdair here with a quick introduction to a new crew member behind the scenes at EA. Sam Ferree is a nonprofit professional who volunteers with EA, and with his help we’re launching our very first year-end campaign.

Over to you, Sam.

Hi, this is Sam Ferree, Escape Artists Foundation’s newish Development Assistant. I have been a dedicated audience member since Escape Pod launched in 2005, and I became a fan of PseudoPod, PodCastle, Cast of Wonders, and CatsCast when each was introduced. I always wanted to do more to support this community, so when EA made the announcement that they were becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, I immediately reached out and offered to volunteer my services as a nonprofit development professional. Like all of you, I knew all of the podcasts were supported by donations. But for some reason it never occurred to me that Escape Artists’ wasn’t actually a nonprofit until we became one in 2023.

Since they were new to the nonprofit world, I thought I could finally contribute to EA in a more personally meaningful way. I was prepared to beg. Grovel even. But they took me up on my offer and here I am.

Since this is Escape Artist’s first year as a US nonprofit, it’s the perfect time to start good habits and best practices. So it is my honor to announce our very first end-of-year fundraiser. And because it’s our first, we are keeping expectations to a minimum, setting no goals, and experimenting with what works.

As you know, all of the podcasts have always been audience-supported, but now that EA is a registered charity, that greatly increases the resources we have access to and ways in which our community can help bring free and accessible original audio short fiction to a global audience. Please take a moment to consider that EA publishes more than 200 stories annually to a thriving global audience. That is huge. That is a global community invested in speculative fiction. Escape Pod, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Cast of Wonders and CatsCast are venues where writers might achieve their first professional publication and reach new audiences. And where community members can discover new artists whose work they can fall in love with.

And all this relies on you.

We depend on the generosity of our audience to create and share the best audio speculative fiction with fans around the world for free. All while fairly compensating not only our creatives, but every single member of our crew.

Now that we are a nonprofit, there are many more ways we can accept generosity. Escape Artists can now accept gifts from employee and workplace giving programs, stock donations, gifts from Donor Advised Funds, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs. EA is still a new nonprofit, getting systems set up, implementing best practices, and exploring what new resources and opportunities are now available, like grant funding.

But what really keeps Escape Artists going, what really forms the foundation on which these five podcasts rest, is the generosity of individuals like you. EA is sustained by and for our audience. People from all over the world who love speculative audio short fiction and want to share it with others for free. Please support Escape Artists today and make our first end-of-year fundraiser a successful one. And if you pay taxes in the US, your gift may be counted as a charitable deduction.

One-time donations are gratefully received and much appreciated, but what really makes a difference is subscribing. A $5 monthly donation on Patreon will go farther than you would believe. Subscribers give us way more than just money, they give us stability, reliability, and dependability. Monthly donations give Escape Artists a reliable space station in steady orbit, a sturdy castle, a bright theater, a well-insulated dark tower, or a perfectly cat-shaped box from which to operate.

Once again, thank you for supporting Escape Artists and helping bring free audio speculative fiction to people all around the world. If you have any questions about how to support EA and ways to give, please reach out to us at donations@escapeartists.net. If you have any suggestions about ways to support EA that we have not mentioned, please let us know. We keep being pleasantly surprised by all the creative ways people want to support us.

Thanks for listening, and please enjoy the episodes!