Ever since I started making adult money, I’ve been meaning to earmark some of it to back corners of the internet that I care about.
This year I pledged to give $200 USD across various internet organizations, non-profits, and outlets whose work I support and have also been benefitting from for free. I consider this category of support different from charities, mutual aid requests, or local donation drives. The point of these specific donations is for me to stop taking access to information, art, journalism, media, and community spaces on the internet for granted, and to have a real stake in the continuation and longevity of these sites.
With everything that’s been going on, I’ve become quite jaded about the state of the internet (and being online in general), but it’s worth remembering that there are still so many people out there dedicated to building and making and sharing stuff for the love of the game, so many places where things still feel wild and generative like they used to. That’s the internet I want to be a part of, and I want to help keep it like that for other people too.
For my 2026 list, I chose a mix of small independent journalism publications, fandom-oriented platforms, and web archives/resources:
- Archive of Our Own — $50: Fanfiction and fanworks archive. I owe them like 10 billion dollars in emotional value.
- Dreamwidth — $35: Old-school LJ-style blogging site; I read it first thing like it’s the morning paper. I’m planning to upgrade to a paid account for the upcoming year. In 2024 a kind stranger randomly gifted me a year-long paid upgrade and I’d like to do that too for someone in the future.
- Wikipedia — $25: Needs no introduction. I read up on random shit on it every day.
- Internet Archive — $25: Another invaluable resource. I’ve had to use the Wayback Machine more and more because of all the enshittification of websites and paywalls that have gone up.
- 32-Bit Cafe — $25: A great community for website and internet hobbyists. I haven’t perused their web resources much but I’m sure I’ll come to it at some point, plus I like browsing their forum and finding new personal sites to look through.
- The Pudding — $20: My favorite data journo/visual storytelling site. I’ve been a fan of their work for years (and am now a contributor!) and basically ended up in my current career thanks to what I’ve been able to learn from them.
- Kontinentalist — $20: Another data journo publication, specifically focused on issues in and relating to Asia. They publish great stories!
I also considered donating to the following, but they all have subscription rates that are too high for me right now and no option for a one-time donation. Kind of a shame because I’d love to send a few bucks their way. These will likely be the primary contenders for next year if I shuffle the list around and/or bump up my total.
- Hardcover: Book tracking app that offers a free API (which I use for my bookshelf page). I enjoy reading their monthly blog updates.
- 404 Media: Independent tech journalism co-op. I really want access to their RSS feed!
- Fansplaining: Fandom journalism + media recaps + fan survey data
Cheers to a better internet in 2027 :)