Member-only story
The Death of NaNoWriMo
An open letter to folks after watching the March 2025 Community Update
I watch this as someone who has participated and donated for several years. So, this is not an easy article to write.
“We have a large enough community that funding a 1.3 million dollar budget should never have been a problem. We were hoping that if we spoke more candidly about the organization’s challenges and that if we were simply open about our funding struggles, that it would yield a different result.
This organization is going on 25 years old, and had plenty of opportunity to grow, reach out to its community, and do things properly. You’re bringing out the data now…but now is a bit late.
There have been new non-profit organizations which have prospered since NaNoWriMo was made “official” and they have had no issues with being funded.
I believe what went wrong here was a lack of action, transparency, and professionalism that lasted far too long.
