Help save In Other Words

We love In Other Words. This month, they turn 21 years old, and that’s 21 years of being an amazing feminist community space and resource. Their storefront serves as a book store, lending library, and venue for feminist events. Each January, we donate 10% of our sales on Tuesdays to them. But In Other Words is in dire straights right now, and we wish it wasn’t so.

In Other Words is facing capacity deficits and are seriously considering closing their doors. Each month, they need at least $5,000 just to make ends meet. As a non-profit, they are entirely volunteer-run and rely on donations. To stay open well into 2015, they need help. They’ve set up a crowdfunding campaign with the goal of $20,000.

As they write on the crowdfunding page, they don’t make a bunch of dough just because they were on Portlandia.

The question we get most often is, “but don’t you make zillions of dollars off of the TV show Portlandia?!” The short answer is: NOPE. Far from it. Unfortunately, the fact that the TV show Portlandia features a regular feminist bookstore parody does not provide us with any substantial revenue flow and Portlandia-related donations are far from enough to pay our bills.

You can help In Other Words at this juncture in three ways: contribute to the campaign, sign up for a volunteer position at the space by emailing volunteer@inotherwords.org, or apply to join their board of directors at humanresources@inotherwords.org.

On November 8th, there will be a public community meeting about whether In Other Words has increased their volunteer base and received enough donations to stay in business. Please consider donating or volunteering to keep this vital organization running. The video below, “Feminism Matters Now More Than Ever,” is a good reminder of why we need In Other Words.