[URBAN NOTE] On Glad Day Bookstore's Indiegogo fundraiser

[rfmcdonald]

Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop is on the final day of an Indiegogo fundraising project aimed at raising 15 thousand dollars Canadian for online expansion.

We need $15,000 to be able to launch and promote a new website with new tools. The most important new element would be an online bookstore that is independent of the mega-corporations. Your support will make it possible for us to list over 2,000 LGBTQ titles and use a platform that meets our needs. The new site would also have other cool functions like a book review blog, an events calendar and an LGBTQ ‘memory project’.

As investors, we have maxed out our available credit and debt to keep the store open. We don’t have a way to access the money needed to bring the store to the next level. Over this last year, so many people have asked us what they can do to keep the store alive and vibrant so we thought this could be a way to make it possible for all our many allies to show their support by funding something that is practical, concrete and strategic.

[. . .]

If we raise all our funds, it would be broken down like this:

$6000 – Website Design, Customization & Coding
$4000 – Extra Staff Time for Data Entry of +2000 Items
$2500 – Online Promotion
$1500 – Online Store Start-Up Costs & Fees
$1000 – Local Promotion & Launch Event

If we get less funds than our goal, we will reduce the number of items we list and the online promotion.

So far, they're at C$9,022. I'll be donating what little I can tonight. You?