On January 3, 2019, we came to you with an idea: a magazine built on the principles that history is for everyone, that every way of doing history is worthwhile, and that historians should be paid for their work.
Since then, our supporters have donated over $85,000 to make Contingent Magazine a reality, including over $25,000 this year so far, much of which comes from 236 monthly donors. Here’s how those donations have helped us put our principles into action in 2021:
The content
So far this year, Contingent has published 45 pieces, with at least seven left to come in the year. Among those have been a number of pieces on labor issues in higher education, including one from the perspective of an undergraduate, and our upcoming series “A Thing Of The Past.” The consistent funding provided by monthly donors has not only given us the stability to accept the pieces we want to publish, but it’s also allowed us to increase the base pay rate for our How I Do History interviews and our mini-essays.
The people
A lot of skilled work goes into producing these pieces and getting them to you. Our content has come from 39 paid contributors, hosted on a site built and run by our web developer and promoted by our communications specialist, with gorgeous colors and graphics from our graphic designer. Most months, we’ve had enough to pay our three editors small stipends for their work as well. By the end of the year, the magazine will pay at least seven more contributors.
The infrastructure
There are significant costs associated with running a magazine and non-profit organization. We pay Donorbox, Stripe, and Paypal to accept and manage donations. We pay for accounting software, website hosting, and email management. We pay for checks, stamps, stickers, and postcards, and yearly fees to the state of Connecticut to maintain our status as a corporation and public charity.
We hope you’re pleased with what Contingent has done during 2021, and we’re excited to see where we can take the magazine in 2022—especially our new Drawing Connections series, pairing historians and comic artists, which was made possible by donor support through a special fundraising drive. We have a few other things percolating as well, and we hope you’ll continue to support, read, and engage with our work.