Supporting the Work of ActiveHistory.ca

For the past eight years, ActiveHistory.ca has functioned as an entirely volunteer-run website without robust financial supports. This has meant that when technical problems that exceed our abilities have arisen, we have needed to go cap-in-hand to drum up emergency funding to maintain the website or – occasionally – pay these costs out of pocket.

As our website and audience have grown, now hosting over 1,500 essays, podcasts, and other posts, and an audience of about 35,000-40,000 unique visitors per month, the editorial collective has become increasingly uncomfortable with the uncertainties caused by this informal structure. Last spring, we began to put in place safeguards to ensure that ActiveHistory.ca is able to continue on a more stable foundation. First, the History Department at the University of Saskatchewan agreed to support our ongoing costs related to web hosting. Second, Huron University College, agreed to support a bank account for the site and a process through which donations can be made to the Active History project. In both cases, this support reflects the role that scholars at both institutions have played in shaping, and continuing to shape, the Active History project. It also provides us with financial oversight and guidelines that ensure sound fiscal stewardship.

Today, we would like to ask you to consider supporting ActiveHistory.ca financially. By donating to ActiveHistory.ca you will be helping us ensure that the editorial collective can maintain the website, keeping its backend up-to-date and current. Because these costs vary from year-to-year – and we have never before asked for financial support – we have also created a plan for surplus funds in order to provide support for new Active History projects, exemplary practices of Active History, and to support costs incurred by editors whose conditions of employment might not off-set the costs associated with their work on the website. You can read the full details here (Active History Donations Policy).

Though we have decided to formally ask for your financial support, we want to be clear that ActiveHistory.ca will continue to exist as a volunteer-run, not-for-profit, and advertising-free digital space. This website is not possible without the countless volunteer hours that our committed group of editors, contributing editors, and authors put into ensuring that ActiveHistory.ca continues to produce well-researched and argued history-focused material each week.

In providing the option to support this project financially, it is our hope that these financial resources will provide a foundation to ensure that this work remains available for the years to come.

Please consider donating by visiting our donations page.