New York, NY

THE ORGANIZATION FOR TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS INC

EIN 38-3765024

Arts, Culture & Heritage Community Arts & Public Programs

Mission

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a fan-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving fanworks and the history of fan culture, and to supporting fans by providing access, advocacy, and academic resources.

IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity Contributions are tax-deductible

Claim this page Visit www.transformativeworks.org

About THE ORGANIZATION FOR TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS INC

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a volunteer-run nonprofit founded and run by fans to preserve and provide access to fanworks and fandom history. Its signature projects include Archive of Our Own (AO3), Fanlore, Open Doors (archive rescue/imports), OTW Legal Advocacy, and the peer-reviewed journal Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC). In recent years OTW has continued significant growth and operational activity: AO3 sustained very large traffic volumes and content growth, Open Doors continued importing legacy archives, Legal successfully pursued important copyright advocacy, and the organization expanded work on strategic planning, cybersecurity, and volunteer sustainability. OTW is sustained primarily by donations and operated largely by volunteers with a small number of paid roles to support core services.

Notable achievements

AO3 scale and usage (2023–2024)

AO3 posted strong recent growth: by the end of 2023 the site had passed 12 million posted works and six million registered users; in 2024 AO3 saw 2,139,910 works created, 1,298,541 accounts created during the year, and recorded 34 billion page views (averaging roughly 93.2 million views per day).

Open Doors archive preservation

Open Doors has imported and preserved dozens of at-risk fannish archives; in 2023 Open Doors reported cumulative imports exceeding 100 archives (preserving well over 100,000 works) and in 2024 completed additional archive imports to consolidate legacy collections on AO3.

Sustained legal advocacy and policy wins

OTW Legal Advocacy has been active defending fanworks and creators — including working on DMCA vidding-exemption renewals, responding to mistaken takedown notices, and participating in coalitions on online-safety and free-expression bills — resulting in continued protections for many forms of fan expression.

At a glance

Total assets: $3.7M
Annual revenue: $877K
Tax status: 501(c)(3)Public charity
EIN: 38-3765024
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.transformativeworks.org
On Mahalo since: May 2026

Financial figures from the IRS Business Master File, the IRS’s registry of tax-exempt organizations.

Recognition

Registered U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit that files annual Form 990 and is listed in nonprofit databases and charity evaluators.

AO3 (OTW’s flagship project) has been widely recognized within fan and wider cultural communities for its scale and impact; the site and OTW projects have received academic and media attention for their role in preserving fan culture.

Third-party charity and transparency assessments note OTW’s public financial disclosures and governance documents; OTW’s TWC journal has received recognition for Diamond Open Access publishing practices.

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