How Much Does It Cost to Run Faces of Postpartum?
That’s a tricky question.
At the bare minimum, only taking into consideration advertising and banking fee, office supplies, gear, travels, education, legal fee, and taxes, it costs about $12,400 a year to run the project.
But (and that’s a big but) if you add to this contractual labor (translator, podcast mixer and editor, web manager, and paid-intern,) you’ll need an extra $5,000 — and these are conservative numbers.
Now consider this: I have children. Young children who need to attend daycare if I want to work, unless I don’t want to sleep (and I already wake up around 3:30 and 4 AM every morning to write.)
In my area — which is Northern Virginia, USA — childcare costs on average $1,800 a month.
$1,800.
Per child.
I have two.
Because there was no way in hell we could afford this while I was not making any money, we decided to put both kids in half-day preschool, which cut the bill in half, but still remains expensive. Each month, my husband and I dedicate $1,200 for childcare (that does not include the building fee and other expenses, but let’s keep it simple for the sake of this exercise).
This, my friends, adds up to $14,400 a year in childcare fees.
$14,400 a year. For 8 combined mornings a week between my two kids, or fifteen(ish) hours.
Between this, the occasional helper, and the general cost of running the project, we arrive at the nice sum of $31,800.
This does not include food, utilities, medical bills, car payments, and other emergency situations. And it definitely does not include a “salary” for each hour of work I’m putting into the project.
So, how did I manage to fund FPP for the past 4 years, you’ll ask? A mix of things:
My partner makes a good salary with bonuses and was able to set aside some funds for emergency situations, which I used to build my business. He’s a founding partner and my daily cheerleader. He’ll cry every time he talks about how meaningful this project is.
Personal savings: compiled after years of working three different jobs while being in grad school.
Privilege: I’m a white, highly-educated woman who studied in Canada, where the average tuition for a semester was $1,700. I was also generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada with research funding, which allowed me to get out of school debt-free.
Grants: I received a $20,000 CA Canada Council for the Art grant in 2019 for a book of poems, which also helped me start the incorporation process and pay the initial fee tied to starting a business.
All things considered, I have been extremely lucky to be able to work all these years without having to ask for grants, finding a “real job” or run ads on the site.
But I’ve stretched myself, my bank account, and my family thin. In order to remain sane, healthy, and keep doing the work sustainably, things will have to change a little bit, and I like to think it’s for the better.
These new initiatives include the current crowdfunding, various collaborations that I’m putting together as ethically and mindfully as possible, speaking gigs, and new projects that I’m hoping will come to life within the next year or so.
As always, your help and support are incremental to the success of this project.
So if you enjoy(ed) Faces of Postpartum just a tiny bit, please consider supporting its making with a monthly donation on my Patreon (the smallest tier is less than a cup of coffee at 7/11: a good deal!)
Love, always.
Ariane. xx