D-Worders rock! Not only did you fully fund that fancy $15k upgrade, you covered almost five years of our running costs on top of that. You are amazing. As of the last official day of the campaign, we raised $20,825.97 from 358 supporters. Thank you all of you who have given to the campaign and helped get the word out about it! We can’t wait to bring you D-Word 3.0 later this year with some exciting new features which will make The D-Word even more beneficial to our community.

Are you late to the party with your contribution? We've heard from a number of you that you're still planning to make a donation, and the good news is that you can still give and your funds will be put to very good use! Consider it a virtual tip jar for The D-Word.

One of the things which has always made The D-Word unique is that it is free. We don’t charge a membership fee. We don’t ask you to pay for advice from peers and industry experts. We even give out free virtual drinks in our Bar & Grill.

But alas, running The D-Word is not free. There are ongoing costs associated with keeping the lights on in this virtual space and planning for its future: server rental, software services, administrative expenses. Any contributions made from this point forward will be put towards those expenses and are just as appreciated as the hundreds of contributions we have gotten up until now.

So don’t miss your chance to show what value The D-Word has for you. You can contribute here. Any questions, just email us at info@d-word.com.

Thank you all!

Orginial call for our 15 For 15 campaign

Long before Facebook, long before Twitter, there was The D-Word.

This year, The D-Word will celebrate its 15th year – a remarkable amount of time for a free online community built on peer sharing to survive, let alone thrive. And thriving we are. With over 10,600 members from 127 countries, we’re a virtual community that truly reaches documentary filmmakers the world over.

In all these years we’ve only gone through one redesign, made possible by the generosity of D-Word members back in 2007. Now, in time for our 15th birthday, we’d like to update our design and functionality, and once again we’re turning to our community to help make that happen. On March 3, we launched a 6-week crowdfunding campaign with a goal of raising $15,000 to cover the costs of the upgrades. Call it our “15 For 15” campaign.

Last year we solicited feedback from D-Worders about what you would like to see in a new and improved D-Word. After a thorough review of all the suggestions, we’re eager to bring you some state-of-the-art features in time for our 15th anniversary in August. These will include:

Responsive site design: Finally smart phone users won't need to keep zooming in and out on your screens to keep up with The D-Word. Now The D-Word will be easy to use whether you are on an iPhone, Android, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.

Featured favorite posts: No worries of this becoming a Facebookesque "like" button, but it will allow user-selected favorite posts to be spotlighted on the D-Word homepage so you don't have to guess where to catch up if you haven't checked in in awhile. (And yes, the privacy of the professional topics will be preserved even for featured posts.)

Cleaner, more contemporary interface with easy-to-read typography, developed by a highly-talented graphic designer.

Many other usability improvements, including being able to upload photos from a phone or multiple photos in a single post, being able to customize how you catch up on unread posts, and an improved search engine.

Friendly, modern emails which don't look like they were created in 1999.

What won’t change is our sense of community. Whether you’re getting technical or fundraising advice; hearing from industry experts in one of our special week-long topics; sharing your dreams, challenges, and successes with your films; getting feedback on a work-in-progress; making plans for face-to-face meet-ups at festivals; finding new collaborations; or simply shooting the breeze — The D-Word has been there for you.

Now we’re asking you to be there for us. All of us. Together we can take The D-Word to the next level. Please contribute whatever you can to help make that happen.

If you're still not convinced, find out what others have to say about their experience with The D-Word.

Simply donate via our IDA fundraising page.