This is not charity. It is stewardship.
Queer Ink is funded by readers, patrons, and the people who choose to keep this work going. There are three ways to be part of it.
Become a Patron.
Patrons are the people who fund the ongoing work of Queer Ink — the publishing, the archives, the library, the writing. Monthly or annual contributions, at the level you choose.
International patron rates available on request.
Pay it forward.
Slide-scale rates exist so that researchers, writers, and individuals who cannot afford full rates can still participate. When you make a Pay-It-Forward contribution, you pay for their sessions.
A contribution of ₹8,000 pays for one individual consultation. A contribution of any amount supports the pool of funds that enables sliding-scale sessions.
Volunteer your skill.
If you have specific skills — database design, cataloguing, archive preservation, transcription, translation (particularly Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu) — and want to support the work, write to us.
Volunteering is coordinated by project, depending on the needs of the imprint and the Archives at any time. We match skills with the work that has been funded.
Where the money goes.
Annual financial summary, by category:
Production — book editing, design, printing, distribution
Archives — digitisation, storage, contributor coordination
Library — hosting, search infrastructure, cataloguing
Founder time — full-time work on the imprint, archives, library, blog, QConversations
Operations — accounting, legal, banking, basic infrastructure
Pay-It-Forward — ring-fenced contributions to community access
A detailed breakdown is published in the annual report each April. Patrons at the Contributor tier and above receive a direct copy.
What we don't do.
We do not accept funding from sources that would compromise the trust of the contributors whose lives are held in the Archives or the writers whose books we publish. This includes — among other things — funding that comes with editorial conditions, funding from organisations whose values run counter to the work, and funding that requires endorsement of products, services, or political positions.
We are independent by choice. The cost of that independence is real. The benefit is that the work belongs to the community whose lives it holds.