As educators, technologists, and creators, we are living in exciting times as technology creates ever increasing opportunities for us to build and share Open Educational Resources (OERs) (Parisky & Boulay, 2013) from VR / AR / MR to digital video to transmedia to podcasting to games to mobile and e-learning ... and the list goes on. Creating these resources though, costs time and money. (Śliwowski, 2014) In order to better understand both established and emerging funding / business models around the production and distribution of OERs (Downes, 2007) (de Langen, 2013), our team of researchers and educators from Canada and the US, have been researching various funding models including grants / awards, foundation funding, crowdfunding, sponsorship / brand partners, traditional broadcast solutions, advertising, affiliate marketing, freemium models, and more to learn what makes OER projects successful in each of these streams of funding. The team’s goal in doing this is to create an OER for other OER creators to learn from, as they approach finding funding for their OER projects. This session will share the findings of the team’s research, including case studies from OER projects that were successful and those that were not. We will examine what worked for these projects in their funding initiatives, and what did not. Ultimately, we will be exploring what turned “nos” and “maybes” for funding on various OER projects into “yeses”. ---------------- Presentation Script: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6m6m3zls6tyoq0j/OER%20Research%20Presentation%20Paper%20June%202019.pdf?dl=0 ---------------- WORKS CITED de Langen, F.H.T. (2013). Strategies for Sustainable Business Models for Open Educational Resources. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 14. 53-66. 10.19173/irrodl.v14i2.1533. Downes, Stephen. (2007). Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects. 3. 10.28945/384. Parisky, A., & Boulay, R. (2013). Designing and Developing Open Education Resources in Higher Education: A Molecular Biology Project. International journal of technology, knowledge and society, 9( 2), 145-155. Śliwowski, K. (2014). OER are not really free. (n.d.). Retrieved from https:// mythbusting.oerpolicy.eu/oer-are-not-really-free/

1. Sustainable Funding Models for OER & Free Storytelling Projects
(that may or may not involve a cat)

2. Mary McDonald - Multimedia Artist & Educator Erica Hargreave - Storyteller & Educator

3. Project:
Stanley Park Virtual Field Trip
Funding Sources:
Student Driven (Paid & Volunteer)
Institution Funding
Project Specific Grants
Interview with Saeed Dyanatkar

4. Project:
Italian Open Education -- VR for language learning
Funding Sources:
University Grant
Interview with Margherita Berti
Project:
Open Stax
Funding Sources:
Earned Revenue from Hard Copies of Textbooks
Partnerships with Educational Resource
Companies
Grants from Philanthropic Foundations
Interview with Daniel Williamson

5. Project: Motion Poems
Funding Sources:
Initially Self Funded
Partner with Publishers & Literary
Organizations to Obtain Free Rights
to Poems
Crowdsourced Lesson Plans & Films
Corporate Funding
Private Funding
Earned Income from Event Ticket
Sales & Consulting Services
Grants
Interview with Todd Boss

6. Project:
Animals of The Great War eBook
Funding Sources:
Crowdfunding
Blood, Sweat and (hopefully not) Tears
Interview with Maria Grazia Suriano
Project:
Classic Alice
Funding Sources:
Initially Self Funded
Crowdfunding
Patron and Patronage
Merchandise
Revenue Sharing with the Streaming Site
Interview with Kate Hackett

7. Project: Changing the Face of Courage
Interview with Sarah Redohl
Funding Sources: Sponsorship, Advertisers, Self Funding, Investing Own Time, Traditional Media Purchases

8. Project: Swaddled
Funding Sources:
Crowdsourced Artwork
Community Driven Collages
Self Funded
Invested Own Time
Earned Revenue Through
Workshops on Her
Participatory Artwork
Interview with Jennifer Hicks

9. Project: Elementari
Interview with Nicole Kang
Funding Sources: Self Funding, Investing Own Time, Institution Licenses, Freemium (with Pay to Play for full
library of animations), Earned Revenue from Courses

10. Funding Sources:
Angel Investors
Partner Organizations
Earned Revenue in the Form of Training
Around the Delivery of Blended Courses
with Partner Organizations
Contemplating the Addition of Paid
Certifications for Some of Their Courses
Project: Funzi
Interview with Aape
Pohjavirta

11. Recap of Funding Sources
We’ve Found So Far
Grants
Government, Foundation and Institute Funding
Crowdfunding
Partnering with Corporations and Non-Profits
Patronage
Earned Revenue
Advertising Revenues
Traditional Media Purchases
Freemium / Pay to Play
Angel Investors
Licensing

12. Go Raibh Maith Agat / Thank You!!
Stay tuned to StoryToGo.ca this summer for our research case studies in Sustainable Funding.
Erica Hargreave - erica@ahimsamedia.com / @EricaHargreave — Mary McDonald - mcdonaldmm3@gmail.com / @MaryMMc3