We are making the Patreon Earnings private

Thank you guys!

Szymon Krawczyk

Quality>Quantity

Ahmet Can Karakadılar

I have no concerns about this change. My pledge is intended to show nothing more than that one more person appreciates your work. If that encourages further creation, fantastic. Even if it doesn't, it's still worthwhile for all you've done thus far. So thank you. You've made my life richer through your work.

Chris Olstrom

So long as you keep making your awesome videos, with Patreon donations being only part of your income, your finances are none of my business. Rock on.

Anthony May

As someone who has a little experience creating this type of content, I can appreciate both the monetary cost and the enormous amount of time it takes to produce these types of videos. I don't think many people realize just how much effort and expense goes into these things.

Robert LaRosa

why should we bother about how team spend our contribution? It's contribution. Because we love their work then we support them. If you worry about your money, just put them in the bank.

huy Luong cong gia

If you ever somehow get to the point where Patreon earnings DO cover your entire expenses, please post and boast about it. Publicizing your structure transparently in that manner would do a great deal to ameliorate complaints and confusions about productivity by arming fans with counter-arguments.

Pangolinasaur

To be honest, I wouldn't even mind if not a 100% of the money I gave to you went into the animation work. That's the whole deal about why I'm giving creators money on here. I love their work, and I want to reward their hard work. If that means the creator is taking my money to live life a little more comfortably, that's completely fine with me

Ruben Wikhaug

Personally I never felt like I had the right to be involved in your business in that way. I support you through Patreon because I love your content. Not because I want you to change your business strategies. Keep up the stellar work! And get well soon, Philipp

Kay Brinkmann

You provide quality content and I voluntarily give a little to you. What you do with the funds is irrelevant to me so long this amazing channel keeps on providing awesome content.

Javier Berrocal

I have a question to You Philipp: how are You, man? Holding strong there? I don't know You but You must be an amazing guy if You came up with this and I was concerned to hear about your health problems. I hope You are doing great and soon You'll let us know that all is perfectly fine! Keeping my fingers crossed! Stay amazing! <3

Kamil Pospiech

Thank you – I totally want to do such a breakdown. Currently thinking about the best way to do it but I'll write something and make a Patreon exclusive post!

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

We did not delete a single comment! Quite the opposite actually, when people said they didn't want to be Patreons anymore we responded that we respect their decision and thanked them for their support in the past. Which is our stance – cancel whenever, all of this here is a gift we don't take for granted!

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Who cares about your earnings being private? Even if you became "billionaires" I wouldn't care. I support you simply because your content is awesome.

Alexander Schwarz

Given your explanation, I understand you have compromised on your values in the past, or that this specific issue wasn’t part of your values and that was just convenient to enable a new revenue stream. Anyhow, differently from other of my peers, I don’t see my patreonage as ‘buying a ticket’, but rather as a way to support what you do, as well as the mindset behind it, which I interpreted as having a bias towards explaining rather than hiding.

Simone Zecchi

I totally agree with and support your decision. Thank you!

Ada Sevimli

Keep making your high quality content and i am still in.....i trust you guys to manage finances...

Christopher Buteau

Its ok, I overreacted (I even prepared an 1000 word rebutle) Anyway in the grand scheme of things this relative minor detail. Love your videos keep up the good work.

Jan Amza

If the content stays interesting AND RELEVANT, then I hope these guys make millions!! There's nothing wrong with capitalizing on one's good idea. I've decided that there are only a few immutable facts which include: * Capitalism works better than anything we've come up with so far, and.... * Dinosaurs didn't practice capitalism (they also didn't harness fire) but these dudes were around for over 165,000,000 years!! If "us" homo-sapiens stay around for that long (we've been swinging rock hammers for around 200,000 years...ok...for our crazy listeners out there lets say a couple million)...anyway, hopefully you get the point...keep churning out good content and keep cashing checks (especially mine!! )

edward riggs

I'd be better off not knowing you hid it as I never knew it was visible in the first place and the curiosity is killing me.

I have seen other comments "dissapear" as well. I don't think it's a coincidence.

NuTTyX

I will admit to some casual curiosity now that they are gone as to what the final total was before it was hidden. I fully understand the ludicrous expense it takes to employ so many skilled artists, not to mention giving them the software, hardware, and workspace needed to be productive, as well as the incredible amount of TIME that has to go into any video. I think that removing the number from the page makes perfect sense, as all of these factors are so very easy to underestimate, and I could certainly see how that would lead to people being critical. Keep up the good work

Wobbix

They have deleted comments on this post that weren't "positive" to them, that's nothing to do with financials or privacy.

NuTTyX

One of the most well reasoned comments in this whole thread. I'd venture to say most of the people complaining would never have missed it if it wasn't there in the first place. I suspect more people saw the number and thought "holy crap they're rich" than saw it and thought "I'm glad they're bringing in that much and I want to personally help increase it."

adfaklsdjf

You don't get financials on any private company. Choosing not to publish details about yourself is not censorship. That's a false equivalency.

adfaklsdjf

Yes. Educate trolls on the internet. This sounds like a great plan.

adfaklsdjf

I would have never expected you to censor comments just because you don't like what people say (no need to say that none of them were disrespectful). The day this post was published more than half were against it and I read several pointing out they were going to stop being you patrons. I'm truly dissapointed. EDIT: since responses to responses are hidden by default: I'm refering to the deletion of comments on this same post which weren't "positive".

NuTTyX

I support this decision 100%, and it would have been my recommendation if someone asked me. For those responding with dismay about opacity rather than transparency, and calling for greater education rather than hiding the earnings, please re-read and consider Ann-Marie Denham's response. No amount of education will stop people from criticizing. Criticism on the internet tends to be harsher than in face-to-face situations, and tends towards outright insults ("they're lazy"), which can be demoralizing. We don't need to know how much they're receiving in pledges. What benefit does it really provide?

adfaklsdjf

Im not a patreon because i want to do your finances. Keep up the great work and you will keep my support!

Stefan Van ham

I really love your videos. Also the quality of the videos that you are making is really great. I understand your reasoning for not wanting to show the patreon "earnings" and support your decision :)

Bjoern Hardt

I am not religious about whether you state your whole amount or not, but would like to see a "Patreon Report" - assuming it is quick to make and quick to read. No need to delay videos for this! Also, anything that lowers your stress and helps you get better faster, Philipp, is fine by me.

Patrick W. Gilmore

Maybe this will be a great prompt for a video on the science behind making an episode. I work in animation, and it's hell trying to explain to someone why a single episode of your favorite Saturday cartoon could cost a mill to make, and that is potentially on the cheaper side depending on so many variables.

Undlark

Hey Kurzgesagt, I totally get where you're coming from. It makes sense not to want to have this debate every time someone who thinks they know something decides they need to start trying to poke holes in your budget and income. That being said, would you ever consider doing a breakdown of your finances and how they're used in your company's day-to-day functions? I think it'd be really interesting to see broken down as I'm someone who doesn't really understand how much money goes into animation and why it costs so much and where it all goes. Maybe it could be a Patron-exclusive thing since we contribute to it? It's just a suggestion, I don't expect you to go to all of that work if it's not possible or realistic, but I personally think it'd be a great peek behind the curtain of an animation studio. Thanks for all of the great work you do!

Cameron MacDonald

I completely understand this decision. I love your work and I am very glad I can support you via Patreon. Since I refuse to give Youtube (Google) my personal information, I would not have been able to subscribe to your channel there. It is because you are on Patreon that I was able to enjoy you work. Thank you!

Jürgen Schweizer

Yes! Exactly all these things. Thank you!

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I disagree with this decision but I also understand it. The removal of something is more abrupt than its non-inclusion in the first place. I think I'm more bothered by the fact that its something being 'hidden' that wasn't than if I had never seen the number to begin with. That being said, this is not a valid logical position, and I can think of no good reason why I actually need to see this. We are not owed transparency but I think for some of us it is much more about feeling like we are playing a part in helping something we so wholeheartedly support continue than it is about a 'subscription.' To this end our collective contributions was a big fat easy number I could look at and smile, "I'm part of making that number happen."

Rather than hide the numbers, how about educating people on what they mean? I feel like hiding facts encourages an ignorant society.

Wesley Gardner

As someone who's worked in animation for over 20 years, I frequently come across people who have no concept of how expensive animation is to produce. Even if you lay out the expenses for people, they change tack and say "well, you're paying your staff too much" or "use crack software" or "just do it faster" or "but computers do it all, you should be charging much less". Your explanation will never be enough for many people - they'll always pick at you. I don't demand that my local coffee shop show me their entire earnings to justify their prices just because I spend $4 on one item they produce. I'm a supporter/customer, not an investor, and I have no business demanding your expenses details. If I feel your content is worth it, I pay the price for it, and I do.

Ann-Marie Denham

That's the very point of this post. So that people don't judge the progress of videos and try to conspire theories that the team is just being lazy

Tarish Kadam

Does this decision help to produce better or more? Does it further the mission of your organization? I love the idea of transparency in companies and I think every company that does that helps the world to understand itself a little better. Kursgesagt is such a cool organization and I would be sad to see you become more opaque on an important aspect of how you work if you didn't have to. It seems like a few trolls is a sign of needing to enlighten people rather than hide some aspect of reality from them.

jgoodhcg

No question, just an affirmation from the usually silent majority that aren't compelled to comment thereby creating the misperception that those motivated to speak (who are invariably disproportionately negative) are representative. Love your work and has been an inspiration for my own work.

Jesse Richardson

Upvote for the Patreon Report idea. I like to think of patrons as being like stockholders in a publicly traded company, but we get cool videos instead of profits. The report would give us a better idea of why and how our contributions help, and more importantly, emphasize the fact that the patrons are partners in this creative work.

Adam Spangler

I don't care how much you make, just give us videos. You deserve the money, your videos should be in all schools around the world, you are the future of education. Thank you!

GHERMAN ALEXANDRU RAUL

We totally respect that, thank you for supporting us this long! The amount of Patrons is still public and will be forever.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Yeah you are right. Maybe we finally should do a video explaining how the videos are made and how much time it takes.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

That is too hard to say. Depending on the month (and lots of details like Dollar to Euro exchange rate for example) it covers between 20% and 35% of our costs).

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Is that invisible? That should not be invisble

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I think we might do a sort of report here on Patreon how we spend the money, since more people than I thought are interested. But that will be it and if that is not enough for you we understand and respect your decision. There are many creators worthy of your donation. Thank you for supporting us this long, we really appreciate it.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I don't think a lot of us even need/want to know. there are always random haters on the Internet - no need to feed the trolls

Uwe

We already do that and its totally ok! Its not like we want to hide that we are doing our best to grow and do better. Why would we? We want to do more and better things in the future.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

We respect your decision, thanks for your support in the past.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I'll give an update in a few weeks <3

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

In 2014 there was no option to have earnings private but if there would have been, I would have taken it. So in that regard my values haven't changed. It just feels weird having one income stream in the open, so many creators choose to not have it public.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Good move I reckon. If you're having to spend any amount of energy having to explain why you're spending money in a certain way, its detracting from energy you could be spending on making quality content. As far as I'm concerned, as long as you keep making quality content, I'll keep supporting via Patreon. Keep up the good work!

Theron Miles

Thank you <3

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

At some point we will explain in more detail how we run the company what how we balance our different income streams. We were never about completely transperancy – for example we don't appear in front of the camera, we rarely talk about ourselves and you don't know our faces. We have no intentions of becoming as transparent as possible. But maybe we should do a sort of report for Patreons!

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I would like to say that I was happy with how it was. I'm not interested inn full insight of the things I put my money on, but I would like to have some. I know Kurzgesagt have some other income and I don't mind not knowing what that is. But the amount people donate is interesting for me as a donator. I respect some privacy, but right now I feel more shut out and left out than what I have been used to and will end my all my pledges that is not open about their patrion earnings. And it hurt's because I love you guys and I want to support, but not on these new terms which leaves me feeling less involved.

Jeetix

I want to reply but I'm not sure what to say? Not sure where the power aspect comes in – we do as much as we can and always have. I don't think we owe anything to anyone – I don't consider Patreon as a way to sell our workforce but as a way for people really love what we do to support us. Kurzgesagt is a labor of love and I think many people can see that. If we wanted to work less or make more money there would be SO many easy ways to do that. This is just about people don't understanding that $40K does not even cover half of our monthly cost and me being fed up about reading stuff like that one the internet constantly. If you need to know how much we make in total to balance your contributions that is totally cool of course, everybody has their personal system to make these kinds of decisions.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Personally I support your work becouse I like it and I feel it's important, so I don't care what you earn, but thank you for the heads up :)

Ronnie

While the idea might be nice, I feel that that would only lead to more misinformation, what does it help you to know what say an arcitect, carpenter, or plummer earns, the skills are very different and require differing time to master and have differing levels of responsibility, I know that at my work place (a school) everyone point fingers at the other professions and say that they are lazy and don't do their part...but vi have teachers, janitors, and office workers + other more specialised members of the staff, I doubt it wold help if they could all point at each other and say that they didn't deserve their give paycheck :/

Ronnie

👍

Radu Negulescu

I would feel better if youd choose complete transparency, as it has been suggested. Is there something preventing you from doing so ?

Paul S

I probably wouldn't have decided to fund without knowing how much you already earn. I think it will have the same effect for new patrons you would like to attract.

Paul S

Well, partially represented earnings distort the reality, so there are only two solutions. Hiding all transactions, which may cause backslash given the nature of this channel and for the sake of "transparency", or showing all money movements which, as you said, might feel weird and a loss of privacy. I guess the final answer was for the greater good.

StormTiger

Hi crew. Your videos are awesome, I'm proud to help you making them. You choose to hide part of your income because you are afraid that it might prevent their increase.

Paul S

I don’t care how much you make through Patreon. I mean, I would be curious, but honestly it never occurred to me to look it up until now. If you choose to disclose the number, that’s up to you. It doesn’t influence my decision on whether to support you or not. Thank you for the awesome content and keep it up!

Anya and Michael Scarpa

I see this as a strange decision for such an obviously forward thinking group of people. I believe transparency is a good thing and when questions arise because of it it typically leads to education and increased knowledge and understanding. I wish every individual's and organisation's earnings were public! We might be able to use that to move towards a world of greater understanding and less discrimination.

Greg Xavier

I feel this is the wrong decision. I will continue pledging to you, because I like your work and trust you enough to believe that you're doing all you can with the money coming in, but this is a step away from transparency and forthrightness and I think you will face backlash over it.

Verteiron

They are most likely not obligated to publish yearly balance since they don't meet the requirements for that, and I doubt they will reach that soon since their income will reduce because some people here claimed to discontinue support and other obvious reasons.

Hari Seldon

Hiding it is something you have the full right to do, as well as I have the full right to Patreon for the reasons I choose. One of the things I like about Patreon is that it shows you how important your contribution is in things you believe in. Transparency is important to me, not necessarily full, but just enough to give you an idea of what's going on. Right now I feel a bit conflicted about continuing being a patreon for Kurzgesagt as I now get less transparency in return than I had before.

Jeetix

How big percentage of your income are we, through Patreon, supporting you with?

Fredrik Oviedo

I see, German cultural customs conflicting with American. I agree an all or nothing solution is better than a half one in this case, though some people don't like it.

Hari Seldon

This is the wrong decision.

DvD92

Why not make your costs open too? #RadicalTransparency #OpenSourceEthos

Flibble

What about showing the amount of followers or patrons? I feel that it's weird not showing how much people support you.

Iceplotion

It's unfortunate that people complaining was a thing (although your content is awesome so that's why). I think you guys should explain to people how much it really does cost. Explaining to people what sort of costs you're dealing with would shed a lot of light on what apparently quite a bit of people have an issue with.

Mr. Scientist

“Many people do not know how expensive it is to run an animation studio…” so instead of honestly telling people “HOW EXPENSIVE” is it, you decided to hide how much you earn! Great solution!

Meisam Tabriz

Not to trash Minute Earth and Minute Physics I love them they were the science channels that got me hooked

Jan Amza

It doesn't matter how much money they cost to produce. It only matters how much money I'm willing to pay for them. For example if I consider that Kurzgesagt videos are let's say 3 the quality of Minute Earth I would be willing to sponsor them even if they receive 3 times more money for every minute of video produced. For example I consider that CGP grey has higher quality videos than Kurzgesagt that's why I'm still donating to him although he receives much more than Kurzgesagt per minute of video created (I suspect). And that's totally fine. High quality content should be paid for. But I want to make this choice.

Jan Amza

Given a large percentage of your operating income is from donations, it is quite normal, and sometimes a legal requirement that you disclose this funding. Making this information public, as your company is operating similarly to a Public one with shareholders, except even moreso given we, the donors, are continually keeping your company funded, should be given as much transparency as possible. I don't doubt you are doing your best to produce high quality content. However, even though this is one of my favorite and long standing Patreon donations (it might be my oldest in fact) I can no longer support you until you change this policy as have introduced a barrier to accountability.

Ryder

What will you do once you are obligated by german law to publish your earnings? So far I think you are already obligated to publish your yearly balance, which is partial information about your company. How do you plan to avoid that? How did you determine the amount of people deterred by earnings discussions vs amount of people intrigued and lured in by the high donation amount? Do you understand that trolls always latch onto the easiest flaw and will just go and find something different to clamour about? Like your decision to remove the donation display for example.

Lu Peters

This is quite disappointing to see, given that Patreon has resonated with open education and facts. I don't support your decision, and I will be removing my pledge in a few days to show it. If you wish to be a publicly supported company, be open about your financials - this is a fundamental requirement of all publicly traded companies listed on major stock exchanges.

Nick Wilson

How's your health Philipp?

Kurzgesagt fan

You can't possibly compare the complexity of production between something like Minute Earth and Kurzgesagt. I love Minute Earth's videos but they probably at minimum twenty times less complex and time consuming to create.

Di Y

Your response to comments based on partial information was to remove the partial information altogether, so that curious minds won’t even think about the question, instead of raising awareness and give an explanation. You’re trading transparency on voluntary offers for what exactly? What are your values and how this change align with them?

Simone Zecchi

You guys produce great quality, thoughtful and educational videos. You have always put quality of your videos over the quantity, which is why I consider every dollar put forth a month worth it and money well spent. But, this new policy is where my support must come to an end. The fact is, your patreon has always been donation based. You don't pay for access to the content like Netflix, you say "If you like what we do, consider supporting us". Because of this, I have no issue with you running ads on your videos or having in-video sponsorship ads, I am donating because I like what you do. At the same time, since it is a donation, there needs to be transparently. Non-profits have strict rules about disclosure and since you are a for-profit entity, if anything, there should be more transparently expected by potential donors and not less. Your arguments for doing this amount to saying people are uneducated about how much it costs to do this, so we need to hide it. This seems to be the antithesis of the nature of your videos which is to educate and expand on the truth of topics. It is like saying we shouldn't pursue Nuclear power because people have ignorant misunderstanding about it. You can't and shouldn't capitulate to that ignorance. I hope you will change this policy. PS, my initial comment disappeared, I was editing it to say I don't comment much and wish you the best in any event, guess I deleted it by mistake.

James

I'm totally ok with that. It comes down to personal safety, even. It's too public to have the number out there, and it can even put people away because they might think you make enough money already. Still, I think that you should open finances to donors so people who really want to make sure their donation is going towards a good cause can prove it. Transparency is great, even when it isn't super out in the open.

Suzana Bueno

Please, read this: No matter what you do... there will be always people complaining. So, just keep doing what you've been doing, don't pay attention to things that will divert the energy well spend to something less great than that. Keep doing what is working.

Augusto Nizzo Mc Intosh

I hadn’t realised there were debates about this as I don’t often follow comments, but you’ve pointed out they’re down to misinformation. Did you try fighting that with correct information? All public companies publish financial reports on their income expenses, so if you felt like people were missing accountability you could do the same. This should clear up any misconceptions about how much of your funding comes from Patreon, and how expensive it is to run a studio. Instead, your decision to hide information feels like it runs a bit counter to the themes of your videos. I’d love to hear whether you’d considered it that way, and why you chose not to go down that path.

Dan Kiwi

I prefer full transparency from any organization I donate to. I feel a lack of transparency about donations is a breeding ground for misuse of said donations. I'm not saying I distrust you guys personally, but I do distrust human nature.

SpamKingSupreme

I'd also note that if you are highly profitable, that doesn't make me less likely to support you. (Though I can see some people thinking that way.) I just like to throw a few bucks at things I value. That's why I am on Patreon.

Grant Miller

Worth every penny! Keep up the good work!

Tom Mulcahy

I think it's actually a great idea to expose your income so everyone will know that making these quality videos take so much time and resources. But still, I do respect you and your team's decision on this.

mixth

I don't think this decision makes any sense at all considering what I believe you and your channel is all about. Actually, this is complete backwards. I don't contribute a lot, but I have basically no money and no income. Still, I believe that your videos are important and that they matter a lot. So I skip something else to support you."Uninformed discussions about our productivity" is not a valid argument for non-disclosure, not at all. Instead of hiding information that stir up discussion, counter with information and transparency. Make your business as transparent as it could be and maybe you'll even become true pioneers.

daniel

Every company needs to publish its financial with the trade register in every country. Because they are limited in liability and if they go bankrupt their owners don't have to pay back the companies debts. So banks and other creditors need to make sure that the entity will be able in the future to pay back they money it is owed. Responding to your second argument even if we dont have full disclosure of their income we can still make that judgment call/ decision as sponsorship and other income of other channels will be more or less proportional to their patron sponsorships or views.

Jan Amza

I think you are not particularly right about that. Many companies do not have to and do not do publish their financials. Furthermore does "Kurzgesagt" gather money from more sources than Patreon, what makes it impossible to say how much they actually can or do spend on creating those science videos, even with Patreon earnings on "public".

Benedikt Schott

I'll post an update as soon as I can say things for certain. Probably late August/early September -Philipp

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

I don't get it....someone says you don't make enough content?? Come on! Quality over quantity. I love your channel and I think that the content you provide has a superior quality over a lot of the channels that populate youtube. I don't tired of recommending the channel to my peers and I really find that the information you give and the way you give it is concise and complete. Most of the time is harder to give good quality information in a 10 minutes video than rambling over 30 minutes, and that is what makes this channel most interesting, the idea that I can watch a video and don't get tired while learning, even thou I end up every video wanting to see more. You guys have great content and, at least for me, a optimal way to give it. Thank you for your work and believe me that if I could pledge more than I do now I would gladly do so.

Nicolas LZ

I get what you mean and in theory that totally makes sense. I think it would be different if Patreon was our only source of income. The amount could then directly be tied to the amount or people working here and our overall budget and it would make sense why it is a really important part of our income. As Patreon represents only a piece of a larger puzzle we mostly got negative feedback about the amount being public.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

We'll get in touch asap!

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Oh please cut the bla bla, this is clearly about power. If we pay you 20000 dollars per month and Minute earth makes 3000 dollars per month and publishes 3 minute of high quality video per month. You are expected to make at least double that. If you can't do that, you're running your business inefficiently and I as a patreon want to be able to make this informed decision. I'm not donating to lots of other channels who also publish high quality science video because I have chosen you over them.This is nothing weird, every charity and in fact every company even many partnerships (who are not legally requiered to do so) discloses their financials, its a sign of transparancy and that they are a trustable entity.

Jan Amza

We have thought about doing something like this for a long time. For us it is always the choice between doing a behind the scenes or more content. And so far we always decided in favor of more content, especially right now during my break from writing. But we want to do it and hopefully will find the time early next year. -Philipp

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

Anyone else reading this in Steve (the narrator)'s voice?

Foxtrek_64

I think transparency is best, but it’s up to you.

Crissa Kentavr

To be honest it is just exhausting to constantly stumble over these kinds of discussions and not really being able to explain to people what our monthly expenses are. We don't do it because you can't win these kinds of debates on the internet and it is also a bad use of our time. The thing is, we either need to publish all of our financial information or none of it. But we might a explain how our business works in the future and give a sort of breakdown.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

nothing wrong with that, thanks for the explanation.

Roland Deml

Hmmmmm. Never thought about this... I fully enjoy what you guys do, so whatever happens keep doing it :-) On topic; this has two sides. One side is the 'open community' where transparency, also about finances, is favourite. And there is something of a charity feeling maybe (no offense intended) to supporting by donation that implicitly asks for openess. The other side is that you donate money (yes, as a patron you donate) and that means giving it away. When you give stuff away, money included, you implicitly give up the right to have anything to say about what the receiver does with the given. Otherwise it would not be giving, You'd be buying something. That said, I don't judge your decision, have not the desire nor the right to do so.

Fons Knaapen

Makes total sense! You guys rock, spreading knowledge about important stuff and all that. Keep up the good work ! 👌

Morgan

I still have not received my rewards for supporting you at the $45 level. It’s been probably 4 months now, going on 5. You told me to email you about this and you’d get me my rewards, but the email address you provided isn’t functional. My email got kicked back undeliverable. Try emailing me, if you would, elyasbinyahya@elyasbinyahya.com

Elyas Bin Yahya Abdul-Ghaffar Rucker

Hi guys, I'm ok with what you decide. But as several people said, I think this platform is based on a community that helps fund a project so openness is very welcome. Consider if you have real business reasons to hide this information. At the end, I'm fine, it's your project, we just help.

Max Sterling

Is there a good reason for not going the other way and put the "ledger" up? Perhaps you could ask Patreon to provide that kind of service. Or have it available to patrons. I support you either way :)

Alipasha Sadri

It could be double-edged sword. If there will be fulfilled 80% of goal. What does it mean? 10k, 100k, 10M? Is the goal impossible?

Ondřej Moravčík

I think the reason people don't understand money and expenses is that nobody feels comfortable openly talking about it. I think it would be helpful to see what you earn and how your expenses break down - Some behind the scenes content. But obviously that would be going above and beyond, and you certainly don't owe us that.

Grant Miller

good on you! keep up the great work you do

Steve Hehe

Seeing as how you'll answer all questions, I have one. I love what you guys do. I hope you continue and I intend to continue my support for an amazing channel and group of people. I lied, there was no question. Stay awesome!

Jay Edwards

I support your decision and I hope also that it might influence new persons to join the support (if that's the goal). I also think that anyone can estimate how much you earn from Patreon just by taking the number of patrons and multiplying by the aerage pledge or around $3.6 (stable over the last year. See <a href="https://graphtreon.com/creator/Kurzgesagt" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://graphtreon.com/creator/Kurzgesagt</a> So we will see the impact and I hope it will be positive for you.

Corentin

I work in animation too and people generally have no idea how much it costs and very drastically underestimate it. Naturally, I support this decision

Di Y

I'd be ok with that decision if I was paying per video, but paying per month - the change seems 'off'. May make me reconsider. But probably not.

Christopher Burke

This is obviously your choice, and I support it. However, an alternative version would be to go with the "radical transparency" approach that others (like Netzpolitik.org) are doing - I'd actually be very interested in a "Behind the scenes" video (or just a Patreon post) where you break down what you are paying and earning, if you feel comfortable doing so. As an example, this is what Netzpolitik.org does: <a href="https://netzpolitik.org/2018/transparenzbericht-unsere-einnahmen-und-ausgaben-im-mai-2018/." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://netzpolitik.org/2018/transparenzbericht-unsere-einnahmen-und-ausgaben-im-mai-2018/.</a> Of course, they are a non-profit, so the conditions are different, but I would very much enjoy a peek into what it takes to produce these videos, money-wise, if you feel that it is something you are comfortable disclosing.

Max Maass

To hide this breaks the compact a little. I like to know the strength of the contribution from me and all my likeminded patrons - it is a measure of our collective enthusiasm for your work. You could counter perceived misinformation with an animation about animation, instead.

Is that "private from everyone" or "private so it can't be seen by people who aren't logged in" or "who aren't patrons of this project?"

DrWex

Reasonable :)

Tobias Haase

I run a company and aim for the highest level of transparency possible in what we do. Even so, I don't think (and therefore am not) being financially transparent makes sense if your focus is on your team and the product you're creating; it just adds ammunition for those who will undoubtedly turn on you in this hostile online world. Have to draw some lines. I'm glad patreon added this option.

Dean Herbert

I seriously never understood people counting the money of others... Furthermore, this platform is even less of a "shop" than Kickstarter... Nobody is paying for a product, but supports creators... Guess I'll stop preaching to the choir, highly doubt those aforementioned people are patrons...

Alvarin_IL

Sounds good. :)

Zageron

Seems like a reasonable thing to do 😊 I've seen this concept of "you make x on Patreon so you must be rolling in it" with other creators, usually completely ignoring the concept of paying people and general costs associated with doing what they do, so hope this helps alleviate misinformation for you

Andyface

As an animator I found it a rather useful and insightful piece of information. It is a shame peoples ignorance creates such issues

Thomas White

That’s absolutely fine. By running software development business I can imagine the amount of efforts that takes!

Dmytro Vaskovskyi

As someone that has dabbled in animation in the past, I can vouch for just how complex and involved it is. A behind the scenes video of how things are made and the effort required might be interesting, but I support you hiding the funds.

Stewart Lawrence III

... and pressing ENTER sends the comment, even if it is not completely finished. But well... I think I made my point. Patreon for me is not just about money, it's about "community funding". And I don't really like being locked out from parts of it.

Dominik 'BlaM' Deobald

Sounds fine to me! I just joined the other day because you are probably my #1 favorite YouTube channel now and I wanted to contribute. I work at a web design company, so yeah I get it 🙂

Jonathan Hollinger

It makes sense, I also think it is misleading and awkward to have such information publicly accessible, please don't feel bad we as your patrons believe your work is well worth our contributions, please keep at it you guys

Carlos A Carreno

This is a little disappointing as I'm a big fan in making organisations be more open about their financial data. Instead of hiding this information, I would have hoped that a company all about producing forward-thinking progressive videos would have chosen the other direction and decided to publish more financial data.

Andrew France

I can only imagine how expensive it is to make the high quality videos you do, still worth supporting. Y'all deserve the cash.

Kieran Chakravorty

The opposite approach is publish how much costly is to make each video. Anyway, thanks a lot for your videos. They make me happy, sad and gives me a frisson.

Ulrich Plchdrť

Regardless of how much or little Kurzgesagt is making, my patronage is a function of its value to me as a consumer. Withholding the information does not impact my feelings on the channel and if it reduces the stress of the crew, that's fine by me. As far as articulating an actual question: I recall you'd been on leave for cancer treatments. Please don't disclose anything you're not comfortable disclosing, but how are you holding up now?

Joseph Catrambone

To be honest I don't like the idea of hiding the earnings, and I don't see any real "reasons" and how hiding the money value will change anything about discussions. It still shows 11k+ supporters and from there fantasy will continue to give the same impressions. (11k times... lets guess an arbitrary number... 5 dollars... Ha 50k!) I didn't really care for the total amount shown here, but it gave me the feeling of participating in something open. That openness is part of what makes Partreon worthwile for me. I know you are running a company and being a freelancer in Germany myself I understand how much money it takes to run a business.

Dominik 'BlaM' Deobald

Damn, I didn't know or care before... Now I'm curious!

Gary

As long as you guys keep bring out your high quality videos then I don't think knowing how much this site brings in. Have been watching your Channel 4 years. Keep up the awesome work.

Aaron White

Are you telling me people on the internet are forming uninformed opinions about a topic they know little of and getting angry about it? Perish the thought! I have no problem with this change; just you guys keep being awesome. :D

Aleksi

I actually never considered that you might make impression that you are supported in vain. On the contrary, I thought exposing earnings will make clear the priority of things you are doing. Are the amount of partons still be seen?

Borys Lebeda

The psychological effect driving the negative behaviour sounds like a potential subject for a future video!

Daniel Schaefer

Makes sense. The numbers may be interesting to know but without context it's pointless. Also you could make a video about your work so people get a better picture of all the work you do.

vorbei

Seems logical and well thought out. It can be ducking expensive to run something like this. :)

Matt Malicki

Completely understandable. I would like to think any reasonable person wouldn't obsess and imagine the worst based on one number with zero context. Keep up the great work :)

Codeaholic

With the quality and content you produce, I understand how expensive and exhastive the work you do is. People often take advantage of animation and don't realize how difficult it is. Keep up the good work.

ConiferSSR

I think you have most of our support, it sounds right and proper

Bharath Chandra Sudheer

This makes absolute sense to me. I don't believe you can be a Parton of an artist and dictate how they spend your patronage. Do what you must. I support your work out of principal and not in the hopes of gaining influence.

Ken Willey

This makes sense TBH, if you aren't going to disclose all earnings, you should disclose none. Seeing partial stuff like this really distorts reality by only showing a piece of the puzzle.

Chris Fox

Philipp, I have no issue with what you're going to do and why. Keep up the good work. Hope your health is on the improve. Cheers, JAYTEE

JAYTEE