Three months ago, we announced our Colossal Fund fundraiser for the Interactive Fiction Competition.

We aimed to raise $6000 for IFComp prizes and organizational expenses. I am delighted to announce that this morning, we achieved our goal.

Thank you to all our donors, large and small!

Our plan, as you recall, is to dedicate 80% of the fund ($4800) to the IFComp prize pool. That money will be distributed among the top two-thirds of IFComp entries, according to the final rankings, on Nov 15th or shortly thereafter.

The rest of the donated money goes to support the ongoing operation of IFComp and IFTF. Server costs, paying our lawyer, all that good stuff.

Now, here’s where the plan gets a little bit bent. When we wrote up the prize chart, we estimated there would be 60 entries. The actual number isn’t final yet — wait until Sunday! — but it’s safe to say that it’s higher than 60.

This means that $4800 pool will be distributed among more authors, so the top prize will be somewhat lower than we estimated. (The minimum prize will still be $10.)

We are no longer accepting prize pool cash donations; we’re not going to change the goal at the last minute. However, we are still accepting donations of traditional prizes! The Colossal Fund cash prizes are in addition to the regular prizes, remember? Games, toys, books, food, goods and services of all kind — they’re all good.

So if you’re worried that the prizes are being spread too thin, please contact IFComp and let us know what you’ve got.

Note: IFTF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so Colossal Fund donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. However, traditional IFComp prizes are handled differently. They are sent directly from donors to recipients; IFTF just coordinates the process. So they are not tax-deductible.

IFTF is of course grateful to receive donations at any time. Those donations will go into our general fund, which supports IFComp as well as our other programs.

Thank you all again for helping to make this effort a success. And enjoy the games when they appear on Sunday!