Our Byte for Byte program provides archival storage grants to nonprofit and community-led organizations that advance diversity, equity and inclusion in cultural heritage, preservation and history. Today we are excited to announce our newest Byte for Byte partners and grantees. This cohort of 12 organizations represents an impressive diversity of collections and focus areas:
- Washington State Jewish Historical Society
- Gerlind Institute for Cultural Studies
- King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center
- Wasted Ink Zine Distro
- Texas Heritage Project of American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions
- Splinter Art and Community Fund
- Jewish Zine Archive
- Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation
- Inside Books Project Archive
- Perilous Chronicle
- African American Museum of Southern Arizona
- Arizona Queer Archives
Our mission to preserve the digital legacy of all people can only be made possible through a network of partners who are committed to shifting the historical paradigm and uplifting historically marginalized narratives for social good. Permanent simply cannot reach all people on our own. The Byte for Byte program is essential to our mission.
Our storage grants are available to nonprofit organizations including, but not limited to, public institutions of higher education, state and local governmental agencies, cultural heritage organizations, and Native American tribal governments or organizations. Special consideration is given to those working on disaster relief efforts, first time digital preservation efforts, public archives and exhibitions, community-driven programs and those that represent and uplift under-represented communities and narratives.
Members Make Our Storage Grants Possible
When you place your trust in Permanent.org to preserve your most cherished memories and make a storage purchase, you are also making a contribution to Byte for Byte.
Securing funding to support storage for our Byte for Byte partners is a core part of the Permanent sustainability model. There are three strategies we employ for this purpose:
- foundations and individuals
- collaborative fundraising
- endowment surplus
Anyone can support Byte for Byte by making a private donation to Permanent. The Permanent team cultivates relationships with philanthropists and private foundations to seek grant funding for digital preservation programs. Support for establishing our Byte for Byte program was made possible through generous contributions from Permanent Legacy Foundation board members Dean Drako and Joshua Baer.
We also work in collaboration with our Byte for Byte partners to secure financial support through cooperative grant proposals, coordinated appeals, and by enabling the public to donate directly to their archives from Public Gallery pages (forthcoming).
The Permanent financial sustainability model relies on an endowment that is funded by storage purchases. When our endowment exceeds our operational requirements the excess returns will be allocated to Byte for Byte storage grants. In this way, every storage purchase on Permanent contributes towards shifting the historical paradigm.We will also be making it possible for members to make a matching donation during checkout to directly increase their impact.
Where We Are and the Road Ahead
Today, we are honored to have 25 active partners in the Byte for Byte program. This October, we will be presenting our work at the NDSA Digital Preservation 2022 Event at the DLF Forum in Baltimore: Preserving Legacy. We will be joined by two of our partners who will share their collections work on Permanent.org. This is an exciting milestone for our work.
Over the last two years, many of our first Byte for Byte partners came through our special relationship with Theirstory.io. We are grateful for our collaboration and the connection to the oral history community they have created with us.
This year, our Community and Partnerships Manager Amanda Meeks has brought important structure and focus to the program by creating a biannual application process. Amanda has expanded our outreach, prepared supporting resources, tightened our onboarding process, and created a framework to support a nascent community of practice. They have also added an internship component to the program, pairing aspiring information science professionals with our partner organizations to help them achieve their goals with Permanent.org.
Finally, our product roadmap includes specific new features to support Byte for Byte that will improve how partners can fund their archives. Byte for Byte partners will be able to fundraise directly from their archive’s Public Gallery pages on Permanent and our members will be able to choose which partner they wish to support via donation at checkout.
We are proud of the progress we’ve made and we are motivated to continue the good work we’ve started. Learn more about Byte for Byte and encourage an organization you support to apply. Byte for Byte ensures future generations have access to the diverse and vibrant legacies of past and present individuals, organizations, and movements in YOUR communities.
