Eleven Warriors started in 2006 as a humble, daily love letter to Ohio State sports. It is now a daily destination site for tens of thousands of Buckeye fans like you.
Over the years the 11W community has remained edgy and articulate despite gaining popularity to drive it - dare we say - into the mainstream. We've broken national news on multiple occasions. We've written thousands of stories that you have Liked, shared and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times over.
Quite clearly, 11W has filled an unmet need for Buckeyes fans by abandoning milquetoast, sanitized commentary for real talk without forsaking quality or sanity, and the numbers speak for themselves: Site traffic is up 500% over 2010.
With increased volume and visitors comes added responsibility: We owe you a full-time beat writer.
That's the biggest thing missing from our daily love letter to Ohio State. We're committed to staying subscription-free, but advertising revenue alone won't cover the expenses for having a dedicated 11W reporter on the Ohio State beat.
We fully realize you can get Ohio State news anywhere, but with monthly visits to 11W now well into the millions we realize you want Ohio State news with an 11W edge, and we're committed to making that happen for you.
So we're raising money to hire that lucky guy or girl to work for you. We're asking you to be the 12th Warrior.
Every donor will receive recognition on the site, and donations at various levels will earn you fabulous prizes (see below).
Thanks in advance for helping us make this site what you want it to be.
Donations at any amount are welcomed and will be recognized on the site as a 12th Warrior. However, if you contribute at one of the following levels, you'll earn the following:
- $1,000: Donors at this level will receive a Respect the Basement t-shirt, a night of debauchery with the 11W crew after the Spring Game and recognition for their business or organization at Eat Too, Brutus 2012.
- $500: Donors at this level will receive a Respect the Basement t-shirt and a one day site takeover for their business or organization.
- $250: Donors at this level will receive a Respect the Basement t-shirt and a shoutout on the Eleven Dubcast.
- $100: Donors at this level will receive a Respect the Basement t-shirt.
- $50: Donors at this level will receive the satisfaction of knowing they gave what Johnathan Hankins spends at Chipotle on any given weekend.
- $25: Donors at this level will receive the satisfaction of knowing they contributed less than one dollar for every day they visit 11W in one month.
Donate to 11W's Respect the Basement Fundraiser
Comments
DONE. Keep fighting the good fight, y'all!
Thank you very much.
Thanks F O U R, we appreciate it.
Happy to contribute. Best value in the marketplace for those who can't get enough of all things Buckeye.
Thank you, sir.
So do we get to specify size on the RtB t-shirt? It didn't ask me when I donated.
#fistpumpgobuckeyes
Good question. We'll contact all t-shirt eligible donors at the end of the fundraiser to get that information. We're going to buy them all at once, in bulk, so we can save some coin on that front.
I didn't understand why 11W feels it is necessary to hire new staff. Personally, I think the current staff is doing a tremendous job! Could you please provide a little more insight as to why a new staff member is necessary? Thanks.
(I'll donate either way, because 11W is awesome and deserves my money. Heck, you could have told me it was for a staff New Years party and I still would have donated! You guys deserve it. I'm just asking because I didn't understand the stated premise of the fundraiser.)
Real fans stay for Carmen.
Basically, all of the writers for this site do it on top of what they already do for their day jobs. This effort will hopefully help us hire someone full-time just to cover the Buckeyes. They'd attend all of the press events, games and anything else that comes along.
Hell, I'll give a little. Best site around.
hgvyt54trtfvt56
Thank you.
Your use of milquetoast may have brought me out of the woodwork long enough to make a donation.
Thanks for an awesome site.
Happy to help.
Fan of bacon since 1981
thanks everyone. we really, really want to be able to get a full time beat writer because we know how much that'll improve the content on the site. personally i'm not a huge fan of asking for money just for money's sake, but this is a tangible and important long term goal for us, and a big step in the direction toward proving that the free model of sports news can work
Thank you guys/gals here at 11w for what you do... This is the best tOSU site around, and your commitment to consistently and constantly improving this page should not go without recognition. Follow up statement: thanks for making this a 100 day goal, as the holiday crunch has left me, umm... let's go with broke. After a pay check (read: maybe 2) I will be more than happy to show my appreciation financially. As always, go Bucks...
Tom Crean listens to Nickelback...
If I donate enough, can I just be the beat writer?
Sure! IF you're a great writer and you can make it to every home and road basketball game next season and don't have a problem covering your own travel expenses, let us know.
My goodness, that sounds like a Godfather-esque job offer if I ever heard one. D:
/late-night posting after drinking
Couldn't do this sort of thing at work earlier (probably shouldn't be on 11W at work anyways). But I'm in now.
Thank you very much.
How long will you keep this going? I need to wait until next payday.
Jason:
Checks accepted? If so pertinent info...made out to whom...address.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
Yes. Once you click the amount of your donation, the next form will have a link that says "Click here to pay with a bank account". You are then able to submit an electronic check.
>> Quite clearly, 11W has filled an unmet need for Buckeyes
>> fans by abandoning milquetoast, sanitized commentary
That says it all for me. I used to be a fan of The O-Zone and I eventually gave up on it. I know they have been around for a long time and I appreciate their presence early on in the days of the web but they are stuck in the 90's in many ways. I never was a fan of their presentation but they were the only free Ohio State fanatic destination for quite a while.
I'm farily new to 11W although I was a reader for many months before I signed up, I'm very thankful that this site exists with the way it does things. You've got a great thing going here, hopefully success and more traffic doesn't change that for the worse.
Donation on the way. GO BUCKS!
Thank you. And yes, it's quite simple, really.
"Doesn't Look Like Geocities"
#winning
more than happy to contribute to the site but as a broke a 24 year old, fresh out of college and having dropped too much on xmas gifts this last week... $100 is a little steep for a T-Shirt.
How about some office swag for $50?
As always, keep up the great work guys. Your work is much appreciated.