I’ll give you three good reasons.

1. To cover our costs. This podcast is available for free. But producing it is not without cost. Hosting the episodes, mail system subscriptions, website and domain subscriptions, registering a legal business entity, not to mention audio equipment. It’s not exactly expensive, but it isn’t free.

2. For legal protection. Short and Interesting is a production of Speedy’s Po’Boys LLC. We make a point of being conscious of copyright law. But there are bad actors out there who are willing to abuse the copyright system for profit from shakedown lawsuits. You can defend against frivolous lawsuits, but it gets expensive quickly. And the best thing about a limited liability company is that it’s a kind of company that limits your liability. “But Your Honor,” the fiendish copyright troll says, “Speedy’s Po’Boys isn’t a real business, it’s a sham! So we should get to take everything Beau Kalden owns!” “Actually, Your Honor,” says the noble defense attorney, “Speedy’s Po’Boys is a real business. Look at all this revenue it takes in from donations. Would a sham business have all this revenue?” “Case dismissed,” says the judge.

3. To get more episodes of the podcast you love. Right now, at this early stage, we’re not planning on adding additional episodes for donors only. It’s already quite a lot of work to produce one free episode a week. But if this podcast takes off, and especially if it starts attracting a lot of donations, it will definitely encourage us to make more and more content. If we start making concrete plans to offer extra episodes to donors, we’ll definitely let you know.

Fair enough. How do I donate?

Honestly, every little bit helps, and is appreciated. Right now, the best ways are to donate through “Buy Me a Coffee”, and/or through Squarespace Payments. Both are below. We have not donated to ourselves — why would we? — so we have no opinion on which is better or easier.

We’re truly grateful for your support.