Open ledger methodology
What each number means, when it updates, and what is not yet included.
Live payment figures
Gross is successful payment income imported from Stripe balance transactions. Card fees are Stripe's recorded processing fees. Adjustments include refunds, disputes and other balance movements. Net is gross less fees, plus or minus adjustments. New transactions normally appear quickly after Stripe reports them, with an hourly reconciliation as a backup.
Worked example: £1.99
A £1.99 membership is commercial income to the business, not a donation, and is not passed on in full. Stripe's card fee comes off first (our first live £1.99 payment incurred £0.26), leaving £1.73 net. 70% of net (about £1.21) is allocated to the giving pot, 20% (about £0.35) to storytelling and 10% (about £0.17) to running costs. Every percentage on this site refers to net receipts after payment fees, never gross. Fees vary by card type and country, so the ledger shows actual figures rather than estimates.
The giving pot
For membership income, 70% of net is allocated to the giving pot. Recorded member-funded help is deducted from that allocation. Founder-funded and sponsor-funded help are shown separately and do not reduce the members' pot. The 20% storytelling and 10% running-cost shares are currently reported together as the operating allocation, with recorded spending shown separately.
One-offs, shop and affiliates
One-off support is included in Stripe payment income and labelled as commercial income. Shop figures are separated and use profit after directly attributable costs before the 50/50 split. The shop is currently pre-launch.
Affiliate commission liabilities and payouts are not yet deducted from the public headline totals. Until that work is complete, the ledger is an accurate view of imported payment income, Stripe fees and recorded giveaway/operating entries — not a complete set of statutory accounts or cash-flow statement. We will not call it complete accounts.
Receipts and corrections
Evidence is published only after personal information is redacted. A delivery confirmation is labelled as delivery evidence, not called an itemised receipt. Missing evidence is marked as pending rather than silently omitted.
If a figure or classification is wrong, we correct the underlying record and note material corrections. Temporary differences can arise while payments settle, refunds arrive or a manual expense awaits entry.
Not financial advice or audited accounts
The open ledger is a voluntary public transparency record. It is not an audit, tax return, client-money account or assurance report. Formal business records remain private where they contain personal or commercially sensitive information.