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I Can’t Believe How Few People it Takes.

2025-05-23 · letter vlog · Hank · 7:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects · mode: Personal essay · tags: fundraising ask, self promotion

Hank argues that very few people make Crash Course possible: a resource used by most US schools runs on less than a sitcom episode's budget, paid by fewer supporters than a small Montana town, because everyone considers whether they can give and those who can do; he asks viewers who can to buy a Crash Course coin or join Patreon.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A doctor in training at Hank's dermatologist thanks him for Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology; Hank credits the dozens of people behind it

  • ★★ Hank was recently at his dermatologist for a skin check, because after his cancer treatment he has a higher than normal risk of melanoma. — 00:00:00
  • ★ A doctor in training at the appointment thanked Hank for helping with anatomy and physiology; Hank says this happens to him all the time. — 00:00:20 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank feels he must explain that it wasn't really him: dozens of people designed curriculum, wrote scripts, found context, added jokes, made animations and sets, and edited. — 00:00:29 · Crash Course

00:00:58 — Crash Course's invisible work, its reach and its tiny budget and number of supporters

  • ★ Hank says a secret Crash Course coin goes only to people who helped make a Crash Course, and he won't show it. — 00:00:58 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says the invisible work is what makes Crash Course good; the team wants viewers learning, not thinking about the team. — 00:01:06 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank is angry that Crash Course is so useful to teachers and students yet underfunded, maybe because they make it look easy or YouTube seems a low-budget, less legitimate medium. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · Crash Course, YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says a recent American Historical Association report lists Crash Course as the second most popular resource for history teachers in the US, after US government institutions. — 00:01:36 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says education is the second largest industry in the US, with costs and value created both in the trillions of dollars per year. — 00:01:50 · education
  • ★★★ Hank says Crash Course is used in over 90% of US high schools and colleges, yet its total budget is less than a single 22-minute sitcom episode. — 00:01:56 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says a dentist friend's house costs more than Crash Course's yearly budget; it is nice, but Crash Course probably creates more value for the world. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:10 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank says fewer people support Crash Course financially than live in Havre, Montana, a town of under 10,000 people. — 00:02:26 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank says some strategies let a very small number of people have a truly insane impact, as every Crash Course supporter has had. — 00:02:41 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank thinks that if money came easier Crash Course would be a little less efficient, but less stressed and would get way more done. — 00:02:55 · Crash Course

  • ★★★ Hank's theory of change: he is not asking for unwise financial decisions; not everyone gives, but everyone considers whether they can, and that is doing the work. — 00:03:05

    “not that everyone gives. It's that everyone considers whether they can”

00:03:24 — Theory of change: everyone considers whether they can give; leverage; schools never have to pay

  • ★★ Hank says if everyone considers it, those who can will; Crash Course found the right place to push and has the lever and fulcrum, needing weight only from those who can pay. — 00:03:24 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank says not making schools pay has big benefits: teachers decide whether to use it, so Crash Course lives by its value to teachers and students, not by selling to school boards. — 00:03:53 · Crash Course

00:04:23 — Asks: the Crash Course coin's last week, Patreon, and an email for wealthy supporters

  • ★★ Hank says this free-video model is extremely valuable only because people consider whether they can help, and viewers watching have done that work. — 00:04:23
  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers who can help to get a Crash Course coin: about a week is left in the campaign as the video goes up. — 00:04:40 · Crash Course coin, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says the coins are minted from hand-engraved dies at a mint in Arkansas, in four versions by ability to give, each representing thousands of learners reached. — 00:04:52 · Crash Course coin
  • ★★ Hank says viewers for whom a coin is not right can support Crash Course on Patreon. — 00:05:00 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank invites people with significant business or personal wealth to email info at complexly.com, where they have ideas to share. — 00:05:05 · Complexly, Crash Course coin
  • ★★★ Hank says Nerdfighteria, Crash Course, TB Fighters and the Project for Awesome taught him that small groups of people can bring about tremendous change. — 00:05:20 · Nerdfighteria, Crash Course, Project for Awesome, collective action

00:05:39 — Small groups can change a lot with focus, care and the right place to push; YouTube, community, John's idea; frustration and the always-free promise

  • ★★ Hank says this needs long-term focus and caring a lot, even when unpleasant, and above all finding the right place to push and then just keeping on pushing. — 00:05:39
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course's free model could not have worked before YouTube, nor without this community's support; he thanks YouTube for supporting it over the years. — 00:05:51 · YouTube, Nerdfighteria, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank reminds everyone that Crash Course was John's idea, and congratulates him. — 00:06:14 · John Green, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank sometimes gets mad seeing how far Crash Course stretches every dollar while some companies rake it in for private equity, then says he shouldn't complain. — 00:06:30 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank says they have promised Crash Course videos will always be free for everyone, and they are not about to launch a paid product, as business people assume. — 00:06:43 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says staying free leaves Crash Course more resource constrained, but only those who feel they should pay do, so everyone gets it free, and that works. — 00:06:58 · Crash Course

00:07:21 — Thanks, links, and the coin display bank

  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course is now powerful, successful, impactful and financially sustainable because people considered whether they could support it. — 00:07:21 · Crash Course
  • ★ Hank adds that a small wall-hanging bank to hold and display coins is available this year (2025) for people with coins from several years. — 00:07:30 · Crash Course coin

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment, Hank says Crash Course has received government grants, which are great but very annoying because of reporting regulations. — creator comment · Crash Course

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Crash Course

Also: Projects: Complexly · Project for Awesome · TBFighters

Works: Crash Course coin

Organizations: American Historical Association · Federal government of the United States · Patreon

Concepts: collective action · crowdfunding · education · melanoma · sitcom

Places: Arkansas · Havre, Montana

Only in the description or credits: YouTube

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