diff --git a/www/conservancy/__init__.py b/www/conservancy/__init__.py
index 9c1125466f99ea09717f3b8fdf48f3441f678b71..dba7ab716b934932260d77d0feb544b890c43668 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/__init__.py
+++ b/www/conservancy/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from past.builtins import basestring
 from builtins import object
 import hashlib