Fandom Aid Store is Open!
This fandom fundraiser is for the victims of the worst natural disaster in history - the terrible tsunami in Southeast and South Asia on December 26, 2004, that killed more than 200,000 people, and has left millions homeless and destitute. The tsunami may not be headline news these days, but the suffering continues.
Over the holidays we came up with the idea of a fannish “store” where people can come to read fic, grab icons, or watch vids - and then donate money to the various relief organizations linked on the side-bar in return. (Basically our version of a fandom danceathon.) We’re happy to say that the “store” is now open! There are lots of fabulous goodies posted, and still more to come.
The master list of links is now up in the post directly below. As we add more goodies, we'll update the list.
How much you donate to charity is totally up to you, but here are our suggestions:
$5 for three icons
$5-$10 for each fic, depending on length
$5-$10 for screencaps, depending on quantity
$10 for the vids
$15 for custom mood themes (they’re more work than icons!)
You make all donations to the tsunami-aid organization of your choice yourself (no money is sent to us). The links on the sidebar are just suggestions, so if you’d prefer a particular charity that’s not listed, go for it! (Note: A couple of these organizations are asking people to donate to their Emergency Response funds rather than specifically for tsunami relief. We’re keeping the links up because of the good work they do, and we figure we’ll leave it up to you.)
All donating is completely done on the honour system. We sincerely hope that if you partake of the goods that our generous contributors have given, you will donate something.
We also understand that some people might be on a very limited income, and in that case, even $5 or $10 overall can make a difference. (If everyone who thought they couldn’t afford to, gives $10, it adds up to a lot of clean syringes.)
So just to give an example of how the donating works, lets say that I read 6 fics (1 short, 5 longer), watch 2 vids, take some screencaps, and grab 9 icons.
6 fics: $55
2 vids: $20
Screencaps: $10
9 icons: $15
=$100
So then I’ll give $100 to the charity of my choice. So, for example, I go click on the UNICEF link on the side and make my contribution. Easy peasy!
A note about requests: You'll see that some of the contributions were made as requests for other users. For fic, vids and screencaps, all requests are open to everyone. For example, I requested a Harry Potter story, but everyone is encouraged to read it and to donate. Only requested icons are not available to everyone. And if you see an icon that someone requested that you really love, please ask the person who made the request -- in some cases, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you used it, too. Of course, that's completely up to them, though, since icons can be very personal.
And finally, we’d also like to ask you all to please comment on the contributions that you read/watch/grab. It’ll help us make a ballpark guess as to how much money we’ve raised, and will also give some much-deserved kudos to our contributors. Thank you! And if you could pass the word about this project via your LJ, that would be much appreciated. There are some great Fandom Aid icons here if you're so inclined.
We hope we've covered everything off here, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
ETA: To clarify, when we're asking people to comment on the posts of fics they've read, etc., we don't mean that you need to tell us how much you donated. We'd just really appreciate it if you could feedback so we can judge how many people are partaking. Thanks!
Over the holidays we came up with the idea of a fannish “store” where people can come to read fic, grab icons, or watch vids - and then donate money to the various relief organizations linked on the side-bar in return. (Basically our version of a fandom danceathon.) We’re happy to say that the “store” is now open! There are lots of fabulous goodies posted, and still more to come.
The master list of links is now up in the post directly below. As we add more goodies, we'll update the list.
How much you donate to charity is totally up to you, but here are our suggestions:
$5 for three icons
$5-$10 for each fic, depending on length
$5-$10 for screencaps, depending on quantity
$10 for the vids
$15 for custom mood themes (they’re more work than icons!)
You make all donations to the tsunami-aid organization of your choice yourself (no money is sent to us). The links on the sidebar are just suggestions, so if you’d prefer a particular charity that’s not listed, go for it! (Note: A couple of these organizations are asking people to donate to their Emergency Response funds rather than specifically for tsunami relief. We’re keeping the links up because of the good work they do, and we figure we’ll leave it up to you.)
All donating is completely done on the honour system. We sincerely hope that if you partake of the goods that our generous contributors have given, you will donate something.
We also understand that some people might be on a very limited income, and in that case, even $5 or $10 overall can make a difference. (If everyone who thought they couldn’t afford to, gives $10, it adds up to a lot of clean syringes.)
So just to give an example of how the donating works, lets say that I read 6 fics (1 short, 5 longer), watch 2 vids, take some screencaps, and grab 9 icons.
6 fics: $55
2 vids: $20
Screencaps: $10
9 icons: $15
=$100
So then I’ll give $100 to the charity of my choice. So, for example, I go click on the UNICEF link on the side and make my contribution. Easy peasy!
A note about requests: You'll see that some of the contributions were made as requests for other users. For fic, vids and screencaps, all requests are open to everyone. For example, I requested a Harry Potter story, but everyone is encouraged to read it and to donate. Only requested icons are not available to everyone. And if you see an icon that someone requested that you really love, please ask the person who made the request -- in some cases, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you used it, too. Of course, that's completely up to them, though, since icons can be very personal.
And finally, we’d also like to ask you all to please comment on the contributions that you read/watch/grab. It’ll help us make a ballpark guess as to how much money we’ve raised, and will also give some much-deserved kudos to our contributors. Thank you! And if you could pass the word about this project via your LJ, that would be much appreciated. There are some great Fandom Aid icons here if you're so inclined.
We hope we've covered everything off here, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
ETA: To clarify, when we're asking people to comment on the posts of fics they've read, etc., we don't mean that you need to tell us how much you donated. We'd just really appreciate it if you could feedback so we can judge how many people are partaking. Thanks!