#philanthropy issue

[trendynewsnow]

Creative Collaboration at Town & Country's Philanthropy Issue Meeting

A Morning of Creative Collaboration at Town & Country On a crisp Tuesday morning in early October, Stellene Volandes, the editor in chief of Town & Country, gathered around a polished conference table on the 19th floor of Hearst Tower with three senior editors. The atmosphere buzzed with energy as they engaged in a lively discussion about potential cover lines for the upcoming philanthropy issue,…

[sanleigh]

URGENT HELP🚨🚨🚨🍉🇵🇸

Hello,

How do you do ? I hope to be in a good condition.

This is my special campaign

We hope to help us by donating or sharing to others.

Every donation makes a different even if it a small.

As you know, the war began on October 7 and lasted ten months. During this period, we were unable to obtain food, drink, or treatment because we did not have money.

There is no source of income for the family at the present time, so we are unable to buy food, clean water, and medicine, especially after we are afflicted with the ongoing infectious diseases spread in the north like Hepatitis C disease.

Our house has been damaged a lot since the beginning of the war. We are from the north of Gaza and we are still in the north and have not displaced to the south. We displaced 10 times from place to another seeking to safety .

We hope for your help and support, even if only a little.🙏🙏

Vetted By Femme intifada on telegram.

This is the link if you would to read our story well 👇👇

https://gofund.me/4e896ac1

Thank you all

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Boosting

[valenciamidknight]

“Benevolence” - July 2024

[jlbriere]

Two entries from Foxtober over on Twitter. Gavin's a very sweet person unless he’s manic during work or when depressed. Justin’s very sweet except but he’s also a giant pushover. Together they are frienemies.  The first one was another entry for “siren” and the second one was “nightmare”.

[daffolou]

I’m sorry I’m relatively new here so I’m confused but why does the all out sweater hold so much significance?

forgive me if i get any facts wrong (and anyone is free to correct me ofc) - because i was around at this point in time and im relying on my memory here lol

2013 was a pretty rough time for louis when it came to press - and life in general. (this article from the mirror is only about september 2013) this was the same year he was injured and threw up on the sidelines in front of thousands of people during a charity match and was made a laughing stock by the gp (as recently as 2020 - he brought this instance up again and knew the exact amount of people in the audience. so i can’t imagine how upset he was at the time), there was a headline nearly every day criticizing his voice or his appearance or demeanor (or accusing him of drug use), his biological father was talking to press… this was also the same year that he flew to fiji by himself for unknown reasons and had lost a significant amount of weight in a short period of time.

13 year old me didn’t have the knowledge or verbiage to put a name to it (i just knew that it was upsetting to watch as a louie and something bigger than i could understand was happening), but now i can recognize that the smear campaign against him was in full effect. the worst of it, though, was the running narrative that he was an outright homophobe. louies and larries alike knew that this wasn’t true. he had shut down interviewers making homophobic comments multiple times, he had proudly described himself as flamboyant and camp (adjectives with an undeniable lgbt connotation), he was practically glowing with happiness and was enthusiastically interacting with the crowd when 1d performed at g-a-y, and he was unfailingly empathetic and kind towards lgbt fans. there was zero proof that he was homophobic besides having denied the existence of larry, which isn’t proof at all.

and that’s where all out comes in. all out is a non profit organization that advocates for and funds campaigns dedicated to lgbt rights. louis stepping out and being papped in one of their sweatshirts in october of 2013 was considered to be a rebuttal to those allegations, as much of a public stance as he could take. sort of a polari 1.0 (or rainbow apple shirt 1.0), if you will.

louis is a very intentional person and well versed philanthropist - so there’s little that could convince me he was unaware of what all out does. he doesn’t publicize all of the charity that he does, so we don’t know if he ever donated to them personally. but purchasing (which directly funds their efforts) & wearing their sweatshirt and being photographed in it while 1d was in the middle of touring and everything they did was heavily publicized seems like a pretty firm statement to me. in the same vein, with a documentary as intentional as aotv, it doesn’t feel insignificant that previously unseen footage of him wearing this sweatshirt made it into the film. as far as im aware, we’ve always only had the pap pics.

[dismotivatedwriter]

Y'know,

maybe I shouldn't even try creative writing. Maybe I should just try ranting for long hours instead. I've always been afraid. I've always been afraid of speaking my mind in anything, maybe I should just pour out 24 long years of what I think is wrong with the world, maybe that would unblock my creativity? I tend to think things are wrong the way they are, but heck, I'm not a genius to give out other solutions for it, I'm just good at finding flaws.

Every time I gathered the courage to go and bash something I thought wrong, I was highly criticized for it. In the beginning I'd always suggest a better solution, which was often seen as childish. Of course, I didn't have enough studies back then, and being honest I still don't, I dropped out of school and got my degree via a ridiculous govt test in my country, it's stupid.

I think schools are wrong the way they are. I support feminism, but I don't like where it is going in some areas. I support LGBTQIAPN+ yet even in the community i find some minor flaws. I absolutely hate a lot of shit men do, I'm not a radfem, neither a defensor of cis het males doing whatever they please and fucking up in the ways they often do, but hell, were men in general in a better headspace they wouldn't do half the shit they do, and same works for most of the humanity!

Racism, wars, cis-het fuckups, radfem fuckups, LGBTQIAPN+ fuckups, political/economical fuckups, relationship fuckups, damn, more than half that shit wouldn't even exist if people were a bit less hurt and a bit more empathetic.

Everyone has their own pain, their own childhood wounds, relationship wounds, wounds caused by life in general, everyone has their own shit, if you put aside your own shit for half a second and not go into defensive mode just a little bit you can get where they are coming from.

OF COURSE, IT DOESN'T EXCUSE THEIR WRONGDOINGS, yes, I know. But it points at a deeper reason, a deeper cause, a root, and it is only going out of defensive and into empathy that we're able to look at said wounds and root causes in others, and maybe that'd shed some light onto how to stop that from happening, on wether people who are already in a radical stage in some ideology can still change and be saved from radical behavior just by healing themselves.

"It's not my job to try to change people, they won't change" INDEED, it's not ur job, it's no one's job, no one can do that full time, specially because everyone has their own wounds, YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WOUNDS, and then you do a lot of effort to heal on your own, and you do heal, and you go near the same type of people who hurt you again and guess what? Your wounds reopen, they trigger you.

And there's yet another point in that, they have to want to heal as well for it to work, they have to be willing to change, they need to have their own mind open for change to be able to happen in first place, they need to put their pain aside and empathize with those who they hate first and then look at their wound and realize their hatred is justified by their experiences yet unfair to everyone other than the specific person who caused them.

It feels like a loosing game, a lost cause, a never ending war.

In reality, it's all a damn puzzle, a enigma, waiting to be solved.

How to get people to stop themselves from hating others?

How to get people to heal and not have their wounds reopened all the time?

How to get people to be able to feel empathy and compassion for others, even with completely different struggles?

How to get people to understand that every time someone acts or speaks with hatred they're speaking from their pain no matter how unreasonable it may seem, and how to get the people who are speaking from their pain translated into hatred that they're only hurting other people who will turn into people who spew more hatred cause they'd be again speaking from pain? How to teach them all to empathize and listen without being triggered? How to get them all to heal?

All the wounds and hatred are tied to eachother, some kinds of those come from old political affairs, old societies, others from religions, others from the enviroment they were raised in, others from violence they suffered, it's a massive intricate web of pain and wrongdoings stemming from history itself, how to get all that people to heal?

How to get all that people to stop hurting so that they can stop hurting others?

I might be some sort of Freud, mirroring my own personal things into worldwide dilemas chalking it up to human nature and assuming it applies to everyone, or I might have caught onto something that makes sense, I don't know, I have no idea.

What I do know is that right now on a world wide level we have people struggling with their own pain, we have groups of people fighting eachother due to ideologies and their personal motives to engage in these fights. For some is race, for others it's gender, for others it's minorities as a whole, for others it's politics, for others it's history. They all have heavy studies in each of their areas, they're all working with statistics and numbers and the whole big picture, they're all far more educated than myself.

I'm nothing other than a uneducated observer, who has their own pain, who feels compelled to stand up for certain people, who feels compelled to hate certain people, who tries to stop themselves from feeding hatred and trying to empathize and ffs how hard it is to in fact empathize with those who are in the wrong, I feel how hard it is. How exhaustive it is as well, how exhaustive is the fact that in the last couple centuries people have been fighting the same battles and even though they get advances it seems that all those wars are never over, never ending, it feels hopeless at certain times.

People get reduced to tags, numbers, titles (in example, "minorities", "radfems" "trans people" "X nationality" "Race A, B or C"), I'm talking about everyone here, both the oppressors and the oppressed, they're all getting reduced to "parties" while there is still the individual level. They all have pains and they all gotta work through their own issues, they all could use help from people, both from people who go through similar stuff and from people who are against them.

It feels like for all of those to be solved, it'd require collective effort from both parties to work through their own root causes, their differences, their pains, and while they're all in pain and with emotions such as hatred being let loose on the other side uncontrolled, no definitive solution will ever be achieved.

The best analogy I can come up with to explain my point are couples with troubled relationships. They build resentment which can turn to hatred real quick, they forget they're on the same team (we're all human and no one wants to feel hurt), they feed their own resentment and turn against eachother. Both have to heal from their past, have empathy and compassion with their partner, both have to be willing to do their part and put in the effort. Both need to learn how to communicate.

To me, it feels like that can apply to any social issue, war, political issue, economical issue, you name it, the United Nations is like a huge poly couple trying to do couple's therapy amongst themselves while some have already checked out emotionally from this relationship and others are still in too deep in their own hatred to add productively to that exchange. The thing is this affects millions of lives worldwide, the impact is huge and it mustn't be taken lightly.

That's humanity's major enigma, puzzle, issue, you name it: Achieving peace, enlightenment, equality, equity, justice, empathy, etc in a actually fair way without hatred, resentment, ill-will, greed, power struggles, manipulation, etc. IN ALL LEVELS, from personal relationships, day-to-day interactions, nation-wide issues, or global problems.

It may be impossible, it may be possible, all I hope for is that someday a genius be born and find a way to fix it in all levels so we can live in a utopy, even if in the current scenario it's totally unrealistic and farfetched.

Finally, I got one of my opinions on huge polemics out of my chest in 24 years of life, publicly, no matter if I'll be crucified for it or not.

I'm just a uneducated observer, sharing my maybe naive thoughts, in a rather childish and over-empathetic way, from the bottom of my non-confrontational people pleasing heart. Idk what sort of feedback I'll get for this, Idk how tf y'all gonna react to it, I'm just glad I got this off my chest.

If this is right or wrong, doable or not, offensive or not, that's up for y'all to decide.

[billyb]

Young $$$ Donors Support Issues > Organizations

[justaholeinmysoul]

Humanitarian organisation giving awards to celeb because they donated 1€ is so shitty to me. Like woah let's bow down to the rich person for doing the bare minimum ignoring that there are volunteers actually risking their lives for free for you and no one knows their names

[rmstitanics]

* GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

CANCER MOONS and 4H MOONS might enjoy media with the found family trope.

Those that have an 8H STELLIUM, PISCES MOON, 12H STELLIUM, or SCORPIO URANUS would make great divination witches, tarot readers, astrologers, and / or ghost hunters.

MERCURY OPPOSITE MARS folks have no filter in every sense of the concept. They tend to speak their minds and say the MOST out of pocket things, and also might be prone to swearing like a sailor.

“Taylor Swift only writes music about her exes—” NO. Her entire discography reflect the journey to heal the inner wound of CANCER CHIRON, which is all about feeling unloved and abandoned by others. If you’ve got this placement, you probably relate on a spiritual level to her song “The Prophecy”.

12H STELLIUMS may have had some paranormal experiences in their childhood or early adulthood.

SUN SQUARE URANUS aspects may be prone to a feeling of always being at war with themself — whether spiritually, emotionally, or psychologically. Although they do a good job at hiding this inner conflict, it might still manifest in social interaction by others perceiving them as contradictory due to actions not aligning with words.

AQUARIUS MOONS are natural humanitarians, and would find lifelong emotional + spiritual fulfillment in community service or philanthropy.

I encourage individuals who have NEPTUNE TRINE MERCURY in their chart to try astral projection or lucid dreaming — you’ve got a natural affinity for it!

If you have your SUN PLACEMENT AND CHIRON PLACEMENT IN THE SAME SIGN, your Chiron wound is likely a major and crucial part of your core personality. For example, Abraham Lincoln had his sun sign and chiron sign in Aquarius, indicating that the core wound of always feeling like an outsider in the community was a foundational aspect of his character.

CAPRICORN CHIRONS might enjoy writing or reading historical fiction — especially historical fiction that features characters who others view as “outsiders” achieving succsss in the public eye against all odds.

4H SATURN placements may have chosen or will possibly choose to attend university far away from home in a desperate attempt to break free from strict parents.

SATURN TRINE NEPTUNE aspects make for individuals who care deeply about topics related to social justice and are driven to take action and participate in organizing their communities. They could be involved in social media activism and have accounts dedicated to posting about certain issues, but it is essential for these natives to also take concrete actions locally.

[astrocafecoffee]

Solar return observation ☀️

✨ For entertainment purposes only, enjoy ✨

🌿 My masterlist

Let's go !!

🧡 sun in the 8th house means there can be a heightened interest in the occult, astrology, spirituality or the hidden aspects of life. You might find yourself drawn to exploring the mysteries of existence, delving into psychological or esoteric studies.

🧡 Saturn in 11th house means you may find that some friendships are tested, leading to the realisation of which connections are truly meaningful and worth maintaining.

🧡 Moon in the 12th house means you might feel a desire to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of daily life to spend more time alone. this can be beneficial for introspection and self discovery but be mindful of not becoming too isolated.

🧡 part of fortune in 5th house - if you are involved in any form of performance or entertainment such as acting, dancing or public speaking this can be a highly successful and rewarding year.

🧡 Uranus in the 1st house means others may see you as exciting ,dynamic and unpredictable. your unique qualities and originality can attract attention and admiration.

🧡 Groom conjunct Vertex- you may meet your fs that year.

🧡 Boda conjunct sun - either you will get married or engaged.

🧡 Juno in 7th house means you might have a clear vision of what you want in a partner and what you expect from a relationship.

🧡 if you have North node in 12th house then pay close attention to your dreams and intuitive insights as they can provide valuable guidance and messages from your subconscious.

🧡 Taurus rising means you may find yourself drawn to comfort and luxury more than usual.

🧡 Venus in 10th house means others perceive you as charming ,attractive and likable.

🧡 Mars in 4th house may signify conflicts with family members.

🧡 Capricorn mc means you are likely to prioritize long term planning and stability in your career. you may take steps to secure your future whether through investments ,career advancements or building a solid professional network.

🧡 if you have Vertex in your 6th house then it's a time to pay attention to your physical well-being and perhaps make positive changes to your health routines.

🧡 Jupiter in 2nd house can inspire a spirit of generosity and philanthropy. you may feel inclined to share your wealth or resources with others contributing to charitable causes or supporting those in need.

🧡 Groom conjunct POF - meeting with your significant other/ spouse.

🧡 Sagittarius stellium - frequent travels.

🧡 if you are married and want a baby and if you have 5th house stellium, then you can expect your pregnancy that year. Congratulations 🎉

🧡 Ceres in 5th house also a indicator of being pregnant.

🧡 Saturn in 4th house - family problems can occur.

🧡 Pluto in 7th house - issues of power and control may become prominent in your relationships Both in romantic and platonic.

🧡 Uranus in 10th house - sudden changes or unexpected developments in your career.

🧡 leo rising means this year you may find yourself drawn to activities or situations that allow you to shine and Captivate others with your enthusiasm and charm.

🧡 sun conjunct juno means your relationships may become more visible or influential in your public or professional life during this period.

🧡Moon in 2nd house suggests emotional support or financial contributions from family members or closed loved ones.

🧡 Jupiter in 12th house - you may be drawn to meditation, dream analysis, or psychological studies that help you understand hidden aspects of your psyche and spiritual self.

🧡1st house stellium can indicate a fresh start or a new chapter of your life., Can influence your physical appearance too.

🧡moon in 5th house means a focus on nurturing your inner child.

🧡 Uranus in 5th house can indicate unexpected romantic connections or surprises in relationships.

🧡north node in 1st house indicates a sense of restlessness and a desire for new experiences.

🧡 Jupiter in 7th house - marriage can occur.

🧡 Chiron in the 10th house means that the year will bring a focus on healing and mentorship in your career and public image.

🧡 Venus conjunct saturn means fear of loss and abandonment in romantic relationships.

🧡 Fama conjunct ascendent/ in 1st house/ 11th house / 10th house means gaining fame / recognition/ reputation that year.

🧡 if fama it's in 7th house then your relationship may bring fame.

🧡 Webb (3041) conjunct groom meaning gaining fame with your partner in social media.

Ends here.....

✨ solar return indicators

Thanks for reading.

- Piko ✨

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam! Since it's currently AO3 donation time, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on it? I'm asking because you've written RPF and it's one of many "anti-AO3/anti-AO3 donations" people's favourite things to bring up when they're complaining about AO3 getting so many donations that it continuously obtains an excess of its donation goal whenever donation time rolls around? (Wow, how many times can I say "donation" in an ask?) Sorry if this question bothers you! I don't mean to offend or annoy.

Hey anon! Sorry it took a while to get to this, I don't even know if the drive is still going on, but the question came in while I was traveling and I didn't really have the time for stuff that wasn't travel-related. In any case, let's dig in! (I am not offended, no worries.)

So really there are two issues here and as much as some people who are critical of AO3 want to conflate them, they are different. While some criticism of AO3 may be valid, rhetoric against AO3 tends to misinterpret both in separate ways.

First there's the issue of what AO3 hosts -- RPF, yes, but more broadly, varied content that some people find distasteful or think should be illegal, which is a misunderstanding of the purpose of the archive and more broadly a dangerous attitude towards the concept of freedom of expression.

Second, there's the issue of AO3 generally outpacing its fundraising goals while not allowing monetization, which is a misunderstanding of the legal status of AO3 and to an extent a misunderstanding of philanthropy as a whole.

The longer I watch debates about content go on, the more I come to the conclusion that I was fortunate to have a teacher who really wanted to instill in us an understanding of free speech not as a policy but as an ongoing dialogue. It's not only that freedom of expression "protects you from the government, not the Justin" as the meme goes, but also that freedom of expression is not a static thing. It's an ongoing process of identifying what we find harmful in society and what we want to do about it.

Should the freedom to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater be restricted? Should the freedom to yell slurs at drag performers? Should the freedom to teach prepubescent kids about gender, sexuality, and/or safe sex? Should the freedom to wear a leather puppy hood at Pride? Who gets to say, and why?

I was nine when my teacher did a unit on freedom of speech and the intersection of "harm prevention" and "censorship", which is (and should be) a discussion, not a set of ironclad rules. This ambiguity has thus been with me for over thirty years, and I'm comfortable with the ambiguity, with the process; I'm not sure a lot of people critical of AO3's content truly are. Perhaps some can't be, especially those affected by hate speech, but RPF is not hate speech. It's just fiction. Or is fiction "just fiction"? This is a question society as a whole is grappling with, although fandom seems to be a little out ahead of society in terms of how explicitly we discuss it.

The idea that prose can incite violence or cause harm is both valid to examine (witness the rise of fascism on the radio in the 20s, on Facebook and Twitter in the past ten years; they're very similar processes) and a very slippery slope. Because again: who decides what harm is, and what causes it, and what we do about it? Our values align us with certain beliefs, but those are only our values, not universal truths. So AO3 is part of the ongoing question of harm and benefit both to society and individuals.

AO3 itself, however, has a fairly defined policy that it is not meant to police content; it is an archive, not a bookstore or a school board. AO3 refines its TOS and policies as necessary, but the goal is always open access and as much freedom of expression as possible, and if that's uncomfortable for some people then that's a discussion we have to have; ignoring it won't make it go away. But it has to be a discussion, it can't be a unilateral change to the archive's TOS or a series of snaps and clapbacks, and I don't see a lot of people ready to move beyond flinging insults. Perhaps because they were taught a much more binary view of freedom of expression than I was.

So, self-evidently, I support AO3 and I don't have a problem with RPF. Whether other people do is something we're going to have to get to grips with, and that's likely to be a process that is still going on when most of us are dust. I'd rather have a century of ambiguity than a wrong answer tomorrow, anyway.

But whether AO3 hosts RPF is truly a separate issue from its donation drives, because it's a criticism some people level at the site which exists whether it's fundraising or not. So people can criticize AO3's open policy and they can give it as a reason not to support the site, but it's just one aspect of the archive and the fundraising as a whole should be examined separately.

I think AO3's fundraisers are deeply misunderstood (sometimes on purpose) because even people who are anticapitalist get a little crazy when money gets involved, and this is, to fandom, a lot of money -- a few hundred thousand, reliably, every fundraiser. To me, a fundraiser that pulls in three hundred grand is almost quaint; my current nonprofit pulls in better than ten million a year and my previous employer had an endowment of several billion dollars. At my old job I didn't even bother researching people who couldn't give us a hundred grand.

On the other hand, AO3 is an extreme and astounding outlier in the nonprofit world, because basically it's the only one of its kind to work the way it does. It is entirely volunteer-run on the operational side (ie: tag wranglers, coders, lawyers, etc) and has no fundraising staff (gift officers, researchers, outreach officers) as far as I'm aware. To pull in three hundred grand from individual one-time donations, without any paid staff and without even a volunteer fundraising officer? That's insane. That doesn't happen. Except at AO3.

What people misunderstand, however, is the basic status of a nonprofit, which is a legal status, not simply a social one. (I'm adding in some corrections here since it gets complicated and the terminology can be important!) The Organization for Transformative Works, the parent of AO3, is a nonprofit, which indicates how it was incorporated as an organization; additionally it is registered federally as tax-exempt, which carries certain perks, like not paying sales tax, and certain duties, like making their financials transparent to a certain extent. (Religious nonprofits are exempt from the transparency requirement.) If you're interested in more about nonprofits and tax-exempt status a reader dropped a great article here.

Nonprofits, unlike for-profit companies, cannot pay a share of their income to stakeholders. Nonprofits don't have financial stakeholders, only donors. They can have employees and pay them a salary -- that's me, for example -- but if a nonprofit pulls in $10M in donations, my salary is paid from that, I don't get a percentage and nobody else does either. That's what it means to be a nonprofit -- the money above operational costs goes back into the organization. The donations we (and AO3) receive must be plowed under and used for outreach, server maintenance, further fundraising, services expansion, et cetera. You can see this in the 990 forms on Guidestar or ProPublica, or in their more accessible breakdowns on Charity Navigator. Nonprofits that do not put the majority of their income towards service provision tend to get audited and lose their nonprofit status. So nobody's getting paid from all that money, and the overage that isn't spent goes into what is basically a savings account in the name of the nonprofit. (I'm vastly simplifying but that's the gist.) Using that money for personal purposes is illegal. It's called "private inurement" and there's a good article here about it. The money belongs to the OTW as a concept, not to anyone in or of the OTW.

So the biggest misunderstanding that I see in people who are mad at AO3 fundraisers is that "they" are getting all this money (who "they" are is never clearly stated but I'm pretty sure people think @astolat has a special wifi router that runs on burning hundred dollar bills) while "we" can't monetize our fanfic. But "they" get nothing -- nobody even earns a salary from AO3 -- and you can easily prove that by looking at the 990 forms they file with the government, which are required to be made public. You can see the most recently available 990, from 2020, here at Guidestar. Page seven will show you the "highest compensated" employees, all of whom are earning zero dollars or nonmonetary perks (that's the three columns on the right).

Either AO3 is entirely volunteer-run or someone's Doing A Real Fraud. The money the OTW spends is documented (that's page 10 and 11 primarily) and while they may pay for, say, the travel and lodging expenses of a lawyer going to DC to defend a freedom-of-expression case, they don't pay the lawyer for their time, or give them a cut of the income.

Despite what you've read, the reason "we" can't monetize our fanfics on AO3 has nothing to do with the site being the product of volunteer handiwork or AO3 having it in their terms of service or it being considered gauche by some to do so; it's because

IT'S ILLEGAL.

I cannot say this loudly enough: It is against the law for a nonprofit to be used by its staff, volunteers, or beneficiaries to earn direct profit from the services provided by the nonprofit.

You can be paid to work at one, but you cannot side-hustle by selling your handmade friendship bracelets for personal gain on the nonprofit's website. If the nonprofit knowingly allows monetization of its services, it can lose nonprofit status, be fined, be hit with back taxes, and a lot of other unpleasant bullshit can go down, including prosecution of those involved for fraud. If you put a ko-fi link on your fanfic, you are breaking the law, and if AO3 allows it, they are too.

Okay, that was a sidebar, but in some ways not, because it gets to the heart of the real complaints about AO3 fundraising, which is that people in fandom are sick or unhoused or in some form of need and other people in fandom are giving to AO3, a fan site that is financially stable, instead of giving to peoples' gofundmes or dropping money in their Ko-Fi or Paypal. And while it is a legitimate grievance that there are people who are in such desperate need while we live in an era of unprecedented abundance, that's not AO3's fault. AO3 doesn't solicit actively, there's no unasked-for mailings or calls from a gift officer. They just put a banner up on their website, and people give. (Again, this is incredibly outlier behavior in the nonprofit world, I'd do a case study on it but the conclusion would just be "shit's real, yo.") You might as well be mad that people give to their local food bank instead of someone's ko-fi.

You cannot lay at AO3's feet the fact that people want to give to AO3 instead of to your fundraiser. That's a choice individuals have made, and while you can engage with them in terms of why they made the philanthropic choices they did, to blame an organization they supported rather than the person who made the choice to give is not only incorrect but futile, and unlikely to win anyone over to supporting you. We know from research that guilt is not a tremendous motivator of philanthropy.

It is also not necessarily a binary choice; just because AO3 gets a hundred grand in $5 donations doesn't mean most of the people giving don't also give $5 elsewhere. I support the OTW on occasion, and I also fundraise for UNICEF and the Chicago Parks Foundation and BAGLY and others, in addition to giving monthly to several nonprofits that I have longterm relationships with -- my alma mater, the animal rescue where I got the Cryptids, my shul. And I give, occasionally and anonymously, to fundraisers that pass through Radio Free Monday, which are mainly individuals in need, because I was once in need and now I pay it forward. These are the choices I have made. Nobody twisted my arm. I respond poorly to someone making the attempt to do so by attacking places I've given.

I think the upshot is, after all of this that I've written, that we cannot begin to come to grips with questions of institutional inequality in philanthropy, or freedom of expression and censorship, until people actually understand what's going on, and too few do. So all I can do is try and explain, and hopefully create a forum for people to learn and grow when it comes to charitable giving.

Archive Of Our Own and the Organization for Transformative Works are products of our community and as that community changes, we will necessarily continue to re-evaluate what aspects of it mean and how AO3/OTW express the community sentiment. I hope that the ongoing discussion of support for AO3 also leads to people learning more about their philanthropic options. But criticizing AO3 for fundraising by attacking it for fulfilling one of its stated purposes is silly, and attempting to guilt people into giving in the ways one thinks they should give rather than how they do give is just going to make one extremely unlikable.

As members of this community, we have to be a part of the push and pull, but it's difficult to do that competently in ignorance. So, I do my best to be knowledgeable and to educate my readers, and I hope others will do the same.

[cupcraft]

I think people once again need to get it through their heads that performative Philantrophy is a thing and is not good. And "Well Mr beast has done good things" isn't enough of a statement to dismantle the unethical and exploitative nature of his content and for profit model. Mr beast actually does bad things and his philanthropy is performative and a capitalistic exploitation and a signal to the larger issue of capitalism and the state of it. We need to stop rewarding this type of showboating and this type of content like its a revolution and not inherently manipulative towards desperate people to use them for entertainment for his for profit brand.

[sanleigh]

Hello, I hope you're having a good day. My name is Hossam, and I live in Germany. I am reaching out to ask for your help in supporting my fundraising campaign to get my family out of Gaza, where they are facing extremely difficult circumstances. The situation there is very dire, and any assistance could make a significant difference.

If you are able to donate, I would be deeply grateful. Here is the link to the campaign [https://gofund.me/2cb7e3d0]. If you are unable to donate, I kindly ask you to share my campaign with others.

Thank you very much for your support and care.

https://gofund.me/2cb7e3d0

Boosting

[hero-israel]

The independent bookstore preparing to open in my corner of the Boston area is sharing fundraisers for the idiot Columbia kids on Instagram. The fiber arts group I'm a member of sharing memes about those dirty zionists. The comic artist I support on Patreon is having a whole lot of fun with Holocaust inversion rhetoric. The roar is getting so loud in every single alt-y, arty, left-ish, intellectual scene. I rely on Jewish community, I seek out other Jews to share these interests. But it's impossible to ignore that these are becoming my only options. It's like we're being excommunicated.....from these communities that we've fucking bled for, for decades.

Yes. The institutions and norms of American progressive and artistic life were founded or led or strongly influenced by Jewish creativity and philanthropy, and we are increasingly being purged from them as Palestine settler-colonizes Every. Single. Issue. The 2015 movie "Selma" showed Martin Luther King Jr. meeting with white Christian religious leaders but erased all Jewish involvement, erased Rabbi Heschel. The arts, the museum world, the comics industry, even Hollywood... we built these movements and industries, and we're suddenly not good enough to be included anymore.

[robfinancialtip]

Empowerment lies in wealth and the boundless capacity to do good. Let us break free from induced scarcity, challenge greed, and envision a world where abundance is shared, debts are canceled, and hunger is conquered through innovative solutions.

In this inspiring video, Abdul Tubman delves into the vast wealth of influential figures such as Jeff Bezos and contemplates the transformative potential of philanthropy. Abdul envisions a world where individuals like Bezos could play a pivotal role in addressing pressing global issues, advocating for the cancellation of student debt and innovative solutions to combat world hunger.

Abdul explores establishing a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that tackles societal challenges, including the issue of farmers' subsidies and their impact on induced scarcity. He suggests alternatives like vertical farms, utilizing minimal space to grow crops that could be used to feed the homeless. The discussion delves into the root causes of food scarcity and challenges the prevailing economic model prioritizing monetary gain over human well-being.

Abdul confronts notions of greed and artificial scarcity, emphasizing the role of economic monopolies and their pricing structures in perpetuating societal issues. Join Abdul in this thought-provoking exploration of wealth, power, and the potential for positive change when resources are redirected toward meaningful causes.

[theblue6ook]

Shit Interview PT 6

Summary: Bruce was really doing all of this to humor Alfred, and then he’d tell him it didn’t work out… or at least that’s what he is trying to tell himself. [B (23) & Y/N (21)] [Eventual slow burn with Bruce]

Pairing: Bruce Wayne x fem!reader

a/n: This is the last part of “Shit Interview,” BUT it is not the last part for these characters. Basically, we’re going to be doing different series with them until they get together so stay tuned. Their whole story can be found in my “Out of My League” series :) Also, this is unedited so hopefully, it's good for you guys lol the next week I'll be a little MIA.

Bruce didn’t expect Y/N to be so quiet after their first encounter, and while she did have spice and a frankly entertaining competitive attitude after their run-in earlier, she kept to herself. She seemed like a pretty dedicated worker. She was organized and thoughtful. He hadn’t realized, but he hadn’t even eaten breakfast this morning, so the coffee and sandwich were welcome. The flowers she placed in his office reminded him of his mother. It was always something she did when they would visit his father at work. Bring flowers and breakfast. He wondered if she had done her research on him. 

He cleared his throught, “Can I ask why there are flowers in the office?” 

“I thought they were pretty,” Y/N responded from the other room. “Why do you not like them?”

“No, they’re nice,” he responded, admiring them. 

He heard some shifting and she appeared in his doorway not too long after with a few papers. “A friend of mine owns a flower shop. Dorthie’s. He’s pretty decent friends with Alfred actually.”

She laid the papers on his desk. It was his schedule for the next week, he wasn’t even sure he’d be back next week. After a few heated discussions with Alfred, he decided this would be a trial period. Not that Y/N needed to know, he’d had enough arguing with her to last a life time. By the end of this he can tell Alfred it didn’t work out and that will be the end of it. No more assistants. 

Y/N was having similar concerns about him not returning and though she cleared her end of the bargain with Alfred… she hoped he’d be back. She liked her job and no boss means no assistant. “You can let me know if there’s anything that doesn’t work for you on there. If you can’t come to something or you’re going to be late, or planning to, in your case, just let me know. I can swap things around.”

He looked pailer than the last time she saw him so she moved across the room and grabbed the pitcher she filled with water earlier, pouring him a glass. Her mind wandering, she looked over at him in thought. 

“Something on your mind,” Bruce asked without looking up.

“Can I ask you something?” She walked around the desk and placed the glass in front of him.

“Hm,” he said going through the documents.

“I’m taking that as a yes.” She leaned on the edge of his desk. What she really wanted was to catch a vibe. Who was her boss? Why was he the epitome of a human disaster? The press says he’s partying but he doesn’t even seem like he leaves his house. She was hoping to get his attention, but his eyes stayed on the pages in front, focused. I know what will get his attention. “They say you’re a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and I can get the billionaire part, but you haven’t really done much philanthropy recently.”

He scoffed, eyes still focused on the words in front of him, “I would argue Wayne Enterprises-”

“Obviously I’m not talking about your company I’m talking about you,” she strained. No dice, moving onto the next question. “Plus, have you even ever been on Playboy?”

That got his attention and he looked up at her with an amused smile, “Why? You going to go look up the issue?”

“I’m just trying to get a good judge of your character,” she admitted. “There are so many rumors about you, but they don’t even seem like they make sense. Unless you’re hiding like thirteen models in your mansion, I think you value your privacy more than you let on.”

That hit something. She could tell. He sat and looked at her quizically. 

“Speaking of privacy,” he smirked, mask back on, “thank you Y/N that will be all.”

She sat, a little stupid and embarrassed out at her desk. What was I thinking doing that? And on the first day. She really didn’t want to scare him off and her job literally depended on it. As much as she liked to say Alfred hired her, Bruce can do anything about it in all actuality, one word and he could have her ass on the sidewalk. Aside from the uncomfortable ending to that conversation, she still sat working, typing up the meeting notes and preparing a mass-email when Mr.Wayne stepped into the doorway, papers in hand. They looked different from the stack of papers she gave him though.

“Did you need something, Mr.Wayne,” she spoke without looking up from her email, giving him the same treatment he gave her.

“So, you were apart of the Martha Wayne foundation at Gotham Academy,” he smirked moving the papers into his right hand. Now that was a way to get someones attention. She looked up from her keyboard eyeing him and then the papers.

“Are you reading up on me?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to get a good judge of your character,” he repeated back to her.

Alright, I’ll bite, she thought. “Yes I was once apart of the infamous Martha Wayne Foundation.” She continued typing on her computer, trying to seem bored. 

“That’s for the best and brightest.”

“Mhm,” she replied.

“And now you’re my assistant.”

“Unfortuately.”

“Ha,” he snickered, “so how does the best and brightest become an assistant?”

You get cornered in a flower shop by two old men who can’t mind their own business, she thought. “Well if you must know my expertise was in engineering which I have geared away from.”

“Any particular reason why.”

“I’m not interested in it anymore,” she answered shortly.

“Hm,” he responded and then continued down his papers, “your record is clean so that’s good.” 

“Yep.”

“But Commisioner Gordan is listed as a contact for emergencies. You know him well?” 

“I didn’t realize you were a billionaire, playboy, philiantropist, and detective. You should add that to your list of qualities.” she finally stopped typing and looked up at him. “Don’t you have work to do I thought you were eager to leave at 3pm?”

He smiled, “I already finished reviewing the projects you sent me. I signed off on a few of them and have notes for the rest.” He handed them off to her.

“That was fast,” Y/N muttered taking them from him.

Shrugging on his coat, he went to head towards the door before abruptly turning around and looking at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. Same time.”

He stepped out of the office, a slight spring in his step as she dropped the papers she was once holding. “Holy shit. I did it.”

-

Bruce stepped into the pick up zone dedicated for him and Alfred. Popping into the back seat, he looked at his watch 3:05 pm, right on time to work on his case. 

“How was your first day of work, Master Bruce,” Alfred smiled to himself.

“Please don’t mock me, Alfred,” Bruce smiled at him. “I need to be back here tomorrow same time.”

Alfred snickered and sat smiling as he pulled away from Wayne Enterprises.

“Alfred,” Bruce looked up at him. “Is there something amusing?”

“I told you she’d be good for you.”

“Stop it.”

“She’s quite a motivating individual don’t you think.” Bruce paused for a moment.

“She’s smart too,” Bruce thought back to Y/N’s slight psychological evaluation of him. “Did you know she was apart of the Martha Wayne foundation?”

“Well I did interview her Master Bruce.”

“Hm,” he hummed, “I hope she’s not too smart.”

“Excuse me sir?”

“Having someone intelligent work so closely with my schedule could mean trouble.”

“Don’t be dramatic it’s not like she’s following you around during your nightly escapades besides I think she’s good for you. You need someone to get you out of the house.”

“That’s what I have you for Alfred.”

“And that would be fine if you listened to a bloody thing I say,” he muttered.

“I heard that.”

@pank0w @moejoeflow @padsfirewhisky