Almost one year ago, I wrote a post about the idea for the European Fan Fund. Since then, we received a few comments about the idea and we were able to move forward a little bit. We are much closer to starting the fund then a year ago, but we are not there yet.
Financial summary
The first money for EFF was collected at Ytterbium Eastercon in London. I had some small things for the Fan Fund auction, but money started to pour in even before it. When we had a Fan Fund panel and I mentioned about the idea, some fans just donated the money to the fund. It was great to see that the idea we had seemed to resonate with other people. Then there was Worldcon in Dublin and it yielded quite a lot of money for the EFF. I had a little bit more items for the auction and also the general income from auction was shared with EFF.
Fan Fund auction at Ytterbium brought in part of the first funds for EFF.
Right now the fund has €367.00 and £84.00. It is both a lot and not so much. It will be enough for the airfare for sure, but may not be enough for accommodation on top of the plane tickets. We also need to gather the money for the years to come. Still, this amount means that we can do it and EFF may start – maybe this year, maybe next, but we should manage to have it working and for that I am really grateful to all the fans who helped.
Future plans
The first thing ahead of us is to ensure we will have proper funds to start the race. If this happens, we will hold a race and choose a candidate that will travel to Eurocon. If this is possible to happen this year, we will have the first EFF delegate at Futuricon in Rijeka (Croatia). This would be really awesome. Then we need to remember that just a few months after Futuricon there will be a Eurocon in Fiugii (Italy). Having two trips within half a year would be challenging but maybe not impossible.
EFF will allow fans to travel to Eurocons. Here is a picture of the closing Ceremony at Eurocon in Dortmund (2017).
I won’t make it to Concentric (Eastercon in Birmingham) but I will send some EFF donations for the Fan Fund auction. I hope they will yield some money for the fund. I am wondering whether there is some fannish (or not) initiative that would be able to help with the flight/accommodation for the EFF – if you are aware who might be willing to help please let us know at: europeanfanfund@gmail.com.
In case you would be willing to donate money to EFF and you’re not planning to be at a convention where we can meet, I opened the EFF PayPal account. Donations are welcome under: europeanfanfund@gmail.com (please use the donate to friends or family option).
And of course – should you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
P.S. It seems that since writing the article we managed to find one substantial donation 🙂