Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Fanfic Fundraising Time ... Your Chance to Help Keep Fanfic Available :)

I think everyone will agree with me that we’re very fortunate in FoLCdom to have two absolutely fantastic fanfic archives.

The Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive (www.lcfanfic.com) houses over 2000 G, PG and PG13 stories and, thanks to the hard work of a number of dedicated volunteers -- not to mention our amazing authors! -- it's updated every single week with new stories. Many FoLCs first discovered FoLCdom via the Fanfic Archive, including many writers who were inspired to begin their writing careers by reading stories there.

Annesplace (www.annesplace.net) contains the largest collection of Lois and Clark nfic stories (stories rated R and NC-17) on the internet, as well as a number of PG stories written by the authors listed there. Recently, Annette and her volunteers have been tracking down older and hard-to-find nfic to make it available to a new audience. Annesplace is also home to the first Alt-Kerth awards, a comprehensive archive of FoLC music videos, and much of the ‘fun stuff’ in fanfic: Tank Endings, Silly Revelations, L&C Musicals, Episode Untwists, etc. You will also find the Writers’ Showcase and Readers’ Choice interviews there.

How incredible! All that amazing fanfic, for free!

Well ... kind of. <g>

As anyone who has hosted a popular website knows, it takes a substantial financial commitment to keep these Archives up and running. Due to the sheer volume of material stored there and the extremely high site traffic, they are very expensive to maintain. The site owners put a great deal of their own money into these sites, but every few years, we, as FoLCs, have held a fundraiser to help lessen their financial burden. In fact, our last fundraiser was held three years ago, and thanks to the generosity of FoLCs, we were able to raise enough money to pay the costs of both sites through this past spring!

As you have guessed, however, it's now time for a new fundraising effort.

If you enjoy the fanfic you read on the L&C Fanfic Archive and/or Annesplace, please consider making a small donation. Your donation will help off-set the cost of the Archives and ensure that we can continue to house all of the wonderful stories our talented authors write for us! (All money collected will be split equally between the L&C Fanfic Archive and Annesplace, unless otherwise requested by the donor.)

For those FoLCs outside the US, we've been fortunate enough to have a few people volunteer to act as collection points for regions of the world: they will receive their area's donations and then send them on in bulk to the US, thus minimising or avoiding exchange rate penalties.

If you would like to donate, please contact the appropriate FoLC from the list below:

United States: Annette Ciotola -- amciotola@aol.com
United Kingdom: Wendy Richards -- wendy@lcfanfic.com
Eurozone: Elena Danesin -- elena@lcficmbs.com

Your collection person will let you know what address to use in sending your donation, as well as answer any questions you might have. Remember, there is no minimum donation -- we welcome and appreciate any amount you are able to give!

** VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We are still in need of volunteers for Australia, Canada, and any other region not covered that would be useful to include. Please contact Kathy Brown at kathyb@lcfanfic.com if you would be willing to be a collection person for a country/region not listed above. **

** IMPORTANT: If you would rather write a check instead of sending cash, please do NOT make your check out to the Archives themselves. We regretfully are unable to cash checks made out that way. All checks MUST be made out to the collection person for your country. **

But wait, there's more!

*** SPECIAL BONUS ***

This year, as a special bonus, we are also holding a raffle. Everyone who donates will have their name entered into a drawing to win either a PG or an nfic fanzine containing SIGNED COPIES of popular vignettes by some of FoLCdom’s favorite authors.

Eight prizes will be awarded in all: four "first prizes" -- original signed copies of the fanzines (two gfic and two nfic) -- and four "runner-up prizes" -- photocopies of the fanzines (two gfic and two nfic). Featured authors include Erin Klingler, LabRat, Tracey, Kathy Brown, Pam Jernigan, BB Medos, Kaethel, Julie Mack, Wendy Richards, Tank Wilson, Hazel and many more. The PG fanzine also contains a special treat: a brand new story by one of our authors! This story is original to the fanzine and will not be posted anywhere else for a year.

(NOTE: Prizes are limited to one per person. If you donate, you will be automatically included in both drawings, unless you specify otherwise. Please tell your collector if you would prefer to be excluded from one or both drawings. (e.g., if you do not wish to have your name entered in the nfic drawing, etc.))


The L&C Fanfic Archive and Annesplace survive due to the generosity of FoLCs who donate their time and money to maintain them. This is your chance to help us to keep them going!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to write me at <kathyb@lcfanfic.com>, or post to this forum.

Thank you!

Kathy Brown

P.S. to L&C Fanfic Message Board members:

After reading about the fundraiser for the Archives, you might have wondered how these message boards are financed. Most of the cost has been borne by our webmaster, Annette Ciotola, with the rest coming from donations from the Admins and other members. If you would like to contribute towards the funding of these boards, please let your collector know which portion of your donation is to go to the L&C Fanfic Message Boards, and we will arrange this.

Thank you so much for your generosity! FoLCs are truly awesome.

Spiffy. How long will this campaign be going on? (I can't donate anything til I finally dip into my account for school supplies and bills.)

I'll be happy to donate some money. I want to send it to amciotola. In the pass I have bought tapes from Anne.

Anne,
Can I send you money on PayPal or is there a charge for that to you?

I know I've sent you money in the past, so just checking to see that you still have the account.

Trenna

I'd be interested in sending via Paypal too.

Please let me know if this is an option.

~Liz

Can I suggest that all questions for the regional collector go by email to that collector? Annette might not be checking this thread at the moment.

We hope that everyone else is as excited about the fanzines as we are. These will really be unique collections, since every author taking part was asked to choose a story which means a lot to them personally, and they have all also gone to the trouble of explaining why the story they've submitted is important. These should really be collectors' items for FoLCs who are fanfic fans!

We've been asked why we didn't auction these fanzines, since they might raise more money that way. We did think about this in the beginning, but decided that auctioning them wouldn't be fair to people who can't afford to donate as much and therefore wouldn't be in with a chance of winning. Raffling them means that everyone gets an equal chance of winning a fanzine, and it shows, I hope, that everyone's donation counts. Every single dollar, pound, euro, yen, peso, zloty or whatever your currency is makes a difference to the survival of our favourite fanfic websites.

Nearer the time, I'll post some more information about the fanzines: who's in them, what stories they contain and so on, and how the draw will be carried out. In the meantime, keep those donations pouring in!!


Wendy
(Fanzine editor)

Just an update on our list of regional collectors ... we've had two more volunteers come forward! Thanks, Tricia and Gerry!

Here is the current list of collectors. If someone wishes to volunteer to collect for an area of the world not represented here, please let me know!

Questions should be directed to these people at the following email addresses. They will let you know where/how you should send your donation.

United States: Annette Ciotola <amciotola@aol.com>

United Kingdom: Wendy Richards <wendy@lcfanfic.com>

Eurozone: Elena Danesin <elena@lcficmbs.com> (Please note -- email addy changed from initial announcement)

Australia: Tricia Walpole <triciawalpole@optushome.com.au>

Canada: Gerry Anklewicz <gankle@rogers.com>

Thanks, everyone!

Kathy

When is the final deadline to send the donation?

malu

I've already sent Elena an email.

I'm sure a lot of FoLC will donate and help keep our very own archives up and running.

Ursie

I love both boards have already sent my email. Whether I get anything or not, I'll be glad to do my part to help keep the fiction coming (but I have to admit winning an autographed Tank story would be greatly appreciated).

Just bumping this up again and (temporarily) locking it at the top in case anyone who's been away hasn't seen it yet.


Wendy

Since this thread has been stickied to the top, I thought I'd add in the other post I made on the subject, just to keep all the information together.

____________________

Hi everyone,

Several people have asked if there is a deadline for the Fanfic Fundraiser. The short answer is, "No, but ..."

There is no specific deadline for your contribution -- if you want to give something but can't do it right away, that's fine. The bills come in all year long, so donations are welcome whenever they are given.

However, we are offering an incentive for you to get your money to us within the next few weeks. As I mentioned in my initial announcement, we will be raffling off several fanzines to those people who get their money to us before October 1, 2003 .

There are eight fanzines in all -- four original copies, autographed by the authors included inside, and four photocopies. The fanzines include popular vignettes by some of FoLCdom's authors, complete with an introduction to each story written by each individual author, talking about why the story is special to them, what inspired them to write it, etc.

The PG version of the fanzine (there is also an nfic version, with popular nfic vignettes) also includes a special treat -- a brand new fanfic by one of our authors! If your name is drawn, you will get an advance copy of this story -- the author has agreed not to post it anywhere else for a year. (The rest of us will just stew quietly in our jealousy. <g>)

So how do you get your name in this drawing? Simple. You just get us your donation by October 1, 2003 and your name will be entered!

(If you don't want to be entered in either drawing, or just want to be in one or the other (PG or nfic), please let us know when you make your donation.)

There is no minimum donation required to enter! Everyone gets their name entered once into each drawing, no matter the amount of their donation.

Thanks to everyone who has already donated. We really appreciate it!

For those of you who want to donate but haven't done so yet, remember, we can take PayPal donations directly, or you can send cash or a check to your regional collector. For more information, please contact the appropriate person below:

United States: Annette Ciotola <amciotola@aol.com>
United Kingdom: Wendy Richards <wendy@lcfanfic.com>
Eurozone: Elena Danesin <elena@lcficmbs.com>
Australia: Tricia Walpole <triciawalpole@optushome.com.au>
Canada: Gerry Anklewicz <gankle@rogers.com>

Thanks! If you have any questions, please let me know!

Kathy

Oh, and one other piece of info I forgot to add.

Someone asked recently if they could decide how their money was applied -- if they wanted their contribution to go to one site but not the other, etc. The answer is yes!

If you don't specify how you want the money allocated, we will just assume you want it evenly divided between the Archive and Annesplace. However, if you want to specify a different split -- say, 75% to one site and 25% to the other (say, based on where they read the majority of their stories) or 100% to one site and nothing to the other (for someone who doesn't read nfic and thus doesn't want to contribute to it, for example), that's fine, too! Please just let us know when you make your donation and we will enter it that way on our spreadsheet.

Oh, and one other thing ... the P.S. about donating to these message boards was only posted to this site, not to any of the other forums. (We certainly don't expect anyone who doesn't frequent this site to want to help support it!) Only people who specifically request that part of their donation be allocated to the message boards will have their money used for that purpose. So if you do want to give a little bit to the message boards as well, you need to tell us that specifically when you donate. Otherwise, we'll assume you are just donating to the two Archives.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know!

Kathy

And I'd just like to add to what Kathy's said about donations for these message boards too, and encourage anyone who hasn't already done so to nominate a part of their donation, however small, for these boards.

As you know, these boards are hosted by Annette, our wonderfully generous webmistress. Annette also 'owns' Annesplace, the online resource for nfic, music videos, Alt-Kerth material (not the official Alt-Kerth site, but things like Silly Revelations and so on), Readers' Choice and much, much more. Annette paid for that site herself for years - as, of course, do many other owners of fan-sites. However, Annesplace expanded and needed much more storage space to host all the music videos and so on, some of us discovered just how much Annette was paying every month and wanted to help.

Likewise, when these boards were opened, Annette funded them from her own pocket. And, as we're the ones who benefit from the fanfic boards, we also want to help pay for them.

Many thanks to everyone who's donated so far!


Wendy

When I got an email from Annette asking if I wanted to be in either drawing, I thought that entry was implicit because of these following statements from an above post:

Though I talked to Wendy about this, I thought I'd bring it up here so people who donate in the future can explicitly say whether they want to be entered in the drawing(s)since those statements imply the opposite.

What is a typical donation?

How much is usually donated? What is the usual range?

I just noticed that nobody replied to shaker, and that jkd has just asked the same question. The answer is - there isn't one. There isn't a typical donation; all we ask is that people donate whatever they feel appropriate/can afford. We're just as delighted with $1 as we are with $50.

It wouldn't even be fair to give you an idea of an average or typical donation, because people's circumstances differ; someone donating, say, $50 may happen to have a reasonable disposable income, while someone giving $5 may be giving up something in order to give the archives that donation.

I know that Kathy and Annette would echo this absolutely. If you're willing to donate, whatever you can send, large or small, will be extremely gratefully received.

By the way, I hope to come back within the next week or so to give you full details of the fanzines!


Wendy