Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Calling all Dean fans

Hi, For those of you who have participated in the past and would like to participate this year we are a bit more organized in the annual charity donations to honor Dean. We'd like to try a fanfic fund raiser for those who would like to participate a story or donate to Mending Kids International to honor Dean this year, we started an official group. We call ourselves Friends Across Continents Together, or Friends Act. We have a yahoo mailing list an a web page that I am still working out.

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Friends_Who_Act/

For those either interested in joining in the fun to write for charity or those who are intersted in donating come see us at the above address.

I saw Dean in Vegas and told him we were doing this for him and would continue to do so every year because he is such a great guy and we love him. I got a thanks for all and a hug. He said it really is a worthy cause. Their site is at mendingkids.org

You guys write so well! Please help us to raise money for this cause and to honor our deano! thanks. Laura

Are you selling the stories somewhere? How does writing one equate to donating? Wouldn't that violate copyright laws since since the author would then be (technically) getting something for writing the story?

I checked the link you gave, but I didn't see anything about writing stories as a fundraiser.

Hi, No one has done anything yet and I am open to any suggestions as to how to do it. We were thinking maybe starting some kind of fund raiser for the charity. Maybe someone can donate a fic to be auctioned and the money be sent to the charity and the fic be given to the person who purchased it for say a certain period of time. I know other fandoms and this fandom have done something similar to support their cause. It is still in the baby stages. So far no one has offered to write, but I hope they do. Dean is a great guy to honor and the children are certainly a good cause. Any suggestions as to how and go about it would be appreciated. Thanks. Laura

I would like to point out two things if I may:

1. I think it could be disheartening if an author works hard on their story and gets no bids and/or someone pays 50 cents for it.

And

2. Selling other people's work could be considered copyright infringment.

I personally think people should just donate if they want to, and that be that. It isn't even a milestone birthday year. But that's just my opinion.

Giving all these copyright things that people keep bringing up, I'm wondering what loophole people use for the fundraiser to mantain the boards.

Is it like give the suggested donation to the board and recieve the cd of goodies?

alcyone

So how do you guys do the DVD thing here. I was thinking of maybe more on the lines of that. Stories for a DVD to raise funds for the kids. The authors would still be given all writing credit, they would just donate a story for the DVD to be for the fundraiser. Isn't this what we do here? I bought one here to raise money. There was no infringement I think. Why was there some trouble with the DVD we bought from this site that I am not informed of? It would simply be a donation by the person who wrote the story, to go on a fund raising CD to raise money for Mending Kids. But I am open to any idea you guys have. Of course you can just donate straight out to the charity as well. And please if you want to donate a story that would be great!

No loophole at all. The stories (and other material) on the Fundraiser DVD were given to those who made a donation to the boards included in the fundraiser. It wasn't so much sold for cash as it was a free gift given to those who gave cash and would have done anyway. A thank you for their donation. An added extra, if you will.

Most importantly, all of the boards receiving monies are non-profit-making and no one benefited personally from the cash.

Technically, this still breaches copyright, but only in the same way as anything posted on this forum or any other media-based website does. Technically, we breach copyright every time we post a story part or music video or photo from the show. And most copyright holders traditionally turn a blind eye if it's for a non-profit-making cause. So the Fundraiser DVD is pretty much in the same category as what we do every day of the week.

Laurach, I think the difference between our fundraiser DVD and what you seem to be talking about is that you want to sell the DVD of stories to raise cash for the charity. That probably means you'd put a fixed price on the DVD and that would get sticky, I think.

However, you can achieve much the same ends by doing as we did. Don't sell the DVD. Just let people know that you'd like them to send in a donation - the amount of which is up to them - and that each donation will receive a free gift of the DVD as a thank you, to encourage participation.

As an addendum to that, I'm not sure if we set a minimum limit for the DVD. We may have done - my memory is hazy. You might want to do that so that you encourage a reasonable donation in exchange for the gift. I can't remember, if we did set a limit, what it was, but I shouldn't think it was very high.


LabRat

Labby, IIRC it was $25US.
C

Thanks so much Labby, that is such a helpful idea. Of course we would have to have people willing to donate stories first. They would have to feel that Mending Kids International was worthwhile enough for them to help raise money toward it. And since it is done to honor Dean's charitable nature, that would have to be OK with them as well.

I like what Labby suggested. Is there anyone who writes that would feel comfortable and generous enough to write a story to put on a CD or DVD that we can put up for a donation? It is a worthy cause.
Thank you for all your suggestions and help. Laura

If memory serves, the minimum donation to receive a DVD was $10 (US). Anyone on the DVD com want to clarify?

~Anna

I think I remember 10 also. And that would be fine too with me. Anyone want to write for charity? Laura

AWWW! I thought it was 25 and I didn't have 25 at the time, but 10 I probably could have come up with!

Ah well...

Carol

According to this post , the minimum was actually $15 US.

Well what ever it ended up being I know I bought one and enjoyed it. So anyone want to help a childrens charity by donating a story? Laura

Laura, if you're talking about LNC fanfic, you could legitimately start a new thread asking for story donations in the Fanfic Related folder.

I believe more of our members visit that folder than do this one, so you might get more of a response there.

LabRat

Thanks Labby I'll ask. Laura

Well I've asked.
Maybe I am asking wrong?
Not one person seems willing to donate a short story for a fund raiser to help children in need?

I am not sure I understand why. Is it because they don't like the reason for the charity event? 25 of us discussed this last year to do an annual event to honor Dean but also to do something good with our association with each other, to help those in need. Out of that group, so far 6 have joined the list. We have until the middle of July, I hope more people open their hearts to help.

So some how I am thinking that maybe I am asking the wrong way or not being clear or something. I know I am not part of the main folcs on this board, but I have met many of you and I am just curious about the lack of response.

Is there a better way to do this? Is there a person out of the main folcs that will help us?
Thanks for any suggestions. Laura

Laura, I think "donate a story" is a bit vague for most of us. We assume you are talking about L&C fanfiction, right? But what about any general guidelines? Any type of story? How long, short, drabble, etc.

Give us a bit to go on. Also, set down some definite deadlines, like; we would like anyone willing to write to tell us so by such and such a date, and all stories must be submitted to whomever by such and such a date. All I know is that you have some fuzzy mid July date for some sort of action.

Right now, it's still January. I don't feel much pressure to make a commitment for something that isn't needed until July.

A few more details, and a definate proceedure to participate would help.

Tank (who is not adverse to dontating a story, but he currently doesn't really have any decent ideas)

Well, I know why I'm not volunteering and that's because I'm not writing these days.

I have been wondering about the seeming reluctance, too, though, and I wonder if it's because it's one thing to volunteer to write a fanfic for posting here on the mbs - a challenge ficathon for example - an environment where the author feels secure and knows exactly where it is, but quite another to do it for a project that you're not quite sure where it will end up or who is going to read the final product. Out there in the big, wide world, if you like.

When you think about it, that's quite a different prospect and perhaps a bit scarier for some authors to consider. Out of their comfort zone.

I agree with Tank. Perhaps if you pin down the details on what exactly you're looking for, what you intend with the finished stories, who is likely to get a copy of them and so on, that might ease those concerns. If they exist at all, of course, and I'm not just assuming way off beam.

LabRat

I think that's part of it. I'm not opposed to writing one, but I have absolutely no ideas at the moment that might work. I mean I have a couple fics in progress, but I had planned on posting those here etc. I'm not wracking my brain at the moment or anything, but I am keeping one mind's eye open for an idea, but I'd hate to commit to anything right now [see below too]. I do know that I promised Labby one for the fundraiser for the boards and it never materialized, so that's a word of caution too. Just because one is promised doesn't mean it'll materialize .

Definite dates would help, I think [for instance: we'd like to have them by May 15 so we can have specifics to help promote them before our final donation deadline of July 15 in order to have the donation made by Dean's bday on July xx].

Also, it's only been what... 36 hours? since you started posting more specific details [like the FFR thread] so give it a little bit of time - especially since you have some. Not everyone's here every day or even every week sometimes.

Just the thoughts I had...
Carol