Fundraising Accountability
One of the things I like to do is fundraise for causes that matter to me. I often leverage my donations publicly as matching money to help encourage others to give or I mention I’ve given to a cause to inspire others to give. It’s an effective fundraising ‘best practice’ and it’s inspired others to donate.
Sometimes people also sent me money directly to purchase things on their behalf like when I put together care packages for defendants in the Galloway suit. To honour their trust and out of a desire to be fully accountable for the charitable commitments I make, I’m going to try to document all the giving I speak about publicly on this page so that my giving is transparent and above reproach. I also give to a number of causes that I don’t mention below because I haven’t spoken about them publicly.
To be clear, this list isn’t to brag about my giving — which is more than I know many writers have the capacity for. I am lucky to have a relatively well paying job and few financial responsibilities and it’s very important to me to share that privilege and help others. I have also, at times, taken on writing work in order to make some of the larger donations. I have always been an activist and I was very sad after my injury that I couldn’t do the type of activist work I used to be able to because of intermittent symptoms. By taking on flexible writing work and donating the income that I got from it, I could still help the causes that mattered to me. This was how I navigated how to remain an activist as a disabled woman.
I was motivated to post this because someone (who did not give to any of my fundraising drives — no one who has given has expressed any concerns) was questioning my intentions in raising money to others and it got back to me. This page will hopefully assure you that I have nothing to hide. I have never benefited financially from any of the money I raised publicly for causes on Twitter.
Sometimes reporting here might be delayed as I struggle with screens as part of my disability. In fact, in complete transparency I hired another writer to help me compile these receipts as I would have struggled to do it myself. I will do my best to keep this current but please be patient with me. My health and screen capacity is intermittent and unpredictable. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about things not on here.
The Fold Festival Community Day Pass
I offered to match donations from people who donated day passes for The Fold Festival. Here is my receipt for the donation:
Galloway Defense Fund
I offered to match the first $500 in donations:
One-Time $500 Matching Donation
Vintage Purse Sale to Benefit the Galloway Defense Fund
I offered to sell a vintage purse I owned and give the proceeds to Rahim Ladha’s Soar Fundraiser for the defense fund. It sold for $140 US which I converted to $190 Canadian. Since the Soar fundraiser was delayed Rahim and I agreed that I should give it directly to the Galloway Defense Fund that Amanda Leduc runs.
Galloway Defense Care Packages
I sent care packages to all the defendants in the Galloway case. They included snacks, treats, makeup, homemade jam, books, notebooks, bath products and other fun things. I was planning to do this completely out of my own pocket but received donations from some donors who wanted to contribute.
Contributions from donors to care packages for Galloway Defendants:
Total: $375
Expenses for care packages for Galloway Defendants:
Metatron receipt for copies of Hum($162)
Other care package materials, including canning jars (from Hewer Home Hardware) ($422.36)
Shipping ($219.58)
Total expenses: $803.94
Total donations: $375
I donated $428.94 out of pocket to the care packages.
#CantSilenceSupport T-shirts
I decided to create a t-shirt fundraiser for MC. The money raised (plus a personal donation that I made to top it up) went to her lawyer Joanna Birnbaum via transfer.
T-shirt Expenses:
Material cost of t-shirts ($582.42)
Cost of postage ($137.63)
+ 54.26 in PayPal Expenses (see below for fees)
+ 71.29 in GST
Total t-shirt expenses: $845.60
$785 donation to Joanna Birenbaum:
Income from t-shirt sales:
Total income = $1,479.97 – 54.26 (PayPal fees) – 71.29 (5% GST) = 1,354.42.
Total t-shirt income = $1,354.42
Total t-shirt costs & money donated = $1,630.60
I donated $276.18 out of pocket for this campaign.
Trans Writers Fund
$500 One-Time Donation to the Trans Writers Fund by Shoot for the Moon:
I also donated $100 for a friend so only $500 of the amount below is from me.
Monthly Trans Writers Fund Donations:
This summer, I decided to make a further commitment with a $20 monthly donation.
Marrow Thieves Class Sets
I offered to donate part of a class set for a Toronto area school. Two other donors stepped up and sent the other 20 books.
1/3 of Class Set sent to Toronto School
I helped organize contributions from donors for 4 Marrow Thieves class sets for schools in Thunder Bay in December 2018 ($260)
PLEASE NOTE: I encouraged donors to buy the books themselves with an Indigenous bookseller and send the books directly to the schools in question—that is why my receipts show some incomplete sets being sent. These were the donors who did not want to do so and wanted to just send the money to me. One donor sent a complete class set themselves to a school, making for 4 complete class sets raised.
Total raised: $260
GoodMinds Receipts:
The cost for this full class set was split between my sister and I as per my Tweet. ($403)
This was covered by the donations ($228.73)
This was partly covered by Interac donations and $40 in cash given to me by an anonymous friend. I covered any shortfalls between donations and costs (around $134.55)
Total expenses: $766.93
Donation to The Jacob Family and Webequie First Nation
I mentioned donating to the family of Braiden Jacob.
Donation to Morgane Oger Foundation
I have mentioned making a monthly recurring donation to the Morgane Oger Foundation, an organization that helped fund a recent trans rights legal case around hate speech against Morgane when she was running for public office.
