Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity was an online fan run charity auction that took place mainly among the Livejournal blogging communities. 
The model was simple: fans would offer to write a story, edit a songvid, create art or offer baked goods, jewelry and apparel to raise funds for charities. Other people would bid on these items and the funds would go to the charity. Between 2006 and 2010, it raised more than $80,000 for a wide range of charities covering sexual abuse, medical research, children and even in support of a writer's union. Both the sellers and bidders were primarily women.
Auctions were run twice each year in March and September - the first charity to be supported each year was RAINN (Rape and Abuse Incest National Network) with the second charity being chosen by a poll.
The project went on a brief hiatus in 2009 partially due to the overwhelming number of participants. It ran a scaled down charity auction in 2010 that raised $6,000.
From its founder, Lithium Doll: 
==Stats==
From 2006 to 2009, 848 volunteers auctioned off their goods and services and 942 fans placed bids and won. 2,242 items were created that raised a total of $83,402.29. In 2010, a "mini-auction" raised an additional $6,000 bringing the total funds raised for charity to $89,000.
Charities supported
*RAINN (every year, twice in 2007 when the second charity did not respond to the offer to raise funds)
*National Marfans Foundation (2006)
*Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund (2008)
*Invisible Children (2009)
In June 2006, approximately 50 fans offered their services or crafts. By March 2007, bidding opened with over 140 participants (and the number climbed higher by the end of the charity auction). By September 2007, the number opened at 204 and by 2009 as many as 281 fans were offering their services up for auction.
==The Tech Behind The Mirror==
Perhaps even more impressive than the number of participants and the funds raised was the fact that lithium doll designed the Sweet Charity auction platform code from scratch. Over the years her code tweaks also added features such as the ability to place multiple bids, track and be notified of competing bids, a tags masterlist, multiple donations payable to Paypal in one go, and personalized advertising buttons.
In 2009, as the project began winding down, lithium doll offered the code for free to anyone who wanted to host a similar online initiative.this is SC's final auction" dated January 7, 2009; [http://www.webcitation.org/66AcGtQKy WebCite. It was later used to run the Help Haiti charity auction.
==Sample Projects==
===Fanfic===
When putting their skills up for bid, fan writers would often write short blurbs describing what fandoms they would be willing to write in, the story length they were offering, and any other features. 
A sample offering:
:"I'm offering two fics over 1,000 words each in the fandoms I'm currently active in - SG-1, SGA, Gilmore Girls or Supernatural. Gen stories a preference but I'm willing to negotiate on pairing-centric fics. Crossover requests are welcome. My only 'no' is [I will not write fiction in] any [of my] current WIPs or verses."Sweet Charity Ho! dated March 19, 2008.
Other fans offered a even more detailed lists of what they'd be willing to write. An example can be found here from a fan who was offering fan fic, vids and fan art."Pay special attention to the fandoms and restrictions. Please think of this as a commission. It's my job to get you the fic you want and I want to do that to the best of my ability." WebCite.
===Vids===
In addition to listing their fandoms, vidders would also offer links to their existing vids so that buyers could preview their work: 
While the charity never kept a list of all the vids made by Sweet Charity vidders over the years, Morgan Dawn did create two Sweet Charity Compilation DVDs.
===Art===
Fan artists' offerings were often less restrictive: "I will make a batch of 20 icons, 2 headers/banners of any size, and 1 wallpaper. You can request any fandom, pairing, person, place, and/or thing. You can also request from multiple fandoms. If it's not a fandom I normally do, then it would be much appreciated if you could point me to pictures or screencaps, but it's not a requirementSweet Charity art offering, dated Sept 8, 2007; WebCite.
However other fans could get very specific: "I won't use images of the actors outside of character and I won't mix in any NC-17 images from outside sources.".
===Handmade Items===
====Clothing items====
*The Doilies of Rassilon (Doctor Who)WebCite, dated Jan. 15th, 2008.
*Jayne Cobb knitted hats (Firefly: "I offered to make three hats for the Sweet Charity fandom auction and they raised a total of $74.00 for RAINN which is AWESOME! My mom actually won one of the hats and that’s hilarious by any estimation."Charity auction, dated April 15, 2010; WebCite.
*Ravenclaw knitted socks (Harry Potter) WebCite for "What rocks my socks? My socks! dated Jul. 16th, 2008.
*Hand painted t-shirts:"I'll hand-paint, design an iron-on, tie-dye, bedazzle or SOMETHING an SPN t-shirt of your choice. You tell me what you want, and I'll do what I can to deliver. Samples here.offering listed on the Sweet Charity Auction page dated March 2009.
====Food====
*Cookies: "I will make you a batch of my uncle Raoul's chocolate meringue cookies in addition to your fic. With or without walnuts(though trust me when I say, the walnuts make it better ^-~). They keep really well so I can probably get them to you even if you live in Europe, South America, but definitely for bidders in the US or Canada. If you're in Australia or Asia and you're concerned about freshness, I'll send you the family recipe. These cookies are dairy free and the nuts can be removed if you are allergic"Sweet Charity Cookies, dated Jan. 19th, 2008; WebCite.
*Chai Tea Basket: "I have made several of these Chai Baskets for past Sweet Charity fannish auctions, and have been reliably informed by many that my homemade sweet chai is the best on the planet. Let me prove it to you, with a nice basket, containing a pint-sized jar for my chai starter mix (along with all the individual ingredients and instructions for its compilation and usage), as well as various tea-related accoutrements and yummies (large mug, silverware, cloth napkins, candies, chocolates, cookies, biscuits, et al.). I have also created several mouthwatering, family tested recipes with this chai starter mix ~ my recipes (printed on seven pages of heavy duty stock paper and bound in a folder), let me show you them. \o/"deejay posting in the 2012 Fandom Helps charity auction.
====Jewelry====
*"...a replica of Mary Winchester's charm bracelet and/or for a Supernaturalism mousepad." (Supernatural)Sweet charity auction list, dated March 21st, 2009.
*"I will make a necklace with natural stones or glass beads of your favorite colors with silver or gold link wire. The necklace will be approximately 20 inches long, sized to fit you. Samples are here."offering listed on the Sweet Charity Auction page dated March 2009.
===Other Items===
Fanmixes
*"I have offered up a music mix/fanmix of any topic for the top TWO bidders. Fandoms are open to anything listed in my profile interests, or if you think I know something that I didn't list. Any pairing, character, or subject (doesn't have to be fandom). Included: at a minimum, 10 songs; cover art; back art."Sweet Charity Auction dated April 7, 2010.
*Fanmix: Destiny Rising: A Dean Winchester Retrospective (Supernatural)Fanmix WebCite, dated April 22nd, 2010.
Tarot card readings: "Tarot reading, using DaVinci Enigma Tarot, in live chat or via email. Live chat usually takes an hour to an hour and a half for a full reading (Celtic cross is my preferred spread, others available at your request)."offering listed on the Sweet Charity Auction page dated March 2009.
Podfic:"I'll podfic a fanfic of your choice, up to 10,000 words. I'm happy with any fandom, pairing and rating [I've previously recorded Harry Potter, SGA, BSG, Death Note and Honeydew Syndrome], but would prefer not to deal with positive depictions of rape, paedophilia and extreme kinks. Due to pronunciation of names it might be good to check with me in advance if I have some familiarity with the fandom, however, eg. for manga. I would definitely need permission of the original author, if that's not you, before recording can begin.offering listed on the Sweet Charity Auction page dated March 2009.
General audio recordings/translations: "I will record any text/fic/poem etc reading in french (or in english with a french accent, that's your call ;)). Number of records will depends on the length of the texts to read but overall, we're talking around the 3000 words radius. This is my first time offering this so you should be warned I may not be the best reader out there ;) I can do a translation too, french-english or english french, but a way smaller length in that case as this is way much work."offering listed on the Sweet Charity Auction page dated March 2009.
==Fandom Response==
The charity received broad support across a wide range of fandoms and remained remarkably conflict free. While both the producers and participants in the auctions were primarily women, in 2009 a few participants pointed out that the often adult subject matter of some of the auction items may not be appropriate for a charity that supports abuse victims or a medical research charity or a children's charity. 
The debate narrowed down to those who felt that the charity items brought in a great deal of donations for people and, as a result, they made real lives better. And, as others explained: The charity stories and art and vids are "fictional. It's not real. Sometimes it's even therapeutic."
Those who expressed concern over the auction items' subject matter were quick to point out that adult themed topics, such as those dealing with abuse and sexual assault were inappropriate themes and should not be allowed to be included in a charity fund-raiser. And, since some of the participants themselves were survivors of abuse, allowing fiction, art and vids with these themes "may be triggery for them."
After debate in the community and a poll, it was concluded "that the pros of the certain genres do outweigh the cons, and not just on a purely fiscal or freedom-of-speech level: they help people. That's all they need to do. Ever. The rest is noise. There will be things put in place that will help people find or avoid certain content as they choose. If you are uncomfortable taking part in an auction - for whatever reason - that is entirely respected and understood.". 
Some fans also disliked the prostitution terminology Sweet Charity used, e.g. the use of "ho" in their slogans (in 2008, the project featured the phrase "I want to be a Charity Ho!" on their website, and on a number of promo icons and banners).ratcreature. not quite a rant..., posted 16 Jan 2008, accessed 23 Jul 2010. Additional themed banners and icons were offered (see image to the right and the first few images in the gallery below).
==Comments from Fans==
 
===Sweet Charity Poem===
The auction (and the organizer) even inspired one fan to write a poem in their honor:
==Banner Gallery==
Image:Maharet83 sweet charity 06.png|A more neutral banner
Image:Bittercrimson 00385pyb.jpg|"I am selling out for charity"
Image:Buffyann sweetcharity.gif|"I am selling out at Sweet Charity"
Image:Maharet83 sweet charity 07.png|Cupcake theme
Image:Shinywhimsy sc3 2.jpg|"Get your very own Sweet Tart"
Image:Maharet83 sweet charity 01.png|"Come have a taste"''
Image:Scatterheart charitybanner.png|"I'm a ho for charity"
Image:Veetvoojagig charityho03.jpg|"Buy my wicked mad skillz"
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