Philanthrofic is a yearly charity drive that encourages people to make non-monetary donations to a charity of their choice through creating fanart and fanfiction. Run by three organizers Tundra, Elliot, and Jinx and kept going by an expanding team of authors and artists, Philanthrofic is a currently informal event. Works created for the event are hosted on Tumblr and AO3, by the official Philanthrofic accounts.
Philanthrofic opens for submissions on April 2nd and closes on April 30th. These dates will be the same every year, and are followed by a one month working period which ends on May 31st.
While submissions are open, the organizers will be screening requests as they come in and auctioning them off in the Discord on the auction channels. There are separate channels for art and fic requests, so if you're only doing one or the other, you don't need to worry about keeping an eye on both. Requests are claimed on a first-come-first serve basis, so if you see one you like, please give it a thumbs up so we can mark it as claimed. The organizers will be keeping track of who has claimed which requests, so if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with one of us.
Any disputes which may arise with regard to the claiming of requests will be mediated by the organizers, and your first point of contact for any such concerns should be Tundra.
When you joined the team, we will have asked you what fandoms you are willing to write/draw for and what (if any) any content restrictions you have, along with how many requests you are generally willing to take on. In mediating any disputes over requests, this is the main criteria we will use to resolve the problem if the creators can't come to an agreement themselves.
Basically, if you say you're only comfortable doing 5 fics, and you've claimed 4 request, while the other creator has a limit of 3 fics, but has only claimed one, that will weigh in their favor. In the case of fandoms, say you write for Star Trek, and focus on TOS, while the other party mainly writes AOS, and the request specified TOS, that will weigh in your favor. Content restrictions are generally assumed to be self policed, as we don't anticipate anyone claiming a request they aren't comfortable filling, but that will also be weighed up in handling that dispute.
Once submissions close and all requests have been claimed, the work begins. You are of course welcome to start on any requests you have claimed as soon as you have claimed them, but that is not expected of you.
During the working period, we do expect semi-regular updates on progress in the dedicated Discord channel. This doesn't mean you have to be making progress daily, or telling us everything you do, we're not going to be looming over your shoulder and watching like hawks.
All we expect is:
We may ask you for updates at various points, and if we have any concerns with your progress, we will raise them with you privately. This is mainly a failsafe so that in the event the worst happens, we can offer any support you might need and keep to the deadline of the event. If you have any concerns of your own, feel free to raise them with us, and if you are struggling with the workload, let us know so we can help. Most progress checks will be done by Tundra so they will be your first point of contact in that regard.
As soon as you have completed your request, we ask that you send us a link to the document in a collaborative software (Like Ellipsus) or an email containing a file in either .pdf, .html, or .docx. The latest date to send in your filled requests is May 31st, but we ask that you send them in much earlier. If you have not sent it by that date, we will contact you. We may have to give the request to someone else if you are unable to send in the finished work on time. If you can't finish a request, then that is fine, just let us know as soon as you can so that we can get that request handled as soon as possible.
We understand that life is unpredictable and that things happen, we are not going to be upset if you have to hand off a fic or art piece to someone else for any reason, and you will not be penalized in any capacity. If you've made some progress on it, and would like another author or artist to complete the work, let us know, and we can accommodate that. In that event, you both would be listed as co-creators. If you are not comfortable with that, and would rather that whoever you've handed the request to starts over, please tell us that as well.
You are not required to beta read any fics if you do not want to, but it is encouraged that you do. Requests for a Beta will be posted to the Beta Requests channel on the Discord. This is encouraged both to help the authors of those fics when they need it, and to ensure that requests are filled as per the request itself.
Requests are only allowed to have a specific degree of specificity when they come in, so there is still plenty of artistic freedom for the authors to take as they please. That being said, there can be grey areas with things like "Angst with a Happy Ending" and "Hurt/Comfort" so having another set of eyes can help address any concerns before posting. If you want advice, but aren't ready to put a Beta request in, there is a separate Research & Advice channel on the Discord for you to post in.
There is not a Beta equivalent in fandom practice around art, but artists are still welcome to put Beta requests on the channel if they want another set of eyes on their work.
Once the working period is done, we will begin posting all the requests to the Philanthrofic AO3 account. Your account will be listed as co-creator, so you can expect it to show up on your account as well. If for any reason you don't want to be listed as co-creator, let one of us know.
A few days before the fortnight, a schedule will be posted to the Discord listing what fics and artworks are going to be posted on what days. If you have any concerns with the schedule, Tundra will be handling the majority of the posting, so they should be your first point of contact for that. The earlier a request was finished, the earlier in that week it will be posted.
During the fortnight, feel free to sit back and relax, since you've already done all the hard work. Feel free to respond to any comments you get, or not respond, as you please. If you notice any issues with posting, such as your fic/artwork not going up on the day it was set to, let us know. You worked hard on it, and it deserves to be posted in a timely fashion.
After Philanthrofic has closed and everything has been posted, the organizers will send out a closing message both on the Discord and on Tumblr. Both of these will express gratitude towards our artists and authors, list any issues that came up, and how we plan to improve the event in the future.
The Discord will of course remain open year round, in case anyone wants to keep chatting or help plan the next year's event, so feel free to stay as long as you like. Next year will be on the same dates, so there's plenty of time to relax until then.
Philanthrofic is a charity drive, and as such we value compassion, teamwork, and communication. Our goal is to encourage people to do good in their communities and in the wider world, and so we also strive to do so as well. Philanthrofic also values the traits of respect, accountability, and personal freedom.
As per our Rules & Guidelines, team members and organizers are expected to treat each other and those around them with kindness, respect, and dignity. Team members and organizers are also expected to communicate clearly and regularly regarding Philanthrofic.
Philanthrofic is firmly against the usage of Generative AI, as these models are built on the theft of people’s hard work. Philanthrofic is also firmly against plagiarism and any other forms of creative theft. Due to our values, Philanthrofic vets the charities requesters donate to before accepting the submission. Any charities that are not in line with our values will be added to the Banned list and the request will be refused.
Yes, as the artwork and fics are created to fill requests, we do require that you get at least one other set of eyes on it before you send the finished product in. This is not an attempt to control or interfere with your process, it is just a precautionary measure. If you already have a Beta Reader that is not part of Philanthrofic, you can have them read your work instead of putting a Beta request in, but we will ask that they confirm with one of the organizers themselves that they have done so. If you would prefer that one of the organizers Beta for you, Jinx will be your first point of contact.
Contact Elliot as your first point of contact, and let them know what changes you want to make.
Contact Elliot as your first point of contact, and let them know what changes you want to make.
Sadly not, as this is a very new event, we don’t have any funding to share whatsoever. Everything the organizers, authors, and artists do is done on a volunteer basis. We fully understand if this limits your participation, and are grateful for whatever contribution you wish to make. On the bright side, you can put “Volunteer for a Yearly Charity Drive” on your resume.
If you haven’t already, please contact one of the organizers and let them know which fandoms you will write or draw for, whether you want to do art, fics, or both, what content restrictions you have, and how many requests you are willing to take on. Please be realistic with your workload, as any requests you claim but can’t fill will end up needing to be filled by someone, and last minute work is always difficult to manage.
We do also ask that you check the discord regularly and provide updates as you work through the requests you’ve claimed. Stay in the loop and keep us in the loop.
Aside from that, all we need is what you are comfortable contributing, as far as the organizers are concerned, your comfort and wellbeing are of paramount priority. We will not ever push you to do more than you are comfortable with, and if you need any advice or support with your workload, we are here to provide.
If you need help, we reqiure you to ask for it. This event is founded on compassion, which applies to you too. We are here to help and we want to help.
Contact one of the organizers. Generally for interpersonal issues, Tundra should be your first point of contact. Let us know what the problem is and with who, amnd we will investigate from there. We’ll probably ask further questions, and if you have any relevant evidence (such as screenshots of messages), please send that to us as well. We will not identify you to the individual you are reporting to us without your express permission.
Email feedback@philanthrofic.co.uk. We are always happy to hear any ideas you might have and implement any changes that are needed. The organizers will make a record of the suggestion and discuss whether it is needed, how it could be implemented, and a timeline for doing so. Depending on the nature of the suggestion, we may or may not contact you to let you know the final decision. If we decide not to implement your idea, we will still keep the record of it at hand for the future, so even if it isn’t implemented immediately, it may be later on.