If you 'Bring It' and will never have a fundraiser tell us about it.

[Ratty]

Before all these fund raising companies popped up, people used to do what they can, with what they have. I can think of several wonderful eplayans that provide a service or entertainment without funding. I would like to personally thank you. It's the 'American Way' to live beyond your means. Run up your credit cards at Christmas time. Buy what you want instead of what you need. I get 10 fundraising emails a DAY through various FB groups. (Yes I said ten.) This year it's out of control. Major art installations need funding and I hope they get it. Everyone loves the big beautiful. However some are hair-brained schemes like bringing some lame wooden thing across the country that looks like it should be burned the first day instead of the last. Bigger is not always better.

I appreciate the little guy that has a little bar, buys his own booze and closes it when he runs out. The folks that make 50 visors because that's all they could afford. The group that collects useful stuff at yard sales all year and hands it out to people in need. (water bottles, facemasks, goggles, sunglasses etc...)

If you 'Do you own thing' on your own dime I applaud you. Toot your own horn here. Dish!

If you have a fundraiser going I wish you all the luck in the world. It's highly competitive to get those dollars.

This thread is not an attack on funded projects or an invitation to rage. It's a showcase for individuals that choose to pay their own way.

[lucky420]

While my camp has our fundraiser to help with silks and dyes, camp members put in our own money for all the booze we give away all week.

I fund my own "sHOT in the dArk" shot glasses and booze cart.

[bigbluedoggy]

Destiny Lounge has been entertaining folks with our rather elaborate contraptions since 2007. No fundraisers... ever. All self funding.

[Captain Goddammit]

I thought we were supposed to chime in if we DON'T have fundraisers.
No one has ever helped fund my MV.

[lucky420]

I thought we were supposed to chime in if we DON'T have fundraisers.
No one has ever helped fund my MV.

That's because you're filthy rich.

[Ratty]

Well duh, He owns a yacht.

[Captain Goddammit]

I'm a regular blue collar working guy.
Self-funding my BM operation is a pretty big deal, it's no trivial drop in the bucket!
What I ain't got is good sense.

[Ratty]

Darn you Capt. Now we're all sitting here thinking about the time and money we wasted all year getting ready for TTITD. It's worth every minute and every dollar. To those of you that painted, tooled, wrenched, sewed, carved, glued and riveted I salute you.

[Drawingablank]

I have no problem with folks who feel the need to crowd source funds to bring it big - some of my best friends do that.

Personally, I would rather bring it a bit smaller and have it be my ( or my camps) gift to the playa. If we crowd sourced it, then it would no longer be our gift IMHO.

[The Rod]

We only did it for the publicity.

[trilobyte]

I'm giving this a nudge to the Q&A board, since that's a better fit for general Q&A.

[Papa Bear]

Astral Headwash is entirely funded by its members; it's a point of pride that we are self-supporting and aren't subsidized by the community at large via fundraisers or anything else.

Its not that there's actually anything wrong with raising funds, it's just not our thing. We're on the same page as Drawingablank - the Headwash is our gift, and the fact that we are self-funded is part of what makes it our gift. The fact that so many wonderful people who visit us also choose to give of their time and energy by volunteering to help wash heads is more than enough support from the community.

I believe the same is true for the HeeBeeGeeBee Healers (my first camp back in '03, and one with which I still have very close ties), though I don't actually recall it ever being formally stated. It's just the way they've always operated.

[AntiM]

Anti M's Home for Wayward Art never does fundraising, and I'd probably have some sort of panic attack if I added up the dollars. That said, I am blessed to have terrific contributors and art donors. I have sold a few paintings, but that is nothing if I added up all ten years of the project.

[maladroit]

I've been pouring cash and all-nighters into new head-up display (avionics?) system for our MV that streams realtime battery and drive motor diagnostic data over wifi to a tablet in the cockpit, using such technology as ESP8266 with websockets, servomotor controls, a mobile web interface, and an RS485 control network. And also looks a bit LCARS themed...

Compared to the other stuff I've seen and participated in on the playa, it still seems like small potatoes, so I've never really worried that fundraisers are taking over all the big projects. People do amazing things with blood/sweat/tears/sacrifice every year and it should be safe to assume that if you see something amazing on the playa, more likely than not it was not because of a fundraiser.

[Rusted Iron]

Our camp goes to garage sales and the cheapest second hand stores to buy clothes for our boutique. We accept donations in clothes but not money. (We also go to flea markets as they are ending and go through all the trash the sellers leave behind. Sometimes it's good clothes and sometimes it's broken whiskey bottles. The clothes, we take home and wash for the boutique but not the shards of glass.)

[GreyCoyote]

Fish-Outta-Water Camp. No camp "dues". No fundraisers. No heirarchy or org charts.

Us: Four chest freezers full of 5000+ bacon tamales, lovingly (ha!) hauled 2000 miles across the desert in a converted school bus named "Johnson". Steamed to a stupidly high temperature, glopped with the worlds best fresh-made salsa, salted and gifted to nutritionally-deprived playa chickens by half-nekkie campers at random hours. Fully permitted and NDH compliant. Water and shade and sympathy always available. Get a Playa Tarot reading from MisTress Mel! We also support our diabetic burner-friends with refrigerated insulin storage, counseling, support, tech help with management issues, and emergency pump/testing supplies. Full MURS and ham comms. Random pillow fights. Completely self-funded.

4:45 and H.
Bring friends.

[Ratty]

Greycoyote and Sunbeam? (is that the right name), Everybody loves you guys. Your camp is a comfortable oasis with food and water. Fabulous food I might add. It's kinda scarey when you put it all in print. Question your own sanity much? Thank you for doing what you do.

[BBadger]

There is certainly a "nobility" that comes with self-funding, but I won't necessarily damn people who use fundraising. Some projects have a lot of labor and expertise to leverage, but not the funding to carry a project to term. Fundraising should be supplementary, with those fund far outweighed by the labor involved (which can include the effort to fundraise) or self-funding.

I don't like the idea that a project's existence is a function of the fundraising. Some of these projects I see seem more like excuses to have everyone else pay for someone's project. Projects like buying a bunch of pre-made stuff just to give it away is just lame ("we want to give away flags, but we don't have money to buy them!"). At that point, who is really "gifting" this to the playa?

As for stuff to bring without fundraising, I like to just bring things without previous fanfare or notice and just have it "show up".

[ChicoTerri]

We create Playa Mart on our own with a lot of trips to thrift stores and the $ stores. We also collect tiny toiletries all year on our travels. Hubby travels a lot for work and brings home loads of tiny shampoos and the like. Playa Mart exists to provide the little essentials that are sometimes forgotten during the packing of all the things. We are small but mighty and have expanded this year. We've got lots of lotion, lip balms on a string, sunscreen, hats, bandanas, toothbrushes, vinegar, tampons, assorted toiletries and the like. Our motto is "You forgot it? We've got it!". Our hope is to provide that little thing that might save someone's Burn. Ideally folks will never need us, but we've made a lot of folks happy.

[Ratty]

Playa mart your camp sounds lovely. Do you know where you will be on the playa?

[pink]

Retrofrolic is self funded, with the exception that we started doing camp-outs during the year to a) use the stuff more than once a year and b) introduce others that might not burn to our brand of kinky fun. The camp outs cover expenses of the campouts and hopefully a bit more so we can replace or add to our stuff.