Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2020: Week 22
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.
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.
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.