Home Activism Fundraisers For Sex Workers Struggling Post-SESTA

Fundraisers For Sex Workers Struggling Post-SESTA

Editor’s note: Inclusion on this list does not indicate that Tits and Sass is endorsing a particular fund.

Newwhoreizons is “a wealth redistribution club by [sex workers] for [sex workers].” $newwhoreizons on cash.me to donate, newwhoreizons on a private Instagram account for information—DM to request to join the club or ask for help.

Lysistrata is a member-led sex worker fundraising collective which originally formed after the Backpage adult ad closures. They maintain a standing emergency fund for marginalized sex workers as well as promoting and signal boosting individual fundraisers and events. You can donate on Paypal, Venmo, squarecash, or directly through their website. They also have a monthly donation option. You can request emergency assistance over email at lysistratamccf@gmail.com.

Note: Both the organizations above have stated that they are currently receiving more requests for help than donations.

The Black Sex Worker Collective is hosting its first community strategy meeting this coming Saturday, April 15th. Non-Black workers may attend as long as they don’t take up space and make sure to allow Black sex workers to speak and lead. You can donate to the collective here, tax-free through their fiscal sponsor Project Prosper.

CUSP in Alaska is raising money for street outreach supplies to help the many Anchorage workers who’ve been driven into street-based work since this SESTA-fueled series of ad platform closures. They’re going to start a needs-assessment program, and if they receive enough money, they will be expanding their efforts into subsidizing workers’ phone bills.

The Third Wave Foundation is starting a cross-class, multiracial, intergenerational giving circle for women, queer, and trans people with experience in the sex trade to raise money for sex worker-led organizations. Third Wave is framing this as a response to silence from the funding community in general to the passage of SESTA. Participation in the first round of the giving circle will be confined to the NYC area and the deadline for application is April 15th. They are specifically encouraging people of color as well as working class and low-income people to apply for these stipended fellowships. The circle will begin with $150K already raised and fundraise from there—it looks like a promising way for low-income and marginalized sex workers to access philanthropic resources.

As you can see, this list is a bit thin so far. Readers, feel free to link any other fundraisers you’re aware of for sex workers hit hard by SESTA in the comments. 

 

 

14 COMMENTS

  1. Coyote RI, and Swop Behind Bars are also trying to raise donations, we have been supporting sex workers in crisis for years to include incarcerated sex workers, and we volunteer to answer SWOP USA supporting at 877-776-2004
    Your donation is tax deductible.

    Coyoteri.org
    Swobehindbars.org

    For a list of sites that are still up that is updated daily, see

    http://coyoteri.org/wp/after-fosta-many-of-the-systems-and-institutes-that-are-supposed-to-protect-us-are-sent-to-erase-u/

  2. Here’s a fund! How about hitting the nail on its head for a change? You keep dealing with symptoms instead of going to the root cause- criminalization. Once decriminalized the real work begins but you won’t get there until decrim is accomplished

    ESPLERP fund. ESPLERP is about to file another case challenging criminalization. ESPLERP needs funding cases aren’t free.

    Litigatetoemancipate.com

    • Hey, this is totally legitimate, and an end goal of activist groups like these, but there’s an immediate need that needs to be addressed right now. I’m not sure why this bothers you so much.

      • Criminalization is what bothers me so much. Sex workers spinning their wheels instead of having control of their labor bothers me. Sex workers being harmed over and over and over and never getting emancipated bothers me.

        Thank goodness there are people who get this and who are doing something about it. People who understand what it’s going to take to stop the damage and state violence. But they don’t get funded and the work is harder to accomplish when people don’t support the work to decriminalize.

        Bandaids help in the moment, but we need a lasting cure that puts us in control.

        That is where I am coming from here.

  3. Is there a way that I, as not an SW, can legally host a new blacklisted-John page like the one that was taken down? I’d like to take on some of the risk without exposing people whose job just got more dangerous.

    • You could, but the problem is that they have redefined prostitution as trafficking. Activists have been training law enforcement to see all women in this business as coerced even without a pimp. So, because of that, this new law can apply to any site that knows members are using it for sex for money ads. The key here is knows. And then the other problem is exposure. In order to bring new clients, it can’t be a secret. And if it can be found, feds will be all over it. There are many sites hosted out of the US that are still up and in countries where this is legal. Some are screening the US but you can get around it with a VPN. We do still have options even now. But if you are based in the US, you will get targeted.

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