The Giving Geek

by Brannen

I may be dating myself, but growing up as a hidden geek (masking most of my geekish habits from home, from church, from non-school social circles), I tended to hear when geeks caught the attention of non-geeks. Sure, there were the usual put downs about physical weakness, weird interests, odd hobbies, and the like. The underpinnings to all these insults seemed to be that geekiness was inherently selfish. Somehow fringe interests implied to the non-geeks a disinterest not only in popular pastimes, but also a generalized disinterest in the people around them.

How the times have changed. I grew up with the idea of public service thanks to my time in Scouts. But my first intersection of fandoms and community service came in college - when we established the first chapter of The Camarilla in our area. Suddenly you had vampire LARPers and Garou emulators cleaning up roadsides and showing up at retirement homes (and providing much needed entertainment to the octogenarians imprisoned there). Every chapter was required to provide services to the community, mostly to fend off the assumption that the "creepy geeks dressed up like vampires" weren't bad kids.

Simpler times - black leather, Goodwill silks, and a trash bag.
(image by Sam Byford)

Jump forward another decade or two and the chances to combine your fandom and your philanthropy are scattered all around the world. You may need to look around, but you can help out causes you believe in and maybe even pick up a few prizes as well.

Love zombies and care about kids fighting cancer? The DC Zombie Crawl is happening this weekend. Show up on the National Mall decked out in your funerary best and rotting flesh (professional makeup assistance available through pre-registration) to raise money for the Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation. And after the horde has gathered on the Mall shuffle off this mortal coil and into the bars along Adam’s Morgan for discounted drinks, costume judging, and more. Save the kids. There’s more for the feast later that way.

Care about social commentary, mad fantasy, characters that sear themselves into your mind, and those stricken with Alzheimer’s? Tomorrow is The Glorious 25th of May, a day of bitter sadness and determination for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett, who is suffering from a fairly rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s. The fans of this world-renowned and beloved author took his powerful reference from Night Watch and made a day for fundraising and awareness. While it’s been a couple of years since there was a global campaign, many local groups and individual fans choose the 25th of May as a day to make donations to Alzheimer’s Research UK in Sir Terry’s name. 

How do they rise up, rise up...

The Patrician may want a word with the gentleman at hand.
(image by Cory Doctorow)

Are women’s rights and Firefly overlapping circles on your internal Venn diagram? They certainly can be, thanks to Can’t Stop the Serenity. For the last seven years, this organization has been helping fans of the ‘verse put on screenings of Serenity to fundraise for Equality Now. The group fights discrimination against women in legal systems, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and sexual abuse around the world. To sweeten the synergy even more (and seriously, if you're having issues seeing the connections I invite you to rewatch Buffy and Firefly), the organization is one that Joss Wheadon explicitly and loudly supports.

Do you prefer original, sprawling fantasy worlds, and want to build up the infrastructure and standard of living in this one? Then Worldbuilders should be on your radar. Founded and run by Pat Rothfuss (the author of the Kingkiller Chronicle), this is a combination of year-round charity through the the author’s store and a once a year charity raffle. 

You give ten dollars to Heifer International through his site, and you get one entry into the raffle. But this isn't a raffle for only one prize. Pat sweet talks author friends and industry contacts into donating all sorts of prizes for the event, and every $10 donated gives you another entry. During last year’s drive it worked out to something like a 78% chance of winning something if you donated enough for a goat. If you don't catch the end-of-the-year contests, you can still donate. There’s always the calendars of sexy literary characters that have hung in mine and my friend's houses for several years now.

None of above appeal to you? Don't give up, and don't smother your inner philanthropist. There are dozens of geek charities that I haven't included here. Here's a brief list that took only a few minutes to find via Google: Child’s Play, The 501st: Vader's Fist, and The Harry Potter Alliance are all worth a look. And you can always find ways of giving, whether it’s through sponsoring events or equipment in a workspace (or local Maker and hackerspaces), participating in teaching kids how to game, or cleaning up public spaces to get geeks some general good PR. There's nothing holding you back from finding ways to give.