Team Lift Fest: A Charity Auction for Sports RPF

Harnessing the energy, intensity, and competitiveness of Sports RPF fandoms to raise money for sports initiatives serving underrepresented and/or marginalized athletes.

What Team Lift Fest Is

What is Team Lift Fest?
Team Lift Fest is a charity auction for Sports RPF fandoms (any and all!) Inspired by @/fandomtrumps hate, we’re here to utilize the energy, intensity, and competitiveness of Sports RPF fandoms to raise money for sports initiatives serving underrepresented and/or marginalized athletes.How does Team Lift Fest work?
Creators and contributors sign up to create 1-2 digital fanworks for Sports RPF. Bidders then have 5 days to bid on the auctions. Once we confirm winning bids and contact winners, winners then donate money to one of our suggested charities (read that page carefully), provide proof of their donation to the mods, then we’ll connect creators and bidders – and you’re off! Creators and contributors have approximately 8 months to create their work.Who can participate in Team Lift Fest?
Anyone over the age of 13 who is part of a Sports RPF fandom – any Sports RPF fandom! Hockey, motorsports, cycling, baseball, and more – if it can conceivably be called a sport and it has an RPF element, it is welcome in this auction. Please note that due to internet privacy laws, all bidders and contributors must be over the age of 13 as of September 1, 2024.What can I offer as a creator or contributor to Team Lift Fest?
Creators and contributors can offer 1-2 items for auction. These can be any digital fanwork you can think of! Fic, art, vidding, beta work, podficcing – if it is a digital fanwork or a digital fanservice for a sports RPF fandom, you are welcome to put it up for auction!Creators of physical fanworks – we love you, but in our first year we’re not set up to allow physical fanworks and fancrafts. We’re hoping to work out how to account for the unique considerations of fancrafts in the future, but this year, we’re not allowing physical fancrafts.What is the timeline of Team Lift Fest 2024?
Creator sign-ups: 9/22/24 - 10/3/24
Browsing period: 10/9-10/13
Bidding: 10/15-10/19
Proof of donations due: 11/2
Bidders and Creators make contact: 11/24
Creators have a workable prompt: 12/17
Final deadline for creators and contributors: 7/23/25How do I sign up?
Keep an eye on our Tumblr or email mods during Creator sign-ups for a link.How do we know you or the creators are not just pocketing the money?
Your mods and the creators never touch the money! Winning bidders donate directly to the charity (or charities), then send us a screenshot of their donation or a copy of their receipt to prove that they’ve donated and so that we can keep a running tally of donations. We let the creators know when their winning bidders have donated and connect the two of you.What charities do you support?
Read below! Read it carefully. Broadly, however, we’ve chosen 5 charities with net proceeds under $1m that support underrepresented or aspiring athletes and workers in sports. We’re hoping to raise money for these five charities – when a nonprofit is operating on a shoe-string budget, even small donations will help keep the lights on, and that’s what we’re hoping to do with these five!

Supported Nonprofits

This year, we’ve decided to focus our efforts on five nonprofits that assist, uplift, and remove barriers to entry for athletes. All five of these charities were chosen based on the following criteria: 1. Their focus is on underrepresented athletes, aspiring athletes, or people working in sports; 2. How much they have in net assets per reporting by ProPublica; we chose organizations that have reported under $1m in net assets*.*With the exception of Race for Racial Justice, which while listed on ProPublica, does not have financial information available.Additionally, creators are allowed to choose up to one sports nonprofit or charitable organization of their own to request donations for, and bidders are allowed to choose to donate to one geographically local sports nonprofit or charitable organization. Because some of the organizations we chose are subject to international finance laws, we’re hoping that this option allows contributors and bidders to donate to organizations local to their areas (take this as broadly as you want – could be neighborhood, could be province, could be your entire country!)Team Lift Fest Charities for 2024Black Girl Hockey Club: https://blackgirlhockeyclub.org/
About: A community space for Black women in hockey and the folks who love them. They are a nonprofit organization that focuses on making hockey more inclusive for Black women, their families, and allies. Their goal: to prevent exclusion in hockey based on race, gender, sexuality, or ability in the face of institutional racism, financial gatekeeping, and program access, they provide education, mentorship, scholarship opportunities, and community spaces that will give Black women access to hockey.Della Penna Motorsports Next Gen Foundation: https://www.dellapennafoundation.org/
About: Founded by Michelle Della Penna, daughter of renowned race car driver and Indycar team owner John Della Penna, the foundation aims to provide girls aged 5 to 16 with the knowledge, skills, and mentorship to fuel their future in motorsports. Their goal: to increase female representation in the industry, the foundation recognizes the importance of providing opportunities for girls to pursue their passion.Ride for Racial Justice: https://www.rideforracialjustice.org/
About: Ride for Racial Justice rides towards an equitable future for the sport of cycling through the power and freedom of the bicycle. Their mission is to ensure access to resources, education, and community for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) cyclists and to dismantle systemic racism. Their goal: To create representation, access and breaking down barriers to bikes and cycling for BIPOC youth and adults. Since founding, they have created programs to provide education and access to bikes, gear, racing, and community, especially for those in under-resourced communities.You Can Play: https://www.youcanplay.org/
About: You Can Play works with partners, sports, leagues, teams and individuals to ensure LGBTQ+ belonging at every level of the game. You may know them from their active work in the major and minor league partnerships. Their work: educational programming, inclusivity training, and policy consultation.USA Deaf Sports Association: https://usdeafsports.org/
About: USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF) serves as the national governing body of deaf sport organizations in the United States. Its purpose is to regulate the rules of competition for affiliated organizations, facilitate the participation of US teams in international deaf competitions, and promote human rights and equity through sports. Their goal: Assisting Deaf sports organizations in providing opportunities for athletes with hearing loss to compete among their peers at recreational, amateur or master levels.

Team Lift Fest can be found:

On Tumblr and by email at teamliftfest at gmail dot comHave a question we didn't answer?
Email us at teamliftfest at gmail dot com or DM us on Tumblr. Currently we do not have the Tumblr ask box open, as there are multiple mods and we need to track what people contact us about.