Emergency Fund

Purpose

The OIC Emergency Fund is designed to support OIC Members who may be facing financial hardship and are in need of assistance.

Members who are facing other physical, mental or other barriers are encourage to fill out the second form at the bottom of this page so that we may be able to assist you in finding community supports through OIC Members, other sex work led organizations, or resources available outside of the sex work industry (ie. social/government services, non sex work orgs.).

Funding Criteria & Terms

Criteria

While we understand that no two emergencies are alike, OIC requires that applications for funding meet a certain criteria in order to be accepted for review.

Yes:

Applicant must be a member of OIC,
Applications may NOT be submitted on behalf of other providers.
Applicants may submit requests for funding for ESSENTIAL needs, such as but not limited to:
- Housing (rent, hydro/gas payments etc.)
- Food,
- Prescription costs,
- Non elective medical procedure expenses,
- Urgent medical expenses for children or pets
- Support through unexpected illness resulting in time off work
Applicants may submit requests for funding for NON ESSENTIAL needs, although these applications may or may not meet a significant enough requirement for funding and other resources may be suggested for you in these cases.

No:

Applications for the following will NOT be accepted, however support and resources may be available to you.
- Funding for ads, website, photoshoots or other marketing,
- Funding for spouses, parents or non-dependents (ie. dependents are children, pets, or being the sole caretaker of a disabled individual),
- Funding towards furnishing or start up costs of an incall location,
- Rent for incall location (residential or hotels/airbnbs),
- Funding for cosmetic or non medically necessary procedures,

Terms

Applicant’s are encouraged to provide documents such as bills, quotes, emails, etc. to support their requests for funding. Applicants may black out any personal information such as legal names or their address.
Applicant’s who abuse the Emergency Fund will be referred to the Conflict Resolution committee and may face consequences such as the removal from OIC or being black listed within the community.
Only long standing committee members will be responsible for collecting or disbursing funds.
If any committee members are found or suspected to be misusing collected funds they will be referred to the Conflict Resolution committee and potentially removed from OIC/blacklisted within the community.

Application Process

Fundraising

As OIC no longer holds a bank account, it has not been possible to collect and store monetary donations. This means that at this time, OIC is unable to disburse immediate financial aid.

Due to these circumstances, once an application has been received, vetted and approved, a call to action (either internally to OIC members or externally to the public) will be made.

Depending on the applicant’s needs, this call for fundraising will direct donors to make their donations to the individual via e-transfer or their preferred payment method, or donations will be accepted by committee members on the applicant’s behalf, in the form of cash, gifts cards, etc. and then given to the applicant in person.

Applications

Once an application is received it will be reviewed and vetted privately by 2-3 Committee members assigned to the task.
The applicant will be contacted to discuss their preferences for how they wish to receive donations and who they would like to share this fundraising request with (internally or externally).
Donations collected on behalf of the applicant will be given to the individual as quickly as possible.