Dear Ellen,
We believe that fans of One Direction deserve to be portrayed as the intelligent, thoughtful and diverse group they are. Too often, the media portray so called “Directioners” as hysterical and naive. When One Direction are next on your show, please consider featuring fans who have made a difference in the fandom and beyond. 1D Fans Give was started in October 2013 by Amy Flanagan, with a goal of raising $22,222 to honor Louis Tomlinson on his 22nd birthday; a goal that was surpassed with a final total of over $23,000 raised. As interest grew, the group quickly grew as well with additional volunteers and charity drives for each member of One Direction. To date, 1D Fans Give has raised more than $138,000 for charities to honor the members of One Direction. In addition to a number of media articles, they were featured on MTV’s Snapchat story. The group raises money through regular donations and individual donations of sales of arts and crafts. There are also auctions, raffles, matching donors, plus merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts and bracelets. Another popular fundraiser is an amazing 92 page full color fan art book, one of which Liam was delighted to receive from Amy when she attended the Baltimore show. One of the rainbow bracelets designed for Harry’s charity drive was worn by him on stage during a concert, in a wonderful show of support. Some of the charities helped have included: The British Asian Trust, Switchboard LGBT, Eden Dora Trust, Doctors Without Borders, and Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. Website: 1dfansgive.com
Take Me Home From Narnia was founded in April 2013 as a platform of action against LGBTQ+phobia and related bullying in the One Direction fandom. In February 2014 they launched the Rainbow Direction campaign. They encouraged fans of all sexual orientations and gender identifications, and supporters, to show rainbows at concerts and on their social media profiles, to create visibility and safe spaces. With close to 4300 participants during the Where We Are and On the Road Again tours, and more than 23000 people joining online, they got the attention of publications like MTV, Attitude, Advocate, and others. Fans dressed in rainbows, crafted rainbow and other pride items to hand out and educate others at concerts, rallied together to sell rainbow gear for charity, organized meetups and formed new friendships providing comfort, safety and hope to LGBTQ+ young people. They have been particularly grateful for the support all members of One Direction have shown to LGBTQ+ rights and to Rainbow Direction participants – who frequently get thumbs up by the band, and whose flags, on occasion, get waved around on stage. Website: rainbowdirection.com
Project “No Control” was started as a way to promote a fan favorite track off the One Direction album FOUR. At a time when fans were discouraged due to Zayn leaving and a perceived lack of official promotion for the album, four fans took it upon themselves to run with an idea for ‘releasing’ “No Control” as a single. In about a week, these fans organized the fifth largest Thunderclap ever which boasted 34,000+ participants for a social media reach of over 55 million, and set up a system for fans to gift “No Control” to those who could not afford to buy it themselves. They planned and oversaw a system of hashtags, mass-streaming of the song on Spotify, as well as uniting fans to call in to radio stations to request “No Control”. This effort was a huge success, leading to worldwide airplay and much media attention from outlets including Billboard and Pitchfork, as well as a heartfelt thankful response from the band. Liam and Louis still speak of the project and Louis even introduces the song at every concert with an acknowledgement of the project. Twitter: 1d_street_team
