Below you'll find the calendar for the tenth (!) FTH auction.
(What is FTH?)
Our list of supported organizations for 2026 is here. Over the next week, we'll be posting more in-depth profiles of each of these organizations so that creators and bidders can make thoughtful, informed decisions.
You can also look at the Auction FAQ (which has lots of useful information for people thinking about signing up as creators, as well as dedicated sections on bidding and on nonprofit orgs.) If youâre raring to go, you can also look at our bidding policies. You'll also find the dates for our 2026 Crafts Bazaar, if you're interested in creating or receiving physical fanworks.
FTH 2026 Calendar
Monday, Jan 26th: creator signups open for both the auction and the craft bazaar
Sunday, Feb 8th: creator signups close for the main auction; craft bazaar signups remain open!
Friday, Feb 27th: browsing period begins, craft bazaar opens
Saturday, March 7th, 8pm ET: auction bidding closes; craft bazaar remains open
Tuesday, March 3rd, 8am ET: auction bidding opens; craft bazaar signups close
Wednesday, Mar 18th: auction donations due; craft stalls close
Thursday, Dec 31st: fanworks due
We're excited to be back for another round, and we hope you are too! After all, the world needs us more than ever: our donations, our community care, and our joyful and inspiring fanworks. We need one another right now, and FTH is a great way to make that happen.
Now that the auction is over and your mods have slept for a week, we'd like to remind you to be mindful of how you talk about FTH when posting your completed fanworks to AO3.
Commercial promotion is not permitted on AO3, which their TOS defines as "promotion, solicitation, and advertisement of commercial products or activities." Even though FTH is an event that promotes donations for non-profits with fanworks gifted in return, talking about this with the wrong language could result in a warning, your fanwork being made private, or even suspension of your AO3 account. This is not just us being cautious. People have sent us real warning emails from AO3. You should read the Content Terms of Service and the relevant portions of the TOS FAQ (Especially on commercial promotion examples and charity drives) and make sure you're familiar with what they say.
Please note:
We have gotten further clarification from AO3 on some terminology that we'd thought was okay, but that they consider to fall under commercial promotion! You should also check your previous FTH works for any of these terms!
Here are some language Dos and Don'ts for talking about FTH on ao3:
Don't use:
Bid/Bidder
Donation
Auction
Commission
Sale
Payment
Buyer
Any reference to amounts of money
Links to your specific auction (more relevant during the auction if you're trying to promote it via other fics)
Links to an organization's donation page or other fundraising pages
Do use:
Thank you to [bidder name] for choosing me in FTH
I'm delighted to gift this work to [bidder name] via FTH
This fic is for the winner of my FTH offering, [bidder name]
I'm proud to be supporting [non-profit name] with the creaton of this fanwork, thanks to the support of [bidder name] via FTH
Links to the main FTH social media accounts or FAQs
AO3 forbids anything that could be the solicitation of the exchange of money or links to fundraising platforms. While we appreciate you promoting FTH within your fanworks, you can leave the explanation of the auction to our tumblr or dreamwidth page, in order to avoid using any language AO3 may not approve of in your notes.
Now that the auction is over and your mods have slept for a week, we'd like to remind you to be mindful of how you talk about FTH when posting your completed fanworks to AO3.
Commercial promotion is not permitted on AO3, which their TOS defines as "promotion, solicitation, and advertisement of commercial products or activities." Even though FTH is an event that promotes donations for non-profits with fanworks gifted in return, talking about this with the wrong language could result in a warning, your fanwork being made private, or even suspension of your AO3 account. This is not just us being cautious. People have sent us real warning emails from AO3. You should read the Content Terms of Service and the relevant portions of the TOS FAQ (Especially on commercial promotion examples and charity drives) and make sure you're familiar with what they say.
Please note:
We have gotten further clarification from AO3 on some terminology that we'd thought was okay, but that they consider to fall under commercial promotion! You should also check your previous FTH works for any of these terms!
Here are some language Dos and Don'ts for talking about FTH on ao3:
Don't use:
Bid/Bidder
Donation
Auction
Commission
Sale
Payment
Buyer
Any reference to amounts of money
Links to your specific auction (more relevant during the auction if you're trying to promote it via other fics)
Links to an organization's donation page or other fundraising pages
Do use:
Thank you to [bidder name] for choosing me in FTH
I'm delighted to gift this work to [bidder name] via FTH
This fic is for the winner of my FTH offering, [bidder name]
I'm proud to be supporting [non-profit name] with the creaton of this fanwork, thanks to the support of [bidder name] via FTH
Links to the main FTH social media accounts or FAQs
AO3 forbids anything that could be the solicitation of the exchange of money or links to fundraising platforms. While we appreciate you promoting FTH within your fanworks, you can leave the explanation of the auction to our tumblr or dreamwidth page, in order to avoid using any language AO3 may not approve of in your notes.
Okay, high bidders (and second chance bidders). If you haven't already, NOW IS THE TIME to REPLY to your creators so that they at least know you are still alive. We promise they really want to hear from you, and they are excited to get started on your fanwork! Even if you aren't sure what you want yet, please at least show some signs of life so they don't give up on you. We've been getting emails from worried creators whose bidders have not responded.
If you made your donation and haven't heard from your creator, CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER.
Creators, if you are still waiting to hear back from someone, give them one last nudge and then email us and we will email them.
Now that the auction is over and your mods have slept for a week, we'd like to remind you to be mindful of how you talk about FTH when posting your completed fanworks to AO3.
Commercial promotion is not permitted on AO3, which their TOS defines as "promotion, solicitation, and advertisement of commercial products or activities." Even though FTH is an event that promotes donations for non-profits with fanworks gifted in return, talking about this with the wrong language could result in a warning, your fanwork being made private, or even suspension of your AO3 account. This is not just us being cautious. People have sent us real warning emails from AO3. You should read the Content Terms of Service and the relevant portions of the TOS FAQ (Especially on commercial promotion examples and charity drives) and make sure you're familiar with what they say.
Please note:
We have gotten further clarification from AO3 on some terminology that we'd thought was okay, but that they consider to fall under commercial promotion! You should also check your previous FTH works for any of these terms!
Here are some language Dos and Don'ts for talking about FTH on ao3:
Don't use:
Bid/Bidder
Donation
Auction
Commission
Sale
Payment
Buyer
Any reference to amounts of money
Links to your specific auction (more relevant during the auction if you're trying to promote it via other fics)
Links to an organization's donation page or other fundraising pages
Do use:
Thank you to [bidder name] for choosing me in FTH
I'm delighted to gift this work to [bidder name] via FTH
This fic is for the winner of my FTH offering, [bidder name]
I'm proud to be supporting [non-profit name] with the creaton of this fanwork, thanks to the support of [bidder name] via FTH
Links to the main FTH social media accounts or FAQs
AO3 forbids anything that could be the solicitation of the exchange of money or links to fundraising platforms. While we appreciate you promoting FTH within your fanworks, you can leave the explanation of the auction to our tumblr or dreamwidth page, in order to avoid using any language AO3 may not approve of in your notes.
Now that the auction is over and your mods have slept for a week, we'd like to remind you to be mindful of how you talk about FTH when posting your completed fanworks to AO3.
Commercial promotion is not permitted on AO3, which their TOS defines as "promotion, solicitation, and advertisement of commercial products or activities." Even though FTH is an event that promotes donations for non-profits with fanworks gifted in return, talking about this with the wrong language could result in a warning, your fanwork being made private, or even suspension of your AO3 account. This is not just us being cautious. People have sent us real warning emails from AO3. You should read the Content Terms of Service and the relevant portions of the TOS FAQ (Especially on commercial promotion examples and charity drives) and make sure you're familiar with what they say.
Please note:
We have gotten further clarification from AO3 on some terminology that we'd thought was okay, but that they consider to fall under commercial promotion! You should also check your previous FTH works for any of these terms!
Here are some language Dos and Don'ts for talking about FTH on ao3:
Don't use:
Bid/Bidder
Donation
Auction
Commission
Sale
Payment
Buyer
Any reference to amounts of money
Links to your specific auction (more relevant during the auction if you're trying to promote it via other fics)
Links to an organization's donation page or other fundraising pages
Do use:
Thank you to [bidder name] for choosing me in FTH
I'm delighted to gift this work to [bidder name] via FTH
This fic is for the winner of my FTH offering, [bidder name]
I'm proud to be supporting [non-profit name] with the creaton of this fanwork, thanks to the support of [bidder name] via FTH
Links to the main FTH social media accounts or FAQs
AO3 forbids anything that could be the solicitation of the exchange of money or links to fundraising platforms. While we appreciate you promoting FTH within your fanworks, you can leave the explanation of the auction to our tumblr or dreamwidth page, in order to avoid using any language AO3 may not approve of in your notes.
Creators, now is the time to reach out to your fanwork recipients if you have not done so already. Even if it's just a quick note to say that you'll have more time to chat later, they need to hear from you by today.
Bidders, if you still have not heard from your creator, send them a nudge. If there's no answer, send us an email and we will reach out on your behalf.
The deadline for bidders to respond to creators is April 15th.
As donation receipts started rolling in, we received an email from Wendy Via, co-founder and CEO of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which we want to share with all of you:
Hello again Fandom Trumps Hate team!
Iâm writing to sincerely thank you for remembering us again this year. I can't tell you how much FTH's participation means to us and what a difference these gifts will make. And more important is the way your community stands even though the political climate makes it difficult. Please extend our appreciation to your community. It's hard to believe that this year is more challenging than last, but we haven't stopped. We're making progress against the anti-rights and anti-democracy actors. Thank you for spreading the word! Together, we'll make a difference.Â
With sincere gratitude and very best wishes for the future.
Wendy
Wendy is a long-time organizer; she knows meaningful work when she sees it. All of us should be really proud of what we've accomplished together.
(also: we held an AMA with Wendy over at @fthaction last spring about how GPAHE got started, and their current work, and about the things each of us can do that make a difference: you can listen to it here, and find links to some of the resources she recommended.)
Disability Law United has posted a note of appreciation about the auction on their social media accounts! (The screenshots above are from bluesky, post linked here; it's also on Facebook and Instagram.)
DLU is an incredible organization, but they're tiny -- and that means every single donation matters, for them and for the other amazing-but-tiny nonprofits on our list. (Which is all of them! FTH is committed to supporting small organizations, and this is why.)
Be proud of yourselves, everyone. We've made a real difference together.
This was a big year for FTH -- our tenth auction, and a big year in one other important way, too.
This year, we've got two big numbers to announce.
This year, thousands (yes, thousands!) of us showed up to share our time, talents and goodwill with one another and raise some money for our most vulnerable neighbors and the organizations that support them. Together, we supported the fights for trans rights, for immigrant rights, and for the rights of the disabled; we helped fund local journalism and local clean-energy advocacy; we helped feed the hungry, in Gaza and in our own neighborhoods around the world; and so much more.
Together, we raised....
...
(drumroll please)
...
Warning: Fabulously glittery number incoming!
...
...
But that's not all.
We knew there was no way we'd quite match last year's annual total -- everybody was motivated the recent election, and the damage of the new presidential admin was still in its early ramp-up. Still, we were hoping that enough folks would show up for FTH 2026 that we could raise a combined ~$70K, and push us to a major ten-year fundraising milestone.
As you can see, we blew way, way past that this year.
That brings FTH's ten-year fundraising total to:
That's right, over the past decade, as a community we have generated over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS in donations to progressive nonprofits!!
Yes, actually. We triple checked. Holy shit?!
Below you'll find the breakdown of how this year's donations were distributed across different organizations (this breakdown doesnât include employer match donations, which is why the total is a little lower):
Advocates for Trans Equality  - $17,313.86
Disability Law United  - $4,019.01
Environmental Integrity Project  - $4,049
Fight for the Future Education Fund  - $3,388
Freedom to Read Foundation  - $8,689.54
Gaza Soup Kitchen  - $20,362
Global Project Against Hate and Extremism  - $5,306.27
Greenlight America  - $2,732
In Our Own Voice  - $3,052
National Immigrant Justice Center  - $16,675.24
Never Again Action  - $5,452
Open Secrets  - $2,706
Vote Beat  - $2,067
Other organizations:Â Â - $1,548
Umbrella: anti-poverty direct aid orgs
Echo Food Bank  - $1,623
Madison Countians Allied Against Poverty  - $293.43
Peninsula Poverty Response  - $772
Sisters PGHÂ Â - $1,653
St. Louis Park Emergency Program  - $565
Womens Daytime Drop-in Center  - $910
Other anti-poverty direct aid orgs  - $4,266.17
So what's next?
Now is a great time to follow the @fth2026fanworks account. We'll use that blog to share any auction fanwork that gets posted to tumblr.
We urge you to keep up with the organizations you supported this year (and the others on our list!) Follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletters, whatever works best for you. It will enable you to keep an eye on the good work youâve helped support, and to find out quickly when these orgs need some extra help, financial or otherwise.
And if youâre looking out at the world and feeling the itch to do more, here are some possibilities:
Follow @fthaction, the meatspace activism wing of FTH. We relaunched FTHA last year with some reading lists, an individualized activism bingo card, a couple of AMAs with some talented organizers and activists on our dedicated FTHA discord server, and some stories from folks on tumblr, talking about how they themselves got more politically active. We're still figuring out the best and most useful things we can do this with project, but we'd love your thoughts and we hope you'll join us for the ride, on tumblr or on our discord server (linked above) or both.
Organize your own auction! Weâve put together a detailed playbook that contains as much information and as many resources as we can provide for getting an auction off the ground, including detailed guides. Almost everything in the playbook is fully public; there are a few forms that are access-locked because google has stupid ideas about sharing forms, but weâre happy to give you access to those, too: just drop us an email.
As usual, we the mods are pretty wiped out and will need to take some time away from our screens to recuperate. But also as usual, it's completely worth the effort. We're so deeply inspired by what we've accomplished together, and by all of y'all who keep showing up, year after year, to be lights for one another in dark times. We'll see you again next year.
We've started getting some emails from anxious bidders who haven't yet heard from their creators, and from concerned creators who have reached out to their bidders but haven't yet heard back.
First, we want to reassure you: we do have contact deadlines for both bidders and creators!
creators are expected to reach out to their bidders by April 1st.
bidders are expected to reply to their creators by April 15th.
Once you are both in contact, the deadline for bidders to provide a workable prompt is June 30th.
Even if first contact is just a brief note that says "hello, this is a busy week/month for me but we'll catch up later," we do expect participants to meet these deadlines.
If a relevant deadline has passed without contact, try reaching out to remind your creator/bidder of the deadline to help your arrangement stay on track. If you still haven't heard from your creator or bidder after that, send us an email: we will step in and help.
The other important thing to note is that these deadlines are still some time away. If you haven't yet heard from your creator or bidder, that doesn't mean that something has gone wrong! The auction isn't even officially over yet; lots of people have crunch periods at school or work, or other sorts of events, that command their full attention for a week or two.
Please be patient for now, and do feel free to get in touch if the deadline has passed and you're still waiting.
Earlier this auction season, we expanded our policy against the use of generative AI in any part of FTH.
The response to this policy has been overwhelmingly positive in the two weeks since we posted it, and weâre glad about that. But there are a handful of people who have picked up on the part about keeping records of your work in progress, and are worried that we included that because we are planning on subjecting creators to heightened scrutiny.
Weâre writing this extension now to allay those concerns, and clarify why we wrote what we did.
First and foremost: we respect and appreciate every single person who creates for the auction using their own talents and mind. Our aim in this updated policy is to protect our creators and to preserve the auction as a protected creative space for people who value one anotherâs creative efforts. The forceful tone of our statement was not meant to intimidate, but rather to erect a protective boundary around the auction, in order to create an environment where participants can trust one another's authenticity.Â
Unfortunately, drawing that kind of firm boundary is increasingly necessary as the world changes and genAI usage becomes more normalized. We really, really wish this werenât the caseâbut it is. We the mod team see the shift to genAI in our professional lives as educators and IT workers; but we also saw it in the dozens of auction posts this year in which creators put warnings in their auction notes, indicating that potential bidders were not to request fanworks based on AI-generated content. We realized that we would be letting those creators down by not establishing and maintaining that boundary for them. Thatâs why it is so important to us to make it clear to people inclined to use generative AI that they are unwelcome in this event. We also want to be clear that our policy goes both ways: if someone is asking you to create a fanwork based on AI-generated material, you have recourse. You can reach out to us, and we will help you.
We believe that firmly stating this stance is the best way to create an environment where we seldom need to act as enforcers. We are not interested in policing auction participants (nor do any of us have the time to do so), and we really donât want to have to adopt the mindset that would be necessary to be on the lookout all the time.Â
We have not written and posted this policy because we want FTH to change. We have done it because the world is already changing, and we are trying to get ahead of all these problems by enacting a more extensive policy than the "no AI" rule that a lot of fandom events use. In fact, we hope that by laying out robust reasoning and practices, we can help the mods for other fandom events figure out how to craft more concrete policies of their own. Because the fact is that, sooner or later, we (and they) will need concrete policies. The next time a bidder comes to us with concerns about an FTH work being generated with AI, or a creator expresses concern about being asked to illustrate or record or remix a slopfic, we would have to deal with it whether or not we had ever set out an official policy. We would have to look at the work ourselves, decide whether it was likely enough to be worth pursuing, and then talk to the creator or bidder and see if they could provide evidence. Having this policy can also help us maintain better relationships between creators and bidders when somebody does have suspicions about generative AI use: those with genuine concerns deserve a hearing, and those who are doing their own work deserve a full exoneration in the eyes of the person they are working with.
We urge people to keep a record of their own creative process because, as genAI becomes more normalized, there is going to be a lot more uncertainty about provenance going around, in professional and academic settings as well as in fandom. (For what itâs worth: though proof of human creation is the most hot-button concern, the process is basically identical to proving a work wasnât plagiarized. The reasoning may be new, but the processes are largely what you would already do by rote). We are not suggesting that anyone change their style, or even go out of their way to produce a paper trail; we are simply noting that the preservation of work history, in whatever format makes sense for the thing you're making, will make it easier to shut down any question of genAI use.Â
Even if saving and storing a couple of work-in-progress files seems onerous, there are lots of things that can serve as evidence of your creative process! To give just a few examples:
Many word processors save a version history automatically with dates linked to changes
People often keep backup copies of their raw files in the event of a crash
Artists sometimes share progress pictures publicly or privately as they work (even just a screenshot sent to a friend via DM)
Recruiting the help of beta readers means there will be multiple versions of one piece with slight differences as they get feedback.
These are all things that would constitute âproof of workâ, should you ever need it (in the course of this auction or for any other reason).Â
If this policy makes you uncomfortable about participating in future FTH auctions, then we understand your decision to step back. That being said: we think itâs overwhelmingly likely that other fandom events will start adopting similar policies, once the changing world forces them to get more specific than âno AI.â We would not have felt compelled to write this policy if we didnât see those changes coming. Believe us, we hate them too. We hate that generative AI has forced us into a position where this kind of boundary is required. But that is now the world we are in, and itâs only getting worse. We are trying to create a protected space within that wider landscape, and given how insidious genAI has become, we cannot protect it effectively without a strong boundary and some outward-facing spikes.
Your work is important because you created it, and we will always fight for that.
Don't forget to fill out the Completed Fanworks form!
Some of our enterprising participants have already completed their fanworks. Wow! We're always blown away by the love and enthusiasm for creating we see during this event. However, please don't forget to fill out the Completed Fanworks form. We don't always catch every @ mention that comes through our notifs - especially right now, while we're still wrapping up various important tasks behind the scenes.
You can find the link to the form in the email notifying you that your bidder has donated, or here on our blog.
Want to see what our creators have made so far?
We just created this year's offerings blog, @fth2026fanworks. Make sure to stop by and give the blog a follow if you'd like to see all the amazing things our creators make throughout the year. Posts to follow shortly!
The deadline for high bids is TODAY. Get your high bid donations in ASAP! Any high bidders who fail to donate by tomorrow will be disallowed from bidding in future auctions.
Second bid donations are due in two days!
If your creator has offered a second chance fanwork, your donation is due on the 20th of March. Unlike with high bids, we will not notify you if you don't donate in time, so make sure you don't forget!
If you have already donated for your high or second bids, and you haven't received your donation confirmation email yet, check your spam/junk folder (and any additional tabs or folders your inbox might have where mail could get sorted automatically). If you still can't find it, email us ASAP.
We've gotten several emails in the past day from folks wondering why we haven't processed donation emails yet. Please remember that there are just a handful of us volunteers running the auction, and we all have jobs and families and other obligations that demand our time and attention. We are doing our best to keep up with donation receipts as they are submitted, but there may be a couple of days' delay.
Also, please do wait to hear from us before contacting your bidder/creator! There are a very small handful of auctions every year that fall through in the donation phase, for one reason or another, and it's always much messier and more miserable if bidder and creator have already made contact (or attempted to.)
a couple of not-as-supported orgs that could use some love
As is typical for post-auction donation period, we on the mod team are having a great time watching Number Go Up. It's also pretty typical that some of our supported organizations are getting a lot more support than others⊠but the disparity is especially dramatic this year. Right now, our three most popular orgs â Gaza Soup Kitchen, National Immigrant Justice Coalition, and Advocates 4 Trans Equality â have received over 55% of the total amount donated. (Given that we've got thirteen orgs on the list plus our anti-poverty umbrella category, that's a huge percentage.)
So we wanted to take some time to highlight four five amazing orgs on our list that are each getting under 3% of total donations so far. If you haven't donated yet, or are considering an extra donation on behalf of ROFL, please keep these fantastic orgs in mind!
Fight for the Future Education Fund works for freedom and equality in the digital sphere. Through advocacy, education and creative campaigning, they fight to ensure that technology is a force for empowerment, free expression, and liberation rather than tyranny, corruption, and structural inequality. Their work -- as shown in their campaign to take back power from data brokers -- combines policy-level interventions with education about the steps individuals can take to protect themselves and their neighbors.
Greenlight America gives ordinary citizens a pathway to fight climate change by helping them advocate successfully for clean energy. A unique team of grassroots campaigners, clean energy experts, public policy professionals, communications specialists, and coalition builders, GA helps mobilize and support local groups and volunteers who want to get utility-scale clean energy projects built in their communities.â In so doing, they do two vitally important things: they drive meaningful progress toward environmentally safer and more sustainable energy, and they offer people who feel frightened and helpless a path toward participating meaningfully in positive change.
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda fights to secure reproductive justice for all Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people. In coordination with state partners, IOOV works with key decision makers to shape public policy to address the many interconnected issues and the unique reproductive health concerns of Black women. Those include the right to health care, dignified birth, and access to abortion care; equity in housing and education; fair employment and clean water; and the full range of social, economic, political, and cultural supports needed for Black women and families to thrive.
Open Secrets works for transparency in a vital domain of politics: money. They track the movement of money in US politics, and chronicle its effects on both elections and public policy. By creating high-quality and timely datasets and publishing analysis and reports, they work to fuel conversation among journalists and policymakers alike. OpenSecrets also regularly works with media outlets and journalists to provide exclusive data and analysis to power investigations alongside their own original reporting.
VoteBeat is working at two vital junctures for democracy: reinvigorating local journalism and reengaging Americans in local politics. VoteBeat reporters embed for three-month stints in local nonprofit newsrooms that provide expert knowledge of their communities. In addition to providing critical nonpartisan coverage of election-related issues at all levels of government, VoteBeat seeks to revitalize political reporting at the local level.
As our second chance bid offer to creators has gone out a little later than usual this year, please check your email ASAP. Make sure to also check any additional tabs in your inbox, such as your social and promotional tabs (and of course, always check your spam folder if you are expecting an email and can't find it!). We have received some reports that the second chance bid offer email has been sorted into the "promotional" tab of some inboxes.
We will only process second chance bid offers that are submitted through the form included in the email. If you'd like to offer a fanwork to your second place bidder, don't delay! We need to hear from you by end-of-day on the 14th of March.
Bidders: here are some numbers to help you decide which org to support!
We've received many generous donations to all of our supported nonprofits. As always, some get a little more love than others. If you're looking to support an org that hasn't received as many donations so far, the orgs with the fewest donations are:
Madison Countians Allied Against Poverty (MadCAAP)
St. Louis Park Emergency Program (STEP)
Votebeat
Peninsula Poverty Response
All of these orgs have received less than 500$ in donations.
The orgs with the most donations are:
Gaza Soup Kitchen (which has already received over $10,000!)
National Immigrant Justice Center
Advocates for Trans Equality
Lastly, remember: if you're donating on behalf of our Regiment of Fan Labourers (ROFL), you can make a donation to one of seven previously supported organisations, such as Sherlock's Homes or Hope for Ukraine.