This is a volunteer-run and donation-reliant hardship fund for poets in the UK.

After a decade of punitive austerity and a brutally mismanaged pandemic, the Poets’ Hardship Fund UK provides a channel for getting some money to poets who require it, without the kind of means-testing processes attached to similar kinds of efforts. While the scale of what we’re dealing with far exceeds any of our individual capacities for making change—the problems we’re seeking to address extending far beyond any discernible ‘poetry community’—we see this fund as, at least, ‘a start’. The premise is simple: give when you can and take when you can’t.

DONATIONS

As we’re entirely reliant on the contributions of people who can afford to support us, generous donations and real material support is essential to the fund’s functioning. We accept donations in the form of a one-off payment or a monthly standing order, all of which is massively appreciated. All donations can be made here https://tinyurl.com/poetshardshipfund, though if you’d like to send us a donation another way, please email us at poetshardshipfunduk@gmail.com and we can work something out.

LUDD GANG

All donors giving above £4 also have the option to subscribe to our bi-monthly magazine LUDD GANG full of some of our favourite poets and mates. The running of the magazine is essential to the fund becoming more sustainable and reliable. When making your donations please state in the PayPal message box whether you’d like a copy of LUDD GANG and the address we should post it to. All issues posted at the start of every other month.

VIEW + ORDER LATEST ISSUE HERE

ill pips

Some copies of ill pips, a compilation of poets from the POETS’ HARDSHIP FUND, are still available to order. All proceeds to the POETS’ HARDSHIP FUND

VIEW + ORDER HERE.

PAYMENTS

Because we are running with no outside funding, we will only be accepting requests of funds up to £50 per poet per month for the time being. Anyone who has requested funds can re-request for another £50 the following month. The fund opens on the 1st of every month.

Whilst we know this is absolutely insufficient in terms of providing long-term stability to those of us who need it most, we hope to be able to grow the fund, with the aim of establishing a more fully functional support network before long.

Every message we’re sent will be strictly confidential. We are highly aware of the fact that donors and those of us wanting to use the fund are putting a lot of trust in us. In the hope of making requests for funds more accessible for everyone there’ll be no explaining or form-filling required. We will also accept anonymous requests, or requests made on the behalf of others. The money doesn’t have to be for a project or a book; you’re a poet if you write poems. That’s it. 

For those wishing to request funds, please email us at poetshardshipfunduk@gmail.com with how much you need and the details necessary for transferring money to your PayPal account. We will aim to reply to every message within 48 hours, with the plan to distribute funds within a 72 hour window from the date of the request.

CONTACT

It would help us massively if anyone reading this distributed it to channels where it might make a difference. Whether that’s securing donations, gathering potential contributors for LUDD GANG, or getting word of the fund to those who need it, this whole thing is reliant on existing communities of poets. If you wish to sign up to a mailing list communicating information and updates about the fund and LUDD GANG, please let us know at poetshardshipfunduk@gmail.com. All donors and contributors will be signed up automatically.

Love and solidarity,

A, D & T