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Today we’re launching a $50,000 fund called The Creator Fund to support creators in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has already had a wide impact beyond those directly impacted by illness. As the secondary consequences affect the economy for creators and small businesses, there isn&#8217;t a safety net for creators with nowhere else to turn when their business revenue is slowed or eliminated.
As a mission-driven company made up of creators ourselves, our heart is with the creator community. Thanks to being bootstrapped, remote, and profitable, we&#8217;re in a position to provide financial support. This is deeply connected to our mission to help creators earn a living.
In that vein, we’ll be providing financial assistance to creators who are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19 until the fund runs out.
<h2>Do you qualify for funds?</h2>
The qualifying circumstances are fairly simple:
<ol>
<li>You are an active creator &#8211; evidenced by your business website or social profile</li>
<li>You are experiencing financial hardship due to circumstances related to COVID-19 &#8211; evidenced by anecdotal information from you</li>
<li>You have a need in one of the four categories we are supporting — evidenced by a receipt or invoice</li>
</ol>
The four categories of support we are helping to cover:
<ol>
<li>Medical — medical expenses related to COVID-19. These might be prescriptions you need to fill, testing based on symptoms, care for illness, etc</li>
<li>Groceries — normal groceries or reasonable supplies to prepare for quarantine. If you are struggling with tradeoffs between providing your family nourishment versus covering other essential expenses, you qualify.</li>
<li>Childcare — babysitters or other childcare needs due to your schools being canceled or keeping them home out of safety concerns. If you have increased childcare costs, you qualify.</li>
<li>Rent or mortgage — having a safe home environment in times like these is perhaps more important than anything. If you’re struggling to pay your rent or mortgage, you qualify.</li>
</ol>
We will provide funds on a first come first serve basis.
<h2>How to apply for funds</h2>
If you qualify for funds, please visit our Creator Fund landing page to apply.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take:
<ol>
<li>On the page, give us your name, email, business website or social profile, dollar amount needed, and category of expense</li>
<li>We’ll email you with two questions:
<ol>
<li>What are your circumstances that have led to financial need?</li>
<li>Do you have a receipt for the expense?</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Once we have that information from you, we’ll verify if you qualify and then ask for your PayPal username to send funds up to $500</li>
</ol>
We ask that you only apply for the funds that you need. Please shop as you normally would for groceries, hire the babysitter for the same price as normal and only for the time needed, etc.
The more honest you can be with us about your true need, the more creators we can support through this fund.
Inevitably, we will get more requests than we can support with the initial $50,000 fund. This is why we’ll be reaching out to our friends at peer organizations who also serve creators.
<h2>Let’s rally other companies in our community to contribute</h2>
We’ll be inviting peer organizations who serve the creator community to join us in contributing to the creator fund.
If you know anyone at YouTube, Squarespace, Patreon, Instagram, MailChimp, WordPress, Stripe, or any other creator-focused company, please encourage them to contribute to the fund so we can support as many creators as possible.
If you are interested in contributing to the fund or know someone who is, please get in touch with me at Barrett at Kit dot com.
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This is The Creator Fund, with love from Kit. We’re here for you, the creator community. If you want to let us know how else we can help, reach out on <a href="https://x.com/kit" target="_blank">X/Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>, or by email at help at kit dot com.

Supporting Creators in Need with The Creator Fund

Nathan Barry

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