Thank you & Logging Off

It is with a heavy heart and deep gratitude that we announce that Uplift will be ending our journey as an organization.

The constantly evolving nature of online communities and conventions — especially since the pandemic — have brought many challenges that our volunteer staff simply have not been able to adequately tackle.

We are proud of the work we have been able to do over the last nine years and so grateful for all of your support.

Some highlights:

• Our Safer Community pledge in 2014 reached 95,000 people across YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, and conventions like VidCon.
• We trained hundreds of convention volunteers across five cons on responding to incidents, bystander intervention at cons, and supporting survivors.
• Attendees at 8 events took our Elephant at the Con convention safety surveys and our reports provided staff, volunteers, and attendees with actionable steps to improve attendee safety.
• We worked in the expo hall at VidCon, LeakyCon, GeekyCon, NerdCon, MAGFest, PAXEast, and Tekko. That’s where we met many of you!

“Over the last 8 years at Uplift, I’ve managed our convention presence and run several of our campaigns. I enjoyed brainstorming how to engage the audience in the expo hall for each event and making our resources better and better over the years. At our booth, I had the opportunity to have important conversations with survivors, parents, and sometimes children about consent, safer online communities, and supporting survivors. I’m so grateful for all of our volunteers over the years (especially at VidCon) and I know I’ve made lifelong friends through my time at the cons.”

- Christine, Programs Director

“I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of Uplift’s growth from a small task force to a fully fledged non-profit. In that time, I’ve had the honor of working with extraordinarily talented people on issues that truly mattered. It has been one of the joys of my life to work towards a better world together with our community.”

- Joan, Executive Director

Moving Forward

Thankfully, moving forward, Fandom Forward (FF) has offered to house our resources, so they will continue to be available. In the New Year, you’ll be able to access them at FandomForward.org/Resources.

• Our YouTube channel — featuring prominent creators discussing sex ed topics — will stay up.
• Our text resources hosted on Medium — including our five part series on Creator / Fan relationships, our guide to creating a code of conduct, and creating safe conventions.
• Our course for online community leaders.

FF has always been a close partner of Uplift. Its founders were essential voices in our founding, and the organizations have supported each other at conventions and during the fundraising campaign Project for Awesome for years. We are so grateful that our work will be living on with them.

We are grateful, too, for the unwavering support from the YouTube community, fandom communities, and all of our supporters through the years. It is only in partnership with our volunteers and donors that we have been able to make the impact that we were able to achieve.

Thank you,

Joan Miller, Executive Director

Christine Chapman, Programs Director

Skye Walker, Communications Director

Caitlin LeMay, Operations Director