Closing Report 2025
Berlin Collective Action

Berlin Collective Action e.V. is announcing its closure in January 2025 after struggling to continue to raise funds for the most vulnerable in Berlin, as well as helping the two community projects Trans* Sexworks and the Black Sex Worker Collective to found their own organisations.

Berlin Collective Action was started as an emergency fundraiser by queer nightlife organisers in Berlin to support nightlife workers who were facing crisis during the COVID-19 lockdown. We were able to raise over 150,000 € over the first two years to support the most vulnerable nightlife workers, and later extended our support network in collaboration with organisations like Schirlatzplatz Orga to migrants who were not able to access any government support due to the bureaucratic hurdles the government has and continues to put in place to harm those seeking asylum, migrants of the global south, s3x workers and people who have unclear documentation, which sometimes is as simple as having no Anmeldung due to the ongoing housing crisis in Berlin.

After our fundraising efforts depleted due to the lack of urgency of a reopened society and the false communication of an end of the pandemic, we shifted our focus to support specific organisations by working as a fiscal entity to facilitate application and reporting processes for grants for trans and migrant s3x workers' projects with the German government, ILGA and other institutional funders.

Many of the members of Berlin Collective Action started to leave the project after nightlife had been reopened due to the lack of capacity for additional unpaid labor within the queer community as well as a migration away from Berlin. After reduced the project will slowly come to an end, we decided to help our at-the-time main supported organisations "The Black Sex Worker Collective" as well as "Trans* Sexworks" to form their own independent registered non-profit organisations and close Berlin Collective Action.

Honoring the grief and mourning of those we lost during the COVID-19 pandemic means acknowledging the ways systemic oppressions—racism, ableism, classism, transphobia and more—intensified suffering and death. Marginalized communities bore the brunt of the crisis, denied access to adequate healthcare, financial stability, and protection, while governments and institutions prioritise profit over people. But grief is not passive; it can be a force for radical love and collective action. Mutual aid networks rose in response, proving again that community care is a form of resistance against the structures that abandon us, this will be essential as we face what is our present, as we witness the rise of fascism. As we remember our losses, we must also strengthen these networks, continuing to uplift and protect one another in the face of ongoing injustice. Raising awareness means fighting for a world where no one is left behind. Let our grief fuel our commitment to solidarity, so that remembrance is not just a passive act, but a call to action to build a future rooted in justice, care, and collective survival.

Looking back, we can be proud to have achieved a relief fund that helped many people in the period of the lockdowns, and further were able to help develop organisations into their own organisational structures so they can become their own fiscal entities and directly apply and redistribute grants as part of a legacy of community involved initiatives, which we hope will open more opportunities for funding and other types of support. Please follow and support BSWc and Trans* Sexworks and support their important mutual aid and advocacy efforts — the anti-s3x-work, anti migrant and anti-trans* politics have been getting stronger as part of the rise of fascism we can witness by the day.

We have now stopped all donations that were still automatically contributing to our fund. After paying out Trans* Sexworks donations, we will send the rest of the donations to GLADT e.V., as it is defined in our Vereinssatzung.

As a collective, we would like to express our gratitude to our co-founding member and standing board member and treasurer mx pinky, who has been the driving force behind the bureaucracy, infrastructure and administration of this verein from the start. Without her knowledge, dedication and loving attention, this fund would not have been able to have the reach or impact that it has had. Next to her a big thank you to long time members Ruin Kleiny, Nico W. and Björgvin who have participated continuously on different parts making the redistribution possible on the ground and the ability to communicate progress into all the outreach channels.

As we look back, we're grateful for the support and trust y'all have given us the last years so we could follow our responsibility and care for our community.

In solidarity,
Berlin Collective Action