Transparency Report 2021
During 2021 we raised 20.000€ through crowdfunding and redistributed 17.150€ of it to 120 people through an application process of 200 applicants. Another 1.000 € was donated to two organisations, with coliberationbln and Mutual Aid Queer Somali each receiving 500 €.
The vast majority of our applications 103 fell under “Risk Tier A”, meaning these are people who experience many intersections of systemic oppression plus a highly volatile financial situation. This was the highest number of cases we’ve processed during a single distribution committee and the large number of A cases meant we’ve had to seriously decrease the amount each applicant receives in order to offer support to all approved applications.
A pattern we’ve seen in our applications is that a lot of people who used to work under the table in restaurants, bars or hotels are not being hired again and are unable to find new work. This is because almost every business has had to apply for government support to survive in the past year and a half, meaning it has become much more likely that they will be audited in the years to come.
This is another way those most vulnerable to risk are impacted more heavily by the pandemic than anyone else. Not only have they not been able to access government support due to systematic oppression, they’ve also lot their main sources of income pre-pandemic and are left entirely to themselves to find new ways to survive.
The situation for street based sex workers has also significantly decreased over the past year and a half, with barely any clients showing up. Trans*Sexworks has seen a strong increase in violence towards sex workers, both by police and groups of men. This means a lot less workers come to the streets with less clients as a result of that. Sustaining oneself from what’s left is practically impossible.
This shows the ongoing urgency of direct and unbureaucratic financial support to the people who’ve applied to our fund and their peers. There are so many people in Berlin who have been systematically shut out of any kind of sustainable support, who can only survive through their own resilience and a handful of mutual aid networks. We need to make sure our network remains a part of that support system and continue to offer financial support to those in need.
The pattern we’ve seen is alarming and gives a harrowing look at worsening impact of the pandemic, even as a lot of us are returning to offices or finding new jobs, a large group of people is being left out and they’re being prevented from generating any kind of a stable income. We need the support of those who’ve resumed work, those who have income stability to donate to our fund in order to raise the kind of distribution budgets we need
