SWARM Collective fund

[Kev40ish]

Thats also probably true. Its noticeable in Lancashire that while the number of foreign girls on AW has dropped, the total number is about the same: there are a number of new British girls. Same for VS - just before the virus appeared the number dropped by 50 to around 150 following a series of arrests, its still at 150 though with a large turnover of profiles: few Asian, more Poles.
Its also noticeable that the number of girls showing phone numbers on AW has dropped.
Looks to me that a lot of "professional" girls have stopped for a while but been replaced by new recruits

Yes a lot more british girls on VS, seeking, tinder, craiglist.

The EE Pimps are still pushing the Romanian BB girls who haven’t gone home.

Chinese girls stuck in the UK are struggling and going back to work

[webpunter]

Someone i met donkeys ago mentioned bout the EE women coming over here to work on farms
In the 'land army'
He was involved in organizing this
Some of the more enterprising / fitter looking burds / those with better lingo soon after arriving branched out into hookering / massage as a sideline
Getting themselves a PAYG & advertising online & in shop windows for massage stuff
And going to pubs to sell themselves, which didn't go down well with local women [civvies especially]
Some loss of staff coming over as 80 quid a day for 10 hours in the fields could earned in an hour so they fucked off & left

Instead of taking hand outs they could be the modern day land army ... 

[cunningman]

The problem with your statement is that there is still no evidence that infection generates any kind of immunity. And even if it does, that would just open the likelihood of the virus mutating to avoid the resistance.

It won't mutate to avoid the resistance - it will/may mutate anyway.  At least we have an explanation now for why there are repeat positive tests, and so far as I've seen no suggestions of people then dieing.

Colds and flu seem problematic because there are a lot of mutations/strains.  If it goes that way, we are in deep shit.

But I think it is 'quite likely' that if you beat it, then you are immune *to that strain* for a while and:

• we don't know how many strains there are
  
• we don't know for how long
  

But it is clearly the case that the body sees off what you had, and the mechanism does have some memory.  Or you die.

[Malvolio]

Something to think about on a different tack...........this virus is in some ways likely to INCREASE punting demand. With pubs and nightclubs closed, the chances of meeting a civvie for casual sex are about nil. Thats going to push a lot of new guys into punting

It's a good point - I doubt if Kyle Walker would have hired those WGs if the nightclubs in Manchester were still open.

[webpunter]

Do you really think KW is gonna go trawling round clubs in Manc to pull a burd ??
Too many risks of being spotted & people taking pics & posting online
He just picked the wrong hookers
He might be out in the clubs now & again, laying the ground work choosing the fittest
However celebs will have 'staff' on hand to draw the chosen burds in [once initial contact made] & line em up

It's a good point - I doubt if Kyle Walker would have hired those WGs if the nightclubs in Manchester were still open.

[magnetico]

Is there any kind of transparency how that money raised will be used?

[Omerta101]

Is there any kind of transparency how that money raised will be used?

Cocaine and caviar

[dubs]

Is there any kind of transparency how that money raised will be used?

True.  Shouldn't it be classed as a charity if they are taking and distributing money?

[magnetico]

I can't see how much has been given.

I can't see when the fund was created exactly, and if it was started with a preexisting pool of money.

I can't see how sponsors/organisations can be featured on the page if they give money.

I can't see how/if the charity "Gift Aid" can be used when donating.

I can't see the people's names, business address, LTD or charity name, of the people behind SWARM.

I don't understand "All donations made to SWARM from 13th March - 30th April will go directly to this fund", so where is the donated money going after the 30th of April, and why are we in May and the donate button is still here?

I can't see how to register to receive some aid, as a sex worker. Probably because it's not possible?

[Home Alone]

True.  Shouldn't it be classed as a charity if they are taking and distributing money?

Sounds like something that ought to be of interest to either, or both of, the Charity Commission  and the Fundraising Regulator.

External Link/Members Only

[jesse4585]

I can't see how much has been given.

I can help with this.

They're not clearly stating what they received- looks like since they launched the hardship fund in mid March, they've took in about £110k from donors & close to 100k from the good folks at VivaStreet

I can't see when the fund was created exactly, and if it was started with a preexisting pool of money.

Yep they don't give an exact state. It was launched in mid March. It's highly unlikely they started with a  preexisting pot, though they were able to get an early commitment from Vivastreet to double up all donations received from mid March to April 30  (up to a max of 100k).

I can't see how sponsors/organisations can be featured on the page if they give money.

There's no facility for that, though they have given vivastreet many shout outs on their twitter etc.

I can't see how/if the charity "Gift Aid" can be used when donating.

It can't. (Just made another donation today, & there's still no option for it.)  They probably don't fancy going through the form filling process needed to set it up. In fairness, about 20% of the UK orgs I donate to don't provide a "Gift Aid" option.

I can't see the people's names, business address, LTD or charity name, of the people behind SWARM.

They're mainly x whores, and they don't like to advertise that sort of thing.

I don't understand "All donations made to SWARM from 13th March - 30th April will go directly to this fund", so where is the donated money going after the 30th of April, and why are we in May and the donate button is still here?

As it say here: External Link/Members Only
"Donations to SWARM from May 1st 2020 will first go towards covering SWARM’s core costs, with everything else put towards to the Hardship Fund"
Core costs will mean things like web hosting, rent for their physical premises, maybe a small personal allowance for the admins.

and why are we in May and the donate button is still here?

See above. Also, the orgs been running since 2009, and they've long accepted donations. No reason for them to remove the button even years down the line when all this is over.   In more normal times, there's two main things they do with what ever they receive: 

1)  provide general support for sex workers, e.g. breakfast drop ins to help WGs socialise with each other - handing out condoms to the less organised types who might need that - providing a friendly & understanding person for stressed out WG's to talk to. Not every one like to use forums, sometimes a voice call works much better.

2) They counter campaign against SWERFs who are trying to get UK  (or parts of UK )  to impose the Nordic model.  Could be wrong, but I don't think there's ever been much chance of the Nordic model taking off UK wide.   But back in 2013 there was a real risk in Scotland, which SWARM deserve much credit for heading off.

I can't see how to register to receive some aid, as a sex worker. Probably because it's not possible?

Correct.  As per External Link/Members Only  , they  " temporarily paused new applications " back on April 23.   They would have got thousands of applications, and it looks to me like they've only received enough cash to help out about 1,100 WGs, (& that's assuming that Vivastreet paid out - I'd think that's highly likely, but don't know for sure.)

Help this help you out buddy.   

[GingerNuts]

I can help with this...

You seem to know a lot about SWARM. What's your involvement with them?

[jesse4585]

You seem to know a lot about SWARM. What's your involvement with them?

Thank you. As stated earlier in this thread, I started donating to them after the lockdown.

Also, I'm a member of the Labour party, so I take an extra interest in the SWERFs attempts to impose the Nordic model, and the resistance to same.

[webpunter]

Donating to SWARM is as productive as contributing to the labour party 

Thank you. As stated earlier in this thread, I started donating to them after the lockdown.

Also, I'm a member of the Labour party, so I take an extra interest in the SWERFs attempts to impose the Nordic model, and the resistance to same.

Do you mean SWERFs or SMURFs ? 

[magnetico]

Core costs will mean things like web hosting, rent for their physical premises, maybe a small personal allowance for the admins.

Are you just speculating?

If there's zero public accounting, and the anonymous admins don't accept any prossies applications to receive cash, it's not complicated to guess where the money is going   

[jesse4585]

Are you just speculating?

If there's zero public accounting, and the anonymous admins don't accept any prossies applications to receive cash, it's not complicated to guess where the money is going   

They were accepting applications for more than a month -  as said they stopped because they were building up a big queue. Sadly there's far more WGs in need than they have funds to help.

While I'd not donated to SWARM until they launched the hardship fund,  I've been aware of thmy for years, per the fact I'm more interested than most in political struggle, especially radical feminists decades long campaign to criminalise punters.  SWARM have a good rep for fighting against that, & for helping out some of the more vulnerable sex workers.

This said,  I did note quite a few here seemed quite sceptical, so I did a little research to double check.  I went onto a certain WG forum, which I think we're not supposed to name.  Then I searched for phrases like 'SWARM'  & 'hardship fund'.   And I found posts from WGs talking about how they'd actually received the  £200 grants SWARM say they've been making.  This included posts from accounts that had been on there for years and made thousands of posts, so no reason to suspect it's not genuine.  It should only take you 5 mins to verify this, at least at basic level...  Said posts appeared in roughly the proportions I'd expect if SWARM really are distributing the estimated ~200k.

I'll admit, the  "small personal allowance" may not really be that small. I doubt it,  but the admins might be helping themselves to as much as maybe ~5k each per month. But they're definitely not pocketing all the donations.

 That's not speculation. It's analyses.

PS - I'm not going to further reply for at least a few weeks as one of the mods doesnt appreciate me talking too much on this subject.  So believe what you like. But I seem to remember you're the one who invented the "conveyor belt" metaphor for HoD, which says to me you're a chap who knows what's real...

[tesla]

I can't see how much has been given.

I can't see when the fund was created exactly, and if it was started with a preexisting pool of money.

I can't see how sponsors/organisations can be featured on the page if they give money.

I can't see how/if the charity "Gift Aid" can be used when donating.

I can't see the people's names, business address, LTD or charity name, of the people behind SWARM.

I don't understand "All donations made to SWARM from 13th March - 30th April will go directly to this fund", so where is the donated money going after the 30th of April, and why are we in May and the donate button is still here?

I can't see how to register to receive some aid, as a sex worker. Probably because it's not possible?

A lack of any transparency whatsoever.

[CheeseBoard]

Are you just speculating?

If there's zero public accounting, and the anonymous admins don't accept any prossies applications to receive cash, it's not complicated to guess where the money is going   

Hopefully HMRC have got wind of this.  If to be taken as credible it should be registered, and all monies in and out accounted for and audited properly.  Without looking into it further, sounds like a way for the people who set it up to take a load of cash out if it.  Especially if only doling out £200 per person.