Emergency Fund for The Access Network

Note: The Access Network Emergency Fund prioritizes anonymity. Please make your gift anonymous by selecting, "Don't display my name publicly on the campaign."

The Access Network is a community of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, staff, and faculty who co-work to create more equitable, inclusive, and accessible STEM spaces.  The network connects and supports student-driven programs at nine universities across the country.  You can learn more about us at our website!

In light of the covid pandemic, some of our students are struggling financially, and this Access Emergency Fund is intended to be a mutual aid network.  If you are part of the network (or not!) and have a little extra to give, we will distribute it to students within the network who need it.  In response to an interest survey for the emergency fund, members cited that they could use support in paying rent, buying groceries, and investing in technology needed for virtual learning and research.

We will be collecting and disbursing money to students in two-week cycles, and will post updates for transparency.  The updates will detail how much was collected and disbursed in each cycle, and the balance left in the fund. If there is any money left in our mutual aid fund at the end of this campaign, we will give the rest to student emergency funds at our member institutions.

In gauging interest for the emergency fund, both potential contributors and recipients said that they would be most comfortable participating with anonymity.  Therefore, we ask you to please make your contribution anonymously.  Public sharing of the GoFundMe is alright, but we would like to not have names of contributors listed on the campaign itself.  Even if you are comfortable with giving publicly, please respect the wishes of the others involved. 

If you have any concerns about the logistics of this process and would like clarity before contributing, please feel free to reach out to us via message.  There are also more details here. Your contribution will be treated as a gift, and is not tax-deductible. (And although this is highly unlikely, if you'd like to make a large gift ($15K or more), please speak with us via message as well beforehand to make sure we don't break any tax laws.  ':) )