These are 16 emergency funds for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and for translators, freelance writers and journalists. Most have geographic restrictions; many are for US writers or creators, and a few don’t specify if there are any citizenship or residency requirements. Some have deadlines, some are on an ongoing basis, and a few are on a first-come-first-served basis.
Some are specific funds set up for the current health crisis. I’ve included a few sources for this list at the end, for writers and freelance workers in various fields, and most of these are being updated periodically. – S. Kalekar
PEN America Writers Emergency
Funds
This is a fund for US-based fiction
and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and
journalists. Their website says, “PEN
America is expanding its long-standing Writers’ Emergency Fund as part of our
efforts to support the literary community at a time when the health and
livelihoods of so many are at risk. We recognize that there are writers who no
longer have access to any of the ways in which they have supported themselves,
and that this has happened very suddenly and will last for a period none of us
can predict. In response, PEN America will distribute grants of $500 to $1,000
based on applications that demonstrate an inability to meet an acute financial
need, especially one resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. … To
be eligible, applicants must be based in the United States, be a professional
writer, and be able to demonstrate that a small, one-time grant will be
meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation.” Details here.
Authors League Fund
This
emergency fund helps US-based writers, regardless of citizenship. It is for
authors, dramatists, journalists, and poets. Recipients must be career writers
with a substantial body of work in one of more of the following categories: 1) Book authors with at least one title published by
an established traditional publisher. Authors with multiple titles are given priority;
2) Dramatists whose full-length
plays have been produced in mid-size or large theaters and/or published by
established dramatic presses; 3) Journalists,
critics, essayists, short story writers, and poets with a substantial body of
work in periodicals with a national or broad circulation. Common
applicants include: writers of any age in ill health, or supporting a dependent
family member in ill health; writers facing overwhelming medical or dental
expenses; writers suffering financial crises unrelated to health, such as
unexpected loss of income, temporary unemployment or underemployment, eviction
proceedings, or similar; writers struggling after a natural disaster. Priority
is given to sick and/or older authors in need. Details here.
American Society of
Journalists and Authors: Writers Emergency Assistance Fund
The fund is for helping established
freelance writers who, because of advanced age, illness, disability, a natural
disaster, or an extraordinary professional crisis are unable to work. Writers
need not be members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA),
but must have credentials that would qualify them for an ASJA membership.
Writers need not live in the US. Details here.
Dramatists Guild Foundation Emergency Grants
Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) provides one-time emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness. Their website says, “As you are aware, news is constantly unfolding regarding new cases of COVID-19, in the US, and around the globe. In the midst of this situation, DGF will be processing Emergency Grants based on severity of need, especially as it relates to COVID-19.” DGF Emergency Grants regularly support costs associated with healthcare, childcare, housing, disability, natural disaster relief, and other unforeseen circumstances. Requests typically range between $500-$3,000. See their form for eligibility requirements. Details here.
Writers’ Trust of
Canada: Woodcock Fund
This is a last-resource emergency resource for Canadian writers who
face unforeseen financial crisis, who are engaged in a book-length work. Writers should have published at least two books, or an
equivalent body of work. Eligible categories are fiction,
creative non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, or children’s literature. The
program is not intended to be a means of support
for writers challenged to earn an income. A crisis of some nature is necessary
to be considered. Screenwriting, formulistic romance
writing or journalism are not eligible. The fund amounts are typically $2,000-$10,000 (Canadian).
Details here and here.
SFWA Emergency Medical Fund
This is a fund created by the Science Fiction and
Fantasy Writers of America, to help SF/fantasy writers pay for funds not
covered by medical insurance. The fund is only to cover short-term medical
expenses, for emergencies that interfere with the ability to write.
Details here.
The Haven Foundation Grants
This is a
fund for legal US residents. This foundation, established by Stephen King,
gives financial assistance to help established
freelance artists, including authors and screenwriters, who have suffered
disabilities or a career-threatening illness, accident, natural disaster or
personal catastrophe. The deadline to apply is 17 July 2020, and applications have
to be mailed. Details
here.
Regarding Covid-19, their website lists the foundations they are giving funding
to, since they do not give emergency grants, and encourage members of the fine arts
community that have lost their work due to COVID-19 to apply. Details here.
Carnegie Fund for Authors
Their website says, “The
applicant must be an American author who has published at least one full-length
work — fiction or nonfiction — that has been published by a mainstream
publisher. Applicants cannot have eligibility determined by a work that they
paid to have published. A work may have been published in eBook format only, or
in hardcover or softcover format, or in more than one format.
An applicant must demonstrate need; the emergency may be because of illness or
some other urgent need such as fire, flood, hurricane, etc. Documentation
should be included with the application: a doctor’s letter or other proof of
the emergency situation.” Details here.
Shade Literary Arts:
Queer Writers of Color Relief Fund
They have started a GoFundMe page for queer writers of color.
The website says, the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak in the US and globally
“has major affects on the literature community as a whole and puts queer
writers of color in stressful situations … This fund is to help at least 100
queer writers of color who have been financially impacted by the current
COVID-19. Priority will be given to queer trans women of color and queer
disabled writers of color, but I hope this relief fund will help many queer
writers of color it can.” An update on their page on 19 March says, “At this time, we are able to give the minimum of $100 and a
maximum of $500. We are hoping to increase this as we get more donations.”
Details here.
Bret Adams & Paul Reisch Foundation: Idea Awards COVID-19 Response Grant Lottery
This is a fund for playwrights, composers, lyricists, or librettists. You can apply if you have had a full professional production (defined for these purposes as a LORT, Off-Broadway, or Broadway production, not a reading or workshop) of which you are a writer that was cancelled, closed, or indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 closures. Their website says, “In response to the COVID-19 Theatre closures, we are redirecting our entire 2020 grant budget into emergency assistance grants of $2500 to playwrights, composers, librettists, and lyricists who have had a full professional show cancelled, closed, or indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19. We hope to be able to give up to 40 grants of $2,500.” The form will remain active until 14 April 2020, after which they will make a random selection. Details here.
Singapore Unbound Relief Fund
This is
for Singapore citizens living anywhere in the world or permanent residents of
Singapore, who are writers – playwrights, screenwriters, songwriters,
journalists, art reviewers, and writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.
The grant is for $200 or 280 Singapore dollars, with no strings attached, for those
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Details here.
Freelancers Union: Freelancers Relief Fund
Freelancers Relief Fund assistance is open to any
independent worker in the US who has primarily earned income through freelance
work for at least one year and has experienced a recent, sudden, and unforeseen
hardship or loss of income as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including those experiencing contract cancellations or loss of work due to
social distancing measures, or those experiencing illness or caring for
immediate family members infected with COVID-19. The fund will offer financial assistance of up to $1,000 per
freelance household to cover lost income and essential expenses not covered by
government relief programs, including: food/food supplies, utility payments,
and cash assistance to cover income loss. 100% of all donations will be
distributed directly to freelancers in need. Applications for funding will open
on 2 April 2020. Details here.
International Women’s Media
Foundation: COVID-19 Relief Fund
For the COVID-19 fund their website says, “The
IWMF’s Journalism Relief Fund is open to women-identifying journalists in dire
straits – journalists who have faced significant financial hardship, lost work,
were recently laid off or who urgently need assistance to
avoid severe, irreversible outcomes.
This fund will provide small grants of up to $2,000 USD per request though
special consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis to those have
greater financial need.” Apart from this they have an emergency fund for women
journalists, where they provide small grants for psychological and medical care
for incidents directly related to threats and crises caused by one’s work as a
journalist; three months of temporary relocation assistance in the event of
crisis or threat; legal aid to counter threats of imprisonment or censorship;
and non-financial assistance in the form of information about additional access
to resources. Details here.
The
Society of Authors: Contingency Funds/Authors Emergency Funds
This fund is to help support authors impacted financially by
the growing COVID-19 crisis. The Authors Licensing and Collecting Society
(ALCS), the Royal Literary Fund (RLF), the T S Eliot Foundation in partnership
with English PEN, and Amazon UK have contributed financial resources to create
the Authors’ Emergency Fund, to help support authors impacted financially by
the growing health crisis. Applications are open to all professional authors
who are resident in the UK or British subjects – including all types of
writers, illustrators, literary translators, scriptwriters, poets, journalists
and others – for whom author-related activities make up a substantial amount of
their annual income. Grants are likely to be up to £2,000 and designed to
meet urgent need with the possibility of review as the situation continues. Details
here.
Royal
Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) helps authors across the literary
spectrum: novelists, poet and playwrights; writers of short stories and writers
for children; crime writers, science writers, biographers. The circumstances of
those they help vary greatly. Writers can apply
for help from the RLF if they are suffering financial hardship and have had
several works published in the UK for a general readership, without publication
being subsidised. Self-published authors are not eligible. The RLF
Committee has to pass applicants for literary merit before they are eligible
for help. The committee meets eleven times a year to consider
applications. A decision on literary merit and on the award of a
grant/pension is made at the same meeting; the applicant is informed
straightaway. Details here
and here.
ConvertKit: The Creator Fund
Their website says, “We are providing financial
assistance to active creators who are experiencing financial hardship due to
COVID-19. If you have medical, childcare, housing, or grocery needs, please
apply for assistance.” They aim to give $500 each to 100 creators. Details here.
A Note on Sources
Here are
some of the sources used for researching this list, and most of these are being
updated periodically. Some of these resources are not only for freelance
writers, but for freelance artists and workers in a variety of fields, including
for service workers, so please feel free to circulate those as you see fit.
I wish you the best of luck with your applications in these difficult times.
Coronavirus 2020 Artist Relief Fund (Google spreadsheet)
American Society of Journalists and Authors – Resources Page
Academy of American Poets – COVID-19 Resources for Poets and
Poetry Organizations
Covid-19 Freelance Artists – Resources
Artist Trust – COVID-19 Response & Recovery Resources
Creative Capital – List of Arts Resources During the
COVID-19 Outbreak
Author Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.
