The Corflu Fifty

Not a lot of people know that Corflu has its own fan fund, the Corflu Fifty.  There are plenty of better known fan funds, the oldest and best-known being the Transatlantic Fan Fund, or TAFF.  For more on TAFF, as well as links to information about other fan funds within SF fandom, go to the unofficial TAFF website.

Perhaps the smallest and most personal of the fan funds, the Corflu Fifty started in February 2007 just after Corflu Quire in Austin.  Rich Coad gives this account of its genesis:

"This idea grew out of the successful funds to bring Bruce Gillespie and William Breiding to Corflu Titanium and to bring Harry Bell to Corflu Quire.  At Corflu Quire, additional names were mentioned for fans we would like to see at Corflu but who are unable to attend for a variety of reasons. Subsequently, Andy Porter came up with the eminently sensible idea of gathering a group of 50 fans, each willing to donate $25 a year (or, to include British fans, £15) to a fund for the express purpose of defraying most, if not all, transportation and lodging expense."

Rich then set up an email list and invited fanzine fans to join the Corflu Fifty. The target has been $1,250 (minimum) each year, to help a fanzine fan who has earned the respect of their peers and would be particularly welcome at that year’s Corflu, but couldn’t otherwise make the journey.  We could do with more members, but every year we have achieved that target through both the core donations and extra fund-raising efforts. Though they don’t have to (the minimum is OK), many members give well above the minimum, which shows what wonderful people they are.

Rich Coad is the US Administrator and Rob Jackson the UK Administrator; they co-moderate the email list where the fund’s recipients are chosen through discussion – [email protected].  

Beneficiaries so far:

We have supported eight Transatlantic trips by nine winners in total, given that one couple were joint winners. One could be called Transpacific if you count Pete as leaving from his base in Thailand. We have twice supported couples to travel within the US; and in 2020 we brought two guests, one from the UK and one local to Texas.

Mid-2020 to early 2022 were nightmarish for travel, and even though Corflu Concorde was eventually held successfully, the shifting sands of travel restrictions meant we couldn’t plan ahead enough to choose and fund a Corflu Fifty guest for 2021.

Though there were continued uncertainties which meant that Corflu Pangloss was also put back to the autumn of 2022, we successfully resumed picking and funding a deserving Corflu Fifty guest.

The selection and funding process are to resume after Corflu Pangloss, and despite the truncated schedule we fully expect to welcome another guest to Belfast in Spring 2023. Immediately after Corflu Pangloss the Administrators will remind the generous Corflu Fifty list members of the names already mentioned, and there will be a quick decision to invite someone so the cash can be collected and the chosen guest can plan his or her trip.

If you not only want to help out financially, but also to influence who gets the group’s support next time round, please join!  Go to the email list's website and click on the Subscribe link at the bottom of the page, or send an email to the list owner.

-- Rob Jackson, October 2022