As the Director of Community Outreach and Relationships, part of my job is to oversee and drive sponsorships, charitable giving and logistical support for community based organizations, events and initiatives and to center the voice of the community through our blogs and in our decision making. At Slixa, we support the community, especially if we are asking the community to support us by choosing us as their advertising platform. We believe this is common sense and some find our way of doing things progressive. In fact, Slixa was nominated for the upcoming XBiz 2014 awards for Progressive Web Company of the Year.
With that in mind, I wanted to let you know the ways in which we have supported the community over the last 3 years:
- We sponsored the Desiree Alliance Conference and they have asked us to come on again in a bigger way for the 2016 conference (which we plan to do).
- We sponsored the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit and Catalyst Con West, two sexuality conferences that have a strong community presence, in addition to including sex worker rights in their missions and guiding principles.
- Slixa sponsored an all day free business Tips and Trix class hosted by Maggie’s Toronto
- We donated to the Persist Health Project in NYC which provides health services to local providers.
- We donated gift baskets and amazon gift cards for a raffle hosted by The Pink Phoenix Project, a provider-led organization that provides emergency support and items for other entertainers in need. They also run the Sex Worker Problems Tumblr, which serves as an educational and supportive online resource.
- We sponsored the 20th anniversary of HIPS.
- Provided funding for logistical needs for the December 17th: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers events all over the country and Annie Sprinkle authored one of our blog posts about this event here.
- We came on as title sponsor for the 2014 Feminist Porn Awards
- We sponsored and co-produced The Institute of Sexworkology, a full day of free workshops for the 2015 Sex Worker Film and Arts Fest
- Donation to ESPLERP, an organization in California working to decriminalize Sex Work. You can read about this amazing movement in our blog here.
- We backed the Indiegogo campaign for the “Porn to Be Free” project. Porn to be Free is a “provocative documentary that explores the sexual revolution from the 70's and 80's through the incredible genesis of porn from the first magazines, first photo-shoots to the first porn stars.”
- We backed The Red Umbrella Diaries Kickstarter campaign and highlighted this project on our Slixa Under Cover blog here and featured a blog about this incredible organization here.
Speaking of blogs…
Did you know:
- 85% of our writers are current or former entertainers
- another 10% are individuals with a history in the trade such as allies or support people
- and 5% are writers whose focus is sex culture in general
On Slixa Under Cover, we have an extensive list of information and articles pertaining to better business practices, how-tos, self care, and even product and media reviews that were all written primarily by providers for providers.
On Slixa Late Night, we have informative and education articles that are written by providers for clients to help make the whole process easier and to give more info about what is happening in the industry, with some fun historical and sex industry news thrown into the mix.
We have allocated all of our direct charitable funds for 2015; however, we are still able to highlight community organizations and their events through our blogs.
We are now looking towards 2016. I can't say right at this moment how much or what we will be able to give, but what I can tell you is that a part of every dollar you spend with us will be put back into the community at large through direct charitable contributions, sponsorship of community events, and by information sharing through our blogs.
Even though we are a new company (Slixa is not even 3 years old!), we have done extraordinary things in regards to supporting the community and we will continue to do so. Stepping up for the community has always been a part of Slixa. As we grow, so will our ability to give back.
If there are other organizations, projects, or events we should have our eye on, please let me know. We have limited resources, but we want to offer what we have and continue to support our community in a meaningful way. Not only do we want to be the best place on the web for you to advertise, we also want to be a company you can turn to for financial and other support for important community works.
Sincerely,
Donia Christine
Director of Community Outreach and Relationships
Slixa