Affiliate City ideas

I posted this on the front page, but this is the place for it, so it bears repeating...

It's a new year and people are asking me what my themes, goals, expectations and ideas are for 2011. Well, I have a lot of them. Primarily, I want people to recruit with a vengeance. We need more Browncoats. We can always do better and one of the ways to do that is to focus on some unsung strengths.

Example: Affiliate Events.

Now, I'm a big fan of city screenings. I make no apologies about that. The big screenings raise the big funds. They're great fun and they have some brilliant venues, guests and activities. I love 'em, but I also like the affiliate events and what they can bring to the table.

I really think this is the year of the affiliate event. We have our big city gatherings and we should, but we have so many little towns and modest Browncoat groups that never get into the mix because they don't have a theater to show a screening or can't afford one or just don't feel that they have the time and the gumption to throw a gathering together. Not true.

If you have a big room in your house for throwing parties, then you have an affiliate venue. If you have a backyard (with or without a pool), then you have an affiliate venue. If you have access to a community center, church space, old barn, unused warehouse, circus tent, reasonably comfortable cave, bomb shelter, empty attic space, historic village, music hall, home theater, abandoned tract of public land, city or state park or just a good sized porch, you have an affiliate venue.

Let's face it. You're Browncoats. You can meet in a bombed out building, a bar, or a bombed out bar. All you need is a handful of Browncoats and a good sized 'tip jar' for donations. That's it. You don't have to show Serenity to be a part of it all. You don't have to wow a crowd. You just need some friends, fans or potential friends and fans and a meeting place. Put together a potluck dinner and collect some cash for the cause. Throw a pool party that benefits people half way around the globe. Have a fish fry. Explore a nature walk with a picnic at the end and pass the proverbial collection plate. Charity begins at home, and it doesn't even have to be your home. Do you have a friend with a huge basement neglected, in need of music and bowls of bright candy? Affiliate party. Have a boat that doesn't touch the water enough? Boating Affiliate Party. Have an old barn? Affiliate Barn Dance for the greater good.

The thing about the affiliates is this: they aren't confined to dark theaters and stadium venues. The big screenings are a blast and not to be missed, but think of all the towns, suburbs, cities, hamlets, mountains, riversides, meadows, caves, and far reaches begging for an affiliate event. Affiliates are your warm ups to the big game. Affiliates are your recruiting stations for the larger screenings. Affiliates are little venues that add up to a lot of extra donations, support and Browncoat fandom. People who are oppressed and in dire need of our help don't care how we help, they just care that we help.

Get together and show people FIREFLY and then take them to see SERENITY, where they should see it. Among friends. Bookend the CSTS season with as many events as you can muster. You already have people who can do this. You already know fans of the show. You already have a circle of friends in need of a gathering.

Eat, drink and raise money, for tomorrow we have day jobs.

Now post ideas and get planning! We've got work to do.

This is an awesome take on affiliate events, Bill! Can I copy and share it elsewhere?

Oh yes. Spread it like a prairie fire.

Hi, and thank you for posting this! I am eager to become more active with CSTS - I am already a huge Firefly/Serenity fan & Whedonite as well as very passionate about philanthropy. I'm not sure how to meet fellow Browncoats but can't imagine they're impossible to find in the NY area. I hope I'm able to connect!

Hi there,

Planning our wedding this year, we decided to have a ceremony for family, then a party for friends the following day.

We have taken over a local pub (Nottingham, UK) for the afternoon, but we plan to make it a firefly themed party, that way we could get people to donate to Equality Now as wedding gifts.

Just wondering when we can start making it an Official Affiliate Event for 2011? It will be August 20th, we hope that's not too late!

I don't often get emotional when reading posts on this site, but the idea that someone would take donations to Equality Now in lieu of gifts just leaves me...in a word...speechless.

Consider yourself registered and on our radar. Will take care of the paperwork later. I am officially volunteering my artistic talents for your event and I'm getting the Utah Browncoats to chip in and pay for your sponsor package as a wedding gift. The shipping is on us.

Welcome to the cause.

Oh! That's fantastic!! Thank you so much, the event is getting even more shiny as we go along! We have a promise from a good friend who is in the process of constructing a 4 foot paper model of Serenity as a wedding present, but discussing it over a few whiskeys last night we decided the great thing to do would be auction the model off and the proceeds of the auction go to Equality Now too! It will probably be on eBay, and maybe limited to UK people, as we're not sure if it could be posted internationally, but if people want to donate and aren't fussed about actually winning the model, then maybe we can get even more money together for the cause!

I asked a good friend if I should be getting more excited about my wedding than the party...and he said no.

What a great idea for a wedding, firefly76. Be sure to take pictures of the Serenity model - and of course your wedding - to post here.

We sure will be, will post them onto flickr