The Cupburger Mutual Aid FAQ
Who can apply?
Any member of our Twitch community can apply, using the process and guidelines outlined here.
You can apply for funds of up to £50 every month. For larger needs we also have some emergency grants available up to £150 a month. These are currently limited by our available funds and we may ask you to reapply for a smaller amount or apply again at a later date. Cupburger was built out of a Twitch community. In order to apply for the fund you must be over 18. We may ask you for your twitch username and a vouch from a member of the Twitch community. Our fund is to provide any kind of help, but as an example you could request funds for food, clothing, medical bills, travel to a gig, paying for documentation/ID, emergency accommodation.
While many of the applications may be for emergencies (e.g. an emergency food shop, unexpected travel expense, new tyres for your car so you can get to work) under our ‘Bread and Roses’ commitment we’d love to fund something lovely too: a short art course, some craft supplies, guitar strings, a bunch of flowers.
Who decides which applications are approved?
A small panel composed of trusted community members see and approve requests. These panelists are chosen by a voting board that will not see the requests. We’ve taken steps to ensure privacy and the fewest number of people seeing applications as possible. We process funds on a first come first served basis, dependent on the funds we have available. We make all decisions following our Code of Conduct policy.
Are there any rules about what the funds can be used for?
We do not means test our giving in any way, and do not police what funds are used for.
Are there any limits to how often people can apply?
You can apply for funds of up to £50 every month. These should be paid out if you have given us the information detailed below and we have the funds available. If we don’t have funds available we may offer you a smaller amount, or ask you to reapply at a later date. For larger needs we also have some emergency grants available up to £150 a month. These are currently limited by our available funds and we may ask you to reapply for a smaller amount or apply again at a later date. We are not currently taking requests for grants over £150, but we are working on Projects to do this in future, and will update as soon as we have more information.
When will I know if my application was successful?
Our admin group checks claim submissions at least twice a week, we will aim to get back to you within 3 working days. Payments are made from the funding platform twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) If you are outside the UK the payment takes a little longer to go through. Please be aware that we cannot issue funds immediately due to admin and processing times.
Where else does the funding go?
Our funds may also be used to help cover the admin side of running Cupburger, these may include but are not limited to: cost of web hosting, legal fees, promotional material and the cost of posting resources.
What fees are involved?
The finance platform we use charges a £42 one-off onboarding fee, a fee of 5% for all payments, and a 1.5% + 20p fee for processing online payments via Stripe.