Pay-it-Forward Fund
For most people in our community, Lindy Hop is much more than just a hobby. It’s a source of energy, a passion, a place filled with laughter and friendship.
We wish for as many people as possible to meet and dance together, no matter their financial situation. That’s why we decided to create a fund that grants financial support to people who might have difficulties paying for their subscriptions. We don’t want a lack of money to get in the way of participating in the dance and our community.
Who can ask for money from the fund?
This money is intended for those who, without this fund, could not participate in SwingStep’s activities. It is important to us that you know that anyone asking for support does not need to justify their situation to us. You might be a student, unemployed, or simply have high expenses and need to make difficult financial decisions. If you need this financial boost, the fund is one way the community can help you.
What pays for the fund?
The Pay-it-Forward fund is financed by a combination of community and SwingStep contributions. SwingStep fills up the pot whenever needed, but we also very much appreciate the generosity of the other dancers who want to help out.
How to contribute
If you like our idea and would like to help too, you can support this fund by contributing to it. You can simply send money to our bank account with the description “Pay-it-forward Fund”, or you can sign up to a pay-it-forward subscription to give a monthly donation.
Use the following coupon codes to adjust how much you wish to contribute:
- Contribute with 2€/month? Use this coupon code: PIF-2
- Contribute with 5€/month? Use this coupon code: PIF-5
- Contribute with 10€/month? Use this coupon code: PIF-10
- Contribute with 20€/month? Use this coupon code: PIF-20
- Contribute with 50€/month? Use this coupon code: PIF-50
- Contribute with 100€/month? No coupon code is needed
For any other amount, please contact us directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a project that we’ve worked with for over a year already and it has been very heartwarming to see how the community cares about the people in it. Here are questions you might have about this concept:
Please send an email to [email protected] and we’ll help you through the process.
You can ask to reduce as much of your subscription or event payment as you need. However, we are not aiming to give away the entirety of the available amount as quickly as possible. We want to maximize on how many people can join our classes while making sure that the program is sustainable. This will very much depend on how many people are asking to be funded and how much contribution we get from our community.
We believe that people will use the funding program in an honest, honourable and responsible way; in other words, they only ask for support if they otherwise wouldn’t be able to join. The fund is not meant to see how much discount one can get. Because we trust our community, we leave the reasoning and decision fully to the person requesting support and neither demand any proof of their need nor check up on their situation at any point in time.
We make the decision as soon as possible upon receiving your request.
Although this hasn’t been an issue so far, it’s hard to predict the rate of sponsored money coming in and funded money going out. So it might happen at some point that we do not have funds available. However, if this affects you, we might be able to find other ways to make it possible for you to join our classes; just let us know about the issue and we’ll see what we can do.
Will others know when I supported the Pay-it-Forward fund?
No. By default and in line with data privacy laws, we will not disclose any names.
Because we’re a registered business, we need to pay 19% VAT tax on any money coming into our accounts, even if it is intended as a donation from you to another member of the community. However, we decided to absorb that VAT so that 100% of the amount you donate goes into this fund!
Offering financial support is a gesture of goodwill and generosity from our community to individuals; a request for support does not entitle an individual to receive a specific amount. Any rude or threatening behaviour towards our staff and admin, or attempts to pressure them into awarding a certain amount, can result in exclusion from the funding program.
When signed in, you have an account page that lets you control all the details you need…
Under “Home”, you control your personal information.
Under “Subscriptions”, you can directly manage your subscription – you can change, pause, or cancel it any time. This is the place to change or update your payment method.
Under “Payments”, you can see your payment status and download your invoice.
If you need to change your password, please log out and then use the “Forgot password?” option in the log-in screen.
If you have any issues, please contact us.
Our inspiration
We were inspired by a couple who showed their love and passion for the swing dance community by paying for a fellow student’s courses, so this person could continue dancing and they could continue to meet in their classes. We felt that this was such a generous and lovely gesture, so we found a way to make it possible for more people to contribute to and receive this generosity.