NOTAFLOF, or No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds
There are times when the energy of money just doesn’t flow as abundantly as it can. Maybe you recently got laid off, had a big unexpected expense, or you began a career transition and the new direction isn’t generating as much income yet. Life is a series of circumstances and not all of them are favorable to our discretionary spending desires, but having access to community and friends is a need for a happy, healthy and supported life. Enter: NOTAFLOF!
NOTAFLOF is a policy that event organizers have used in some shape or form (and by other names) for years. It’s an acronym that stands for No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds, and means exactly that: if you can’t pay the entry price, you are still welcome.
Love First is a philosophy and framework that prioritizes and values human (individual & societal) well-being above the market economy, and therefore advocates for community events for people. The NOTAFLOF policy is aligned with the Love First practices of Create And Gift, Honor Our Differences, and the principle of Radical Inclusion as adopted from Burning Man’s Ten Principles.
I’m documenting this policy here with a couple of additions, to serve as a resource to point people to when using NOTAFLOF and, especially, any of the additions.
The “Just Come” addition means that you don’t need to check in with the host whether it’s okay for you to come. Just RSVP going and show up at the event! This policy is great for when tickets are a ‘soft barrier’ to entry, e.g. a Partiful event that asks you to Venmo the money but otherwise doesn’t stop you from RSVP’ing and attending.
The “DM Us” addition asks that you direct message a host or organizer about getting a ticket, or a discount code to apply during the ticket purchase flow. This is most suitable for events where registering for a ticket is required, for example when ticket purchasers go into a guest list for check-in at the event.
This addition is for when discounted (up to 100%) tickets are available for volunteer activities. This can also be done via the DMUS addition, but the VOL option is useful if the ticket purchase page is on a different URL (or website) than the event description, and the ticket purchase flow has volunteer ticket sales options included, meaning the person does not need to DM a host or organizer about getting a discounted rate.
The PWYC addition is useful for when ticket prices are flexible and a purchaser can enter a dollar amount of their own, including going lower than the base asking price that the host or organizer may have set. It asks people to pay what is within reasonable means for them, to help offset costs for the organizers.
Event organizers are invited to use the policy with appropriate addition(s) and include a link to this resource for elaboration, if needed.
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