Each December marks the anniversary of this blog, with 2016 being year number six for Fat Gay Vegan.

The blog started with a simple idea to give myself a platform on which to share my ideas on veganism and has grown into a mammoth undertaking read by around 50,000 people each month.

Fat Gay Vegan has become much more than my musings.

It is now a vital component in the frontline of promoting vegan business, creating spaces and events for our community, and of course improving outcomes for non-human animals.

Not only is Fat Gay Vegan me as a person and identity, the blog is an all-encompassing part of my life that costs money and a hell of a lot of time to run. To say the workload associated with the blog has snowballed in recent years would be a huge understatement.

To help keep Fat Gay Vegan alive into a seventh year and beyond, I have decided to make each December the official fundraising drive month for my blog. My readers and the businesses I support now have a once-a-year opportunity to show their support for the work done via the blog.

You can donate to the FGV Fundraising Drive during December 2016 by clicking on the Paypal button here:

In case you are unsure how your contribution will help your vegan community, check out some of these facts:
• Fat Gay Vegan publishes a minimum of 365 blog posts each year, working hard to promote vegan businesses, developments, campaigns, charities and products
• I spend at least 1-2 hours of every day writing, publishing, sharing content and answering comments associated with the blog
• Across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email and blog comments I respond to an average of 20 messages per day advising people on a range of topics from the best vegan burger in London to specific business advice – the time spent answering messages on a single day often surpasses an hour
• The blog works to support independent vegan business, very often being the difference between an event being poorly attended or it selling out
• The blog gives unparalleled exposure to new vegan products and enterprises and is often cited by mainstream press outlets for breaking news items, allowing some of my posts to eventually be disseminated to hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of people – my recent breaking news about Temple of Seitan was covered by Metro, The Telegraph, Time Out, Huffington Post and many, many more outlets
• Unlike larger animal rights charities, I run every aspect of Fat Gay Vegan from my bedroom on my own with the help of my partner Josh – we have no budget or financial backing apart from my kind Patreon supporters who have pledged monthly (find out more)
• I advise as many vegan business owners as I possibly can, from solo traders right up to huge international companies most often for zero financial gain to myself
• When I have time, I run community events with very low profit margins for the benefit of London and UK vegans such as the recent Vegan Christmas Market attended by approximately 5,000 people or the sporadic Queer Vegan Disco which has run in London, Glasgow and Manchester
• Fat Gay Vegan as a successful blog affords me the exposure to run and promote my popular series of vegan beer events around the UK with a new version being added to Sheffield during 2017
• I have also accumulated a strong reader following outside of the UK, allowing me to give exposure to vegan businesses in mainland Europe, North America and Australia
• The monthly running costs of Fat Gay Vegan are forever growing and include multiple website domain fees, public liability insurance for events, mailing list expenses, equipment costs and a seemingly endless run of outgoings

The time, effort and energy demanded of the Fat Gay Vegan blog is a full time job that currently doesn’t pay me any income directly.

You can help me keep one of the most important online vegan resources active with a one-off donation during my fundraising month.

All donations are greatly appreciated and every penny will help me continue building an online space that has become a vital hub offering news, support and advocacy.

PLEASE NOTE: if you make a one-off donation of £10 or more, please enter your postal address with your donation so I can send you a thank you postcard