Receipt #338141 to North East Arrestee Support Fund

ex_uFifl...

 

North East Arrestee Support (referred to as ‘Fund’) was created in 2026 by a group of local activists attached to groups such as North East Anarchist Group (NEAG), Northumbria IWW, and North East Antifacsists (NEANTIFA). The Fund was created by activists who had experienced the legal system and legal financing due to their political activity, and wanted to support others going through the same systems for the same reasons with any financial difficulties they may have due to this process.

The aim of this document is to:

We plan to use Food and Solidarity as our fiscal host on OpenCollective. All funds are managed via open collective (both paying in and paying out).

The Fund will approve expenses/give out funds or reimbursments for reasons that coincide with the aims of this fund and why it was set up. The fund exists to help local activists who are going through the legal process because of their activism. 

‘Legal process’ can refer to being on police bail, being under investigation by the police, having experienced losses due to a police raid, on bail awaiting trials, hearings, or other court dates, awaiting sentencing, serving a sentence passed down by a court, or having been found not guilty but experiencing some ‘knock on effects’ of the process financially. This also includes those who are issued on the spot fines and warnings (such as a Penalty Notice for Disorder) and also similar financial penalties that may be incurred by other bodies, such as Universities. 

‘Activism’ is a broad term, and by no means encompasses everything we mean to say, with many no doubt rejecting the label for other labels they prefer. However, for the avoidance of doubt, we are an explicitly pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist, anti-fascist, pro-trans rights, anti-capitalist organisation, and we do not plan to help those who do not hold these ideals and also puts them into active practice.

The types of things we plan to help activists with are listed below:

Expenses can only be paid up to the amount of money that is available in the fund, overdrafting or other such processes is not possible or permitted. In the event two or more individuals are requested access to a finite sum of money, discussions will be had with those individuals to see the best way to distribute the money in an equitable way.

This list is not exhaustive, and costs that fall outside of the above need to have an explanation provided for how they fit the aims of the Fund.

The fund currently has 2 admins, but more may be added later (fitting the criteria as discussed in the introduction). Funds will be approved by the admins in association with the activist who is hoping for support, and other members of groups such as NEAG, IWW, and NEANTIFA. Money will be approved only for activists known to the local scene to ensure their situation is genuine and accurate, and unsolicited requests from unknown individuals will need to be verified in-person. A seperate Signal group will exist for those managing and using the fund, in the hope to make decisions regarding funds (especially if limited) as equitable as possible.

It is noted here that the primary use for this fund is NOT to act as a general seperate organisation to distribute funds widely to unknown activists. The purpose is to add transparency, structure, and safeguarding to a pool of money that can be made available to known local activists in need who fall under the above categories.

Furthermore, the fund will hopefully allow for fundraisers to be centralised into one easy to donate area, rather than relying on multiple people to take on the responsibility for funding multiple legal funds. 

Either admins can request expenses on behalf of individuals, or the individuals themselves can make their account names known to an admin and request it themselves. For the interests of transparency as well as for the benefit of Food and Solidarity (fiscal hosts); either a receipt, an invoice, a bill, or similar proof of cost must be provided that shows all relvant financial information regarding the money.

In order to  be reimbursed, you need to set up an account with Open Collective (but you only need an e-mail address and a name to do this. Please avoid providing your full name when setting up your account - it’s even recommended to use a nickname - as that name appears on our publicly viewable list of transactions, so that our spending can be transparent and accountable. When you submit a claim for reimbursement, however, you are of course required to provide your name as given on your bank account, but those details are not shown on the public list of transactions).

It should be noted there may be delays in approvals since it must go through admins of the Fund and the fiscal hosts.

We agree to abide by rules set out by Food+Solidarity as our fiscal hosts regarding this fund, since they take on the legal responsibilities regarding the money. We also note that there is a 5% hosting charge on our funds to provide this hosting service. A primary reason we chose F+S is because, if a fee is paid, we would rather it was paid to a local group whose work we know and can see the positive effects of in our local communities.