Hosts are a circle of hundreds of people from around the world who change lives by promoting a happy, healthy and connected Bay Area LGBTQ community. Toward that goal, they underwrite the REAL BAD party, a philanthropic event produced by Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation. Hosts are defined by their fundraising, volunteerism, and of course distribution of ticket codes to party attendees. All Foundation Board and Events Committee members are also required to be hosts in addition to their other Foundation responsibilities.

Simply put, because tickets used to be hard to sell, and the solution to that problem provides unintended benefits. REAL BAD was founded during the AIDS Crisis as a way to fill the gap between public funding and the vast need to help people affected by AIDS while also giving people something to enjoy. These were dark times, and people needed help, but they also needed an outlet. Despite that, the event tickets were so hard to sell that the party nearly closed down. So the group of friends promoting the event resorted to deputizing their friends to sell tickets, sometimes employing fairly desperate tactics. These folks were the first Hosts. As the party caught on and the organizers developed a more mature process, they noticed that the party had a unique feel that we now call the Circle of Friends. We keep the Hosts Program today because virtually every person at REAL BAD got their ticket from a friend, which means that every attendee is there with people whom they care for, which in turn creates an exceptionally welcoming, fun, and safe experience.

Hosts raise a minimum of $100 in contributions on behalf of the Grass Roots Gay Foundation.

It helps ensure the beneficiary grants are significant and it reconnects hosts to a sense of ownership. We want the Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation grants to have a major impact for our beneficiaries and we wanted to get back to Hosts really being a significant contributor to underwriting the party. We hope this will mean our support of LGBT nonprofits in the Bay Area increases, and that Hosts feel like they’re a major part of a grass-roots organization working to make the Bay Area and the world a better place.

Yes. We recommend fundraising because it has the potential to raise more funds than the minimum contribution and spreads awareness that direct donation doesn’t, but for folks who cannot or prefer not to fundraise, direct donation through the DONATE button on https://www.grassrootsgayrights.org satisfies the requirement.

The pandemic has forced our venue to thoughtfully review their capacity and as such we’ve agreed to cap the party’s attendance. The number of GA codes granted to hosts over the years has often fluctuated with the times, and it almost certainly will again.

Host fundraising makes it possible to donate 100% of GA ticket sales proceeds directly to beneficiaries. This is true because even though Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation and the REAL BAD Events Committee are all volunteers who donate their time, both the Foundation and the party have operating costs and use goods and services that are not donated. Funds raised for the Foundation by Hosts pay for mundane-but-necessary things like storage as well as flashier, more visible things like lighting, lasers, DJs, and other production effects and supplies.

The Events Committee recommends Facebook fundraisers because they have a broad reach and help promote the Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation even to people who don’t donate, but that needn’t limit creativity. For everything other than Facebook, hosts should collect the funds and use the DONATE button on the homepages of https://www.grassrootsgayrights.org and https://www.realbad.org to submit their fundraising proceeds directly using a card in their name. For questions about other ways to raise funds, hosts may send ideas to hc@grassrootsgayrights.org.

The Hosts subcommittee has two ways to ensure hosts get credit for the fundraising they do. First, the Hosts subcommittee monitors Facebook fundraisers set up with Grass Roots Gay Rights Foundation as their recipient. That shows who hosted a fundraiser and how much money was donated to that fundraiser. Second, the Hosts subcommittee monitors donations made through the DONATE button on the homepages of https://www.grassrootsgayrights.org and https://www.realbad.org, and attributes donations made there to the host named on the card used.

If a host believes they’ve met their fundraising goal or needs an update on their fundraising progress, they can write to hc@grassrootsgayrights.org and a member of the Hosts subcommittee will respond with the most up to date information, generally within about a week’s time.

If circumstances arise that cause a Host not to get credit for their fundraising, they should write to the Hosts subcommittee at hc@grassrootsgayrights.org. Together, we can work it out from there.

We want Hosts who can’t meet the contribution requirement to continue to be an active part of the Circle of Friends, but we regret that they cannot remain Hosts.

Folks who are Hosts on a given year are hosts because they 1) renewed host membership from the prior year, 2) completed 2 years of volunteer service on the Foundation Board or on the Events Committee, or 3) got a winning number in the Host Lottery.

No. With the pandemic ongoing and the ways in which the Events Committee has chosen to adjust the party in response, we felt it wise to close the Hosts Program to new members for now.

Yes. Once their fundraising requirement is satisfied, Hosts are eligible to receive 3 VIP and 2 GA ticket codes with which to purchase tickets, free admittance to the Margarita Party, the year’s Host t-shirt, access to DJ set recordings, the opportunity to nominate and vote on beneficiaries, chances to volunteer for their community with the Foundation’s Circle of Friends, and other opportunities as they emerge throughout the season.

No. Only funds directly raised by each Host are credited to their fundraising requirement.

No. Ticket and other event pricing does not apply toward the Host contribution.