A fund by Westies, for Westies.

If you have danced West Coast Swing for a few years, you know the pattern. Someone in your local scene is clearly good – wins the regional Jack & Jills, gets asked to demo, teaches the beginners. Then the US Open comes, or a Classic, or the championship they would obviously qualify for, and they are not there. Not because they did not want to be. Because a full pass, a transatlantic flight and four nights of hotel is a month's rent, and they are a student, or a nurse, or between jobs.

Talent is spread evenly. Money is not. A fund is the simplest tool we know of to fix that for one dancer at a time.

Westiefund pays for the parts that actually stop people: travel, accommodation and registration. Directly to the organiser or the booking where we can, so nobody has to front the cash and wait for a refund. We do not pay for lessons, costumes or coaching – there are good teachers everywhere; the floor is the thing that is missing.

Who we are

Westiefund is a project of Westiefund e. V. i. G., a non-profit association in formation in Germany. The people behind it run the West Coast Swing YouTube channel, its TikTok and Instagram counterparts, where thousands of competition videos from WSDC events are published, and the scoring software used at events across Europe. We spend most weekends at events. We see the same faces on the floor, and we know who is missing.

The association is being founded in 2026. Until the registration is complete we operate as an association in formation; the imprint names the people responsible. The idea itself goes back to 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, when there were no events at all and plenty of time to think about who would be able to travel once they came back.

How a grant is decided

Every application is read by at least two people from the team. We look at four things, in this order:

1. Would this event make a difference for you? A Novice dancer going to their first big event with a real chance of finalling counts more than a fourth trip to the same festival.
2. Is the money the actual obstacle? We ask what you can contribute yourself – money, miles, a friend's couch. Partial grants are the norm, full grants the exception.
3. Are the numbers real? Pass price from the event site, a flight quote, a hotel quote. Rounded is fine, invented is not.
4. Will you give something back? Not money. A short report and a video we can share, so the next dancer sees that this works.

Level, age, nationality and role play no part in the decision, except that you need to be at least 18 or have your guardian's consent. We do not fund travel to events organised by people on the team, to avoid the obvious conflict of interest.

What we promise

• An answer within two weeks, always, including a no.
• Every grant published on the transparency page – amount, event, and the dancer's name if they agree.
• Every euro of income published too: donations, sponsors, channel revenue.
• No overhead paid from donations. The team works for free; hosting and tools are covered by the channels.