Sundance Association for Country-Western Dancing

*** PLEASE READ THIS! ***

Give OUT Day has changed their prize amounts and terms from prior years, such that we are no longer planning to actively participate in this fundraising effort. Specifically, there is no longer a large prize for the incentive of being the organization that receives the greatest number of unique donations. Instead, smaller prizes are awarded through random drawings.

If you still wish to donate, we always welcome the support, of course. Additional information about donating to the Sundance Association can be found here: https://sundancesaloon.org/membership.html . Note that Give OUT Day charges a processing fee of 7.8% and a $.30/transaction fee on every donation.

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The Sundance Association for Country-Western Dancing was formed in 1999 to provide education in and programs for country-western dancing in the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco. As an all-volunteer and community-supported nonprofit, the Sundance Association fosters individual growth and passion, encourages volunteerism and financial giving, and strives to create an inclusive and welcoming community.

The Sundance Association is much more than a listing of its projects would suggest. The contribution of the Sundance Association to the health of the greater LGBTQ community and the individuals within it cannot be overstated. All of the projects of the Sundance Association have a primary goal of developing a culture of welcoming inclusiveness. Attendees find there is no importance placed on attractiveness, dance ability, socio-economic status, age, race, ethnicity, gender identification, sexual orientation, or any of a myriad of classifications that traditionally separate us. As a result, we host a wide cross-section of the LGBTQ+ community (e.g. ages 20s to 80s, men and women and nonbinary, cis and trans, gay and straight), who all mix together effortlessly and dance with each other in a utopian environment that simply doesn't exist anywhere else. For many, Sundance Saloon is an essential place of healing and renewal from life's challenges, big and small.

The major projects of the Sundance Association include:

• Sundance Saloon. Twice-weekly dance lessons and open country-western dancing featuring a variety of dance forms including two-step, waltz, east coast swing, west coast swing, line dancing, and more. 
• The Sundance Stompede. An annual four-day country-western dance convention featuring four nights of large-scale dances and three days of educational dance workshops for all levels from beginning to advanced, attracting up to 800 people from all over the world. The Sundance Stompede ended in 2023, but we are planning a new four-day weekend in Reno in October this year, in conjunction with the World Gay Rodeo Finals.
• Community events. The Sundance Association hosts country-western dance events in association with other organizations and festivals, broadening its reach in the general LGBTQ+ community. Examples include events at the San Francisco Pride celebration and the Castro Street Fair, and now dancing in Union Square and on Noe Street in the Castro through the summer months.
• Community support. The Sundance Association assists with fundraising events for many other nonprofit organizations in San Francisco, and has helped raise over $520,000 over the past 27 years (examples: PRC, LGBT Asylum Project, Transgender Law Center, Openhouse, Larkin Youth Services, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Trans Lifeline, Rainbow World Fund, and many more).

More info: https://sundancesaloon.org