Fiction Alley Brouhaha

This has been making the rounds and since I link to the site I might as well make an awareness post.

Via the denizens of DW (aka, Latest Things) and starlady:

Fiction Alley, one of the early pillars of Harry Potter fanfiction, can't pay for its server upkeep, and they're applying for a $25,000 grant from Pepsi Refresh. So far the reactions have been largely, "WTF? What ever happened to asking money from the Organization for Transformative Works?" and "Who really deserves the $25,000?"  Can largely non-substantive fanworks really stand up to other social justice requests? (The answer is no.)

I'm looking at what the other options are and am appalled.  What is this...fitness studios? School lunches?  High school endeavors?  Really?  That's what they're funding?

There's no option for using that money for R&D in projects like advanced cheap solar lighting and funding rural microfinance opportunities? (my head hurts.) The gap between the have's and have not's have not been so readily apparent.