CLEVELAND — CLAW Corp. announced this week that it distributed a record $70,000 to community charities, representing the net profits of CLAW 16, held in April.
Twenty-five different charities were awarded money by CLAW. The biggest shares went to the Leather Archives and Museum; the Leather Heart Foundation; and the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland. A complete list of beneficiaries and their missions is available at clawinfo.org/beneficiaries.
The organization thanked everyone who made the amounts possible, especially the five Master Sponsors: Recon, Square Peg Toys, Mr S Leather, LeatherWerks, and FLEX Spas, and to the 1816 registered attendees. The number is a 30% increase over 2015 with people from 42 different states, six Canadian provinces, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and Mexico. Approximately half of the attendees were also volunteers at the event.
CLAW also announced the election of Michael Calin of Cleveland and Joy Berger of New Hope, Penn. to its Board of Directors. Michael is a usability and UI specialist for a software company and is CLAW’s Registration Coordinator. Joy is a successful entrepreneur, including leather and fetish retailer Le Chateau Exotique, a long time CLAW vendor and supporter.
Since it began in January 2002, CLAW’s annual event has now raised $437,000 for charities. More than $250,000 has been raised at CLAW Nation events around the country — bringing CLAW Corp.’s fundraising total to $690,000.
