GUFF is short for Going Under Fan Fund when traveling to Australia or Get Up and Over Fan Fund for traveling to Europe.
It is a fund maintained and used by science fiction fans in order to exchange prominent fandom members and promote and strengthen international fandom ties.
Founded in 1978 after British SF author Christopher Priest traveled to Australia as a means of helping British fans reach out to Australian fandom and vice versa (you can read all about that here), GUFF has grown into a fund that helps European fans tour Australiasia and Australaisan fans tour Europe.
GUFF was formed by Leigh Edmonds and Dave Langford, whose views on GUFF you can find here. He also maintains this page dedicated to GUFF.
Fan funds – and there are several, such as TAFF , DUFF, NAFF and FFANZ – fundraise among science fiction fans all over the world in a number of ways. There are numerous activities at science fiction conventions (fan fund auctions, trip report sales, room parties) or in between cons as well as blogs and online communities that work on both fundraising and connecting fandoms from different countries.
Find out more about Australian Fan Funds.
Past GUFF winners GUFF FAQ Mihaela’s 2013 GUFF Trip Schedule
Les, thank you! It was great to meet you to! ;D