Con or Bust needs volunteers

[kate_nepveu]

I posted this on Twitter in hopes of those RTs, but I'll paste it over here too, with minor formatting modifications:

As noted in the linked blog post, con_or_bust is looking for volunteers, long- and short-term. If you value CoB's work increasing racial diversity in SFF fandom, I urge you to consider helping. A thread follows with more about CoB's work and the help it needs. Please RT!

Con or Bust is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation that promotes racial diversity in speculative fiction. Specifically, it raises money to distribute directly to people of color/non-white people/BIPOC so they can attend SFF cons. See: https://con-or-bust.org/about/

In 2018 CoB committed to provide assistance 131 different times, to help 119 different people (29 first-time con attendees) attend 25 different cons, through $25,643.08 in direct monetary assistance, plus donated memberships, hotel room nights, transportation, and flight miles.

Admittedly I'm biased (more on that in a moment), but I think that's a pretty significant impact.

(Numbers from the 2018 annual report: https://con-or-bust.org/about/con-or-busts-corporate-documents/con-or-busts-annual-report-for-2018/ You can find all kinds of crunchy numbers and details via https://con-or-bust.org/about/#docs )

My bias: I founded Con or Bust in 2009 and did almost all of the day-to-day running for ten years. I stepped down earlier this year.

You might say, Kate, if you were doing almost everything by yourself for ten years, why does the new Board need volunteers now?

And the answer is, I was a control freak with a martyr complex, and that is not sustainable. As shown by the fact that I'm not doing it any more.

I have nothing but gratitude toward all of the current and past Board members and other volunteers: their help and time was and is invaluable. Life happens, we all know that--again, as shown by the fact that I'm not running CoB any more.

Because life happens, CoB needs more people to be involved so that it can continue helping increase racial diversity in SFF fandom: Board members to help shape its future, volunteers to help with specific tasks, so that its work can move forward in a sensible and sustainable way.

I don't want to give the wrong impression with my martyr complex! Most months, everything CoB took maybe an hour/week of my time. When we were taking requests for assistance (four times a year), that would be a few hours/week.

The auction is definitely a significant time commitment, but 1) I worked hard to automate much of it and 2) it particularly lends itself to dividing up tasks or taking shifts doing administrative work.

So: martyr complex not required, and indeed discouraged, for new folks.

As for the open Board positions: I held the combined position of Secretary/Treasurer, because that was the detail work. CoB is looking for a new Treasurer, and I can confidently say that our finances were not complicated. (And I left detailed notes; see: control freak.)

CoB is also looking for an interim President; the only specific formal duties attached to the office of President are signing off on annual government filings & presiding over meetings.

So if you're interested in volunteering, please email board.members@con-or-bust.org to let the current Board know. And signal boost!

Thank you so much for all your help and support; because of it, CoB has made a real difference, and I'm confident it will continue to do so.

Comments

[oracne]

Tweeted!

[kate_nepveu]

thank you!