How the Chicago Worldcon Community Fund Helped People Attend Chicon 8

By Tammy Coxen: Chicon 8’s Chicago Worldcon Community Fund (CWCF) program offered both memberships and financial stipends. It was established with the goal of helping defray the expenses of attending Chicon 8 for the following groups of people:

• Non-white fans or program participants
• LGBTQIA+ fans or program participants
• Local Chicago area fans of limited means

SUPPORT PROVIDED. Thanks to the generosity of the Worldcon community we were able to provide support to 101 people. This was made up of 68 program participants and 33 fans. The majority of people (58) only received a membership while 28 received a stipend and a membership and 15 only received a stipend. A detailed breakdown of support provided is available here.

Memberships for program participants were provided via a pool of complimentary attending and virtual memberships provided by Chicon 8. Memberships for fans were covered entirely thanks to donated
memberships from fans who could not attend. The CWCF did not see the last minute rush of donated memberships that Dublin 2019 did in their Fantastic Dublin Fund, probably because people who could not attend in person chose to keep their memberships and attend virtually. However, in the end that was fine, since we were able to provide a membership to everyone who needed one.

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AND FUNDRAISING. Stipends were paid out of cash contributions made to the fund. In total, the fund received $23,604. Most of this money came from fans who responded to our calls for support. Nearly $15k was received from 76 donors, including 7 people who donated multiple times. Another $2k came from people who had some kind of payment error (double or overpayment) that could have resulted in a refund, but chose to donate that money to the fund instead. $873 came from the pay-what-you-can membership recipients themselves, with a minimum donation of $5 and a maximum of $75.

The remainder of the money in the fund came through other fundraising means — $2500 was a passalong from Discon III’s Capitalize fund, $2500 was raised by Chicon 8 through an auction and sale of pins at their table at Discon III, and an additional $1100 came from Discon III when they held a fundraiser for us at Balticon, giving leftover Discon III merchandise away in exchange for a contribution to the CWCF.

STIPENDS GIVEN. The program allowed applicants to specify both a minimum they needed to attend, and a maximum that would be ideal. We were able to grant all requests at the minimum amount, with a handful of people receiving more. The range of grants was very large, going from $50 to a virtual program participant for data costs to a max of $2300 for an in-person program participant, with an overall average grant of just over $500.

DECISIONS REMAINING TO BE MADE. The CWCF worked really hard to try to give away all the money we took in. However, in the end we were left with $1900 in the fund primarily due to last minute cancellations, including $1200 that was being held for Ugandan members who did not end up getting visas. We are still deciding what to do with the leftover funds.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in helping to make Worldcon more accessible.

Chicon 8 Publishes First Progress Report; Launches Community Fund; Won’t Run Retro-Hugos

Chicon 8, the 2022 Worldcon in Chicago, has posted Progress Report #1 (also available to nonmembers).

Chair Helen Montgomery says in the PR they “have fully signed the contract with the Hyatt Regency Chicago and have completed our initial space allocation plan.” The PR also previews the Chicago Worldcon Community Fund, which some can tap into for assistance in attending the con. And Chicon 8 announces they will run a 1946 retrospective instead of awarding Retro-Hugos.

 CHICAGO WORLDCON COMMUNITY FUND. “We know that Worldcon can be an expensive prospect for many people,” notes Montgomery. “We also know that Worldcon is great fun and we want as many people there as possible.” The Chicago Worldcon Community Fund (CWCF) will crowdsource donations from the community and distribute the money to fans who may need a little help in order to attend.

Funds will be available to the following groups of people:

  • Non-white fans or program participants
  • LGBTQIA+ fans or program participants
  • Local Chicago area fans of limited means

Full information at the CWCF link.

1946 RETROSPECTIVE. Chicon 8 won’t exercise its option to run Retro Hugos for 1947. Instead, they will do a retrospective of the works and fandom of 1946, a project headed up by Cora Buhlert, 2020 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fan Writer.

The committee gave five reasons for its decision.  

First, the public feedback made on social media and sent to us in email after the last two Retro Hugos largely were not supportive of Retro Hugos at Chicon 8. Second, it has been increasingly difficult to get representatives from estates involved in the awards, leading us to question who we were actually honoring when the creators are deceased and the estates, for the most part, are uninterested. Third, there is a financial cost factor — rockets and bases, tech for putting on a ceremony, etc. Fourth, the labor costs of administering the awards, the director and crew for a ceremony, hosts and acceptors, etc. Fifth, there tends to be much less interest in the Retro Hugos, based on lower nominations, lower voting, and lower attendance at Retro Hugos ceremonies.

Their retrospective project will explore the literary and media works of 1946, and “the state of fandom” that year.

In fact, 1946 was the first Worldcon held after WWII and was notable for several firsts, including the first non-American Guests of Honor (A.E. Van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull, both from Canada) and the first woman Guest of Honor (E. Mayne Hull). We plan to have several program items looking at 1946, as well as an exhibit on it.

Anyone interested in working on the project should let the committee know by volunteering.