Lisa Cohen
WisCon Member Assistance Fund

Do you remember your first WisCon?  I remember mine.  I remember going to panel after panel where people were talking about fiction, about social justice, about Buffy and Xena, about the future, and about history.  I was amazed.  I was enchanted.

That’s the reason that I choose to work on WisCon, and that’s the reason why one of the things that I work on is helping people who need a little help coming to WisCon to make it here.  The WisCon Member Assistance Fund isn’t just for first-timers.  It isn’t just for old hands, either.  It’s for people who are drawn to WisCon, but can’t make it there on their own.

Every year, we try to help as many people as we can come to WisCon. It’s the time of year when we ask you to please consider contributing to the member assistance fund. All contributions should be made to SF3 and sent to:

SF3
Attn: WisCon Member Assistance Fund
P.O. Box 1624
Madison, WI 53701

SF3 is a 501(c)(3) organization, so your donations are tax deductible. Every penny will be used to help potential WisCon members attend in May. You can also use Paypal and send the money to treasurer@sf3.org.

We are also accepting nominations for potential recipients of assistance. Nominate someone else or nominate yourself. Tell us why the potential recipient would be a good person to attend WisCon and give us an idea of what funds would make the difference between being able to attend and missing the convention. Typically, we give amounts between $200 and $500.

We are often asked whether a previous recipient of assistance can receive help again. The answer to that is that yes, that is a possibility, but if we do not have enough money to help everyone who applies, we will give priority to people who have not previously received assistance. Depending on the number of nominations and the amount of donations, the WMAF committee will try to help out as many people as possible who would like to come to WisCon but need some support to do so.

All nominations need to be made by midnight, PST, February 15, 2015. Assistance recipients will be notified by March 15, 2015. These deadlines are timed to allow people who receive assistance time to sign up to be on programming. Nominations for the WisCon Member Assistance Fund should be sent to fund@wiscon.net.

Nominate away! And please, if you have a little money to help other people come to WisCon, donate!