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2018 Octavia Birthday Fundraiser

June 22 is Octavia E. Butler’s birthday–she’d be 71 years old if she were still alive today.  Butler was a writer, a visionary, and a genuine, certified genius–and also a community-minded activist who worked to make a place for people of color within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror communities. In that spirit, the Carl Brandon Society is celebrating Octavia’s time here with a Butler Birthday fundraiser that will allow us to continue her work and change the world of speculative fiction the way she changed it–for the better.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 by July 22. Reaching this goal will allow us to continue our major programs, such as the Octavia E. Butler Scholarships for writers of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops, and also our Parallax and Kindred awards for excellence in literature challenging racial and ethnic stereotypes.

To date, CBS has funded 23 scholarships for students of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West workshops, presented 6 Kindred and 7 Parallax Awards, and provided 19 years of support and strategizing for People of Color seeking representation in our field. All with the help of generous donors like you.

The Carl Brandon Society is a 501(c)3 organization, so your donation is tax-deductible in the U.S.

We have been offered several donor challenges: over $2500 is pledged to us as matching funds for your gifts. Every dollar you send means we get another, matching dollar from one of our challenge pledge donors–up to $2500!

Donate now electronically (credit and debit cards accepted) by clicking the button below:




Or send a check or money order made out to the Carl Brandon Society to:

The Carl Brandon Society
P.O. Box 23336
Seattle, WA 98102

Thank you!

The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee

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Reinstated!

To all of you in our community:

The Carl Brandon Society’s Steering Committee is very happy to announce that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has reinstated our organization as an official 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, tax- exempt group–and furthermore that this nonprofit status has been made retroactive to the date it was first revoked, back in 2013. Donations to us are now itemizable for those past years as well as for all years going forward.

Although we’ve been presenting our Octavia E. Butler Scholarships during this temporary revocation period, and also have been actively pursuing the selection of winners of the Kindred and Parallax literary awards, you may have noticed a lull in our fundraising activities. Now that we can safely guarantee the 501 (c) 3 classification applies to us and all your gifts to us, please feel free to help us out!

Of course this great news inspires us to put more energy into our many programs–the Scholarships, the awards, the panels and parties and online discussions and all the other work the Carl Brandon Society carries out to support the presence of POC in the fantastic genres. It also sharpens our commitment to preventing the unfortunate miscommunications that originally caused the temporary revocation of our nonprofit status. To that end we expect to put together annual reports on what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and where we stand financially and in terms of our programmatic goals. Look for the first of these reports by February 2018.

Last but indubitably not least, we want to thank you, our supporters, who have stood by us collectively and individually as we performed the necessary bureaucratic gyrations to achieve reinstatement. You are a powerful force for change, and your persistence and loyalty to our cause is what keeps us going.

Sincerely yours,
Nisi Shawl, Candra K. Gill, Victor J. Raymond, Victoria Elizabeth Garcia, K. Tempest Bradford, Lisa Bolekaja
Steering Committee of the Carl Brandon Society

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Tax Status Update

We have received confirmation that our outstanding tax returns and our reinstatement paperwork (form 1023, which requests retroactive reinstatement of our official non-profit status) were delivered to the IRS. We will post an update when the paperwork is processed. We thank everyone for their patience and support.

-The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee