Carl Brandon Society

April 21, 2016April 20, 2016

Announcing Con or Bust, Inc.!

The Carl Brandon Society is happy and excited to announce that the independent program we’ve been the fiscal agent for so many years, Con or Bust, is now officially a separate non-profit corporation! Support for the Con or Bust cause while it was under our aegis has been overwhelming, and we hope you continue to donate funds, auction items, memberships, and other helpful things now that it’s out on its own.

Con or Bust, whose mission is to increase the presence of POC at science fiction conventions by providing the financial means to attend them, began as a gleam in Kate Nepveu’s eye. Seeking an alternative to operating out of her personal checking account, she asked us to be the program’s fiscal sponsors. This meant that we accepted donations on its behalf and disbursed its grants. The CBS and Con or Bust missions are very much aligned, and for a long time we absorbed all the costs (PayPal fees, postage, etc.) of running the program. But with time it has become clear that Con or Bust can hold its own. We’re proud to have been involved in this stage of its growth, and look forward to all of us benefiting from its work for many years to come.

Meanwhile, we’ve stepped up our efforts in other areas: we’ll be presenting two Octavia E. Butler Scholarships this summer, and announcing four literary award winners this fall, with another four to be chosen and announced by January 2017. We’ve just completed the final IRS documents in our quest for nonprofit status reinstatement. Details about these efforts and accomplishments are forthcoming soon. Additional new programs are under consideration; we’ll keep you posted on those, too.

Thank you for helping us change the world!

-The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee

March 31, 2016

Award Jury for 2012/2013 named

We’re very excited and grateful to be able to announce that the Carl Brandon Society’s awards process is under way!

The jurors who will select our 2012 and 2013 Parallax and Kindred Awards are: Jaymee Goh (chair), Kat Tanaka Okopnik, Dominica Phetteplace, Margaret Killjoy, Melissa Draughn, Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada, and Scott Nicolay. Deliberations on the works nominated begin Monday, April 4 and continue through Sunday, August 28, with announcements of the winners expected over the Labor Day weekend.

Up to $8000 in total will be presented to our 2013 and 2013 award recipients.

The Carl Brandon Parallax Award is given to the award year’s best work by a self-identified person of color which expands and explores our understanding of race. The Carl Brandon Kindred Award is given to the award year’s best work by a person of any race or ethnicity which expands and explores our understanding of race. For more on the awards and past recipients, go to http://carlbrandon.org/awards/.

Nominations for works to be considered for the 2014 and 2015 awards cycles will open soon.

To let us know of your availability and willingness to serve on future juries, fill out the survey here.

Thank you so much for supporting these important awards with your time, interest, and donations.

August 30, 2015

Non-Profit Status Update

This is an explanation for why the Carl Brandon society does not currently have tax exempt status through the IRS:

Due to a misunderstanding between board members in the wake of a personnel transition, we did not ensure that our tax returns were filed properly for 2012 – 2014. (It is worth noting that tax returns for organizations as small as the Carl Brandon Society are done via a form called the e-postcard, which requires only basic information, and does not require any degree of complex accounting).

We discovered the oversight when the IRS administratively revoked our non-profit status and provided instructions to us on how to be reinstated. We have spent the time since then working toward reinstatement and taking steps to assure that this does not happen again. These steps include, but are not limited to: (1) doing a complete examination of our fiscal practices and financial controls, (2) getting a new treasurer with significant non-profit experience, as well as a legal background and experience tracking and analyzing financial records, and (3) doing a complete review of our bookkeeping and financial records for all the affected years. We are about to file detailed tax returns for the years in question along with an application for reinstatement as a non profit charitable organization. We expect to be reinstated without difficulty as soon as our paperwork is reviewed by the IRS. Charitable donations made during this time will be covered by that application.

The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee apologizes to everyone concerned for not resolving this issue in a more timely manner. Though the revocation happened in 2013, it was retroactive to the date covered by the missed filing. The reinstatement, likewise, will be retroactive to the same date.

Since becoming aware of the revocation, Carl Brandon Society has been investing substantial effort and resources in doing a thorough review of all of the Society’s financial records for the affected years, in order to make sure that the tax returns are precise, thorough, and free of error. Though this process has not been a fast one, we feel that this is the best way to ensure that the reinstatement goes smoothly.

We expect to file the tax returns in the very near future. When we do, we will post an update on our website. We will continue to use the website to keep the community informed as we pass each milestone in the reinstatement process.

-The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee