Why volunteer for SFWA?

SFWA is a volunteer-driven 501(c)3 organization. We depend on volunteers to run many of our programs and services. Additionally, volunteering is a great way to meet people, acquire new skills, and contribute to your community.

We currently have a variety of volunteer opportunities, from helping out for an hour or two at a convention or at our annual Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony to more long-term options like joining one of our committees or helping with website/database updates. Although some specific volunteer opportunities do require SFWA membership, we have a variety of volunteer needs that do not require you to be a member of the organization.

If you’d like to volunteer for SFWA (even if you’re not a member), please fill out our volunteer survey. The survey collects information that will help us match you to volunteer opportunities. If you have skills or expertise that you think might be useful to SFWA, let us know!

In addition, below are just a few of our current opportunities. If you are interested in helping out with any of these particular needs, please email Volunteers@sfwa.org. Our Volunteer Coordinator will follow-up regarding your availability and volunteer interests. We look forward to hearing from you.

Open to Members & Nonmembers

Writing Dates Scheduler: Looking for a volunteer that will be able to reach out to authors via email or Discord to schedule, in advance, authors to lead Sunday Writing Dates. We ask that once someone is scheduled, the volunteer will follow up to get a headshot photo and biography that will be forwarded to Flight Crew Captain to create the event on the website. In addition to the initial contact, follow up with the author a few days in advance to confirm commitment and then a follow up to thank the author after the writing date is done. 

Members Only

Note Takers: Are you good at taking notes? If so, this might be the right opportunity for you! We are looking for one or more persons who are willing to sit in on various SFWA meetings and take minutes, as well as identify action items and assignments. Meetings take place in Zoom, so stable high-speed internet connection is necessary.

Contracts Committee: The Contracts Committee is looking for volunteers for 1–2 hours per week.  Experience with a variety of publishing contracts is a must. Formal legal training is helpful. Duties will include participating in committee subforum discussion and helping to write model contracts, contract alerts, and blog posts.

Financial Advisory Committee: Duties include reviewing monthly and annual financial statements, budgets, and asking questions when appropriate. Sometimes the committee also weighs in on policies for good fiscal management, sending their majority opinion to the Board. The time commitment for this volunteer position is low: typically an hour or two per month to review and reply to email about various financial documents.

Website Update Volunteer: We are looking for a volunteer who is familiar with WordPress and with basic graphic design skills to assist with making updates to the SFWA’s websites.

Discord Mod for Affinity Spaces: In response to member requests, we are adding private affinity group channels to the Discord server. Currently, we have BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and neurodivergent channels. We need moderators from these groups to keep these spaces safe; currently, we have the LGBTQ+ channel covered, and a couple of people in the neurodivergent channel. If you are a member of an affinity group who would be willing to help, please let us know!

Moderation workload is light — basically, keep an eye on the channel when on Discord, and act according to the moderation policies. There is also a moderator team channel to discuss actions with other moderators.