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Volunteer

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.

Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony

The Nebula Conference could not exist without the assistance of our amazing army of volunteers. Not only that, volunteering at the conference is an easy and fast way to meet new people and make friends. Join us!

  • Social Media & Promotion: Coordinates with SFWA Communications and Events Team to publicize appropriate communications about the conference. Uses social media channels to promote the Nebula Conference, and the awards.
  • Nebula Flight Crew: Are you comfortable with AirMeet, Zoom, and/or similar online meeting platforms or can learn fast? Join the Nebula flight crew to help out with our online events!

General Opportunities

Open to Members & Nonmembers

  • Grant Writers: SFWA’s Fundraising Committee is seeking additional volunteers to assist with applying for grants to support our many programs and to launch new ones.

SFWA Members Only

You must be a member of SFWA to serve as a volunteer for the following opportunities:

  • Website Updates: We are looking for a few more volunteers who are familiar with WordPress and with basic graphic design skills to assist with making updates to SFWA’s websites.
    Note Taking: 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.
  • Social Media Monitor: Do you enjoy staying on top of the most recent news in the SF/F community? The Communications team is looking for a volunteer to monitor social media activity on our official accounts (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin) a few concentrated times a year and report to our executive staff on any questions or concerns that need handling on those platforms. Volunteers will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
  • 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.
  • Independent Authors Committee: Did you know SFWA has an indie authors committee? We help authors with various indie pub and vendor issues, and are putting together a new section for the SFWA website for indie authors, fleshed out a proposal to help authors with older titles to get them back into print, doubled our Story Bundles from two to four, and started a new blog/newsletter series on how to indie publish, among other things. Are you an independent author who’d like to help us launch more programs under the SFWA umbrella? Join us on the Indie Authors Committee. The entire committee meets monthly on zoom, and also has a Slack room and a FB group.