Grow the Society for Women in Marine Science
Donation protected
Hi! We’re a small group of early career women working in marine science. We lead the Society for Women in Marine Science (SWMS, pronounced “swims”), a volunteer-run group that promotes the status of women in all kinds of marine science careers. SWMS is open to everyone. We are particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, ability, and socioeconomic status, and supporting and promoting women living with these multidimensional identities.
SWMS has been operating informally since 2014, when we held our first annual symposium at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Since then, we’ve hosted more symposiums as well as events focused on career development. We’ve grown our membership to more than 1,000 people and supported SWMS chapters around the world. (Please visit our website to take a look at all of our past activities and how to contact us.) Nonetheless, we’ve realized that our lack of formal financial systems are holding us back from pursuing some of our larger goals.
SWMS has operated on a budget of a few thousand dollars per year, with funding from our institutions, conference attendees, corporate sponsors, and our own money. We’re ready to expand SWMS, but that means we need to expand our budget, too.
The SWMS Steering Committee has decided to pursue formal non-profit status, with the help of a lawyer. First, we will become a charity in Massachusetts, then file for non-profit status with the IRS. We’re estimating that this process will cost about $3,000 (see a detailed breakdown of expenses below). However, SWMS can’t legally solicit donations until we have our status. That means that the committee will have to fund the registration process out of our own savings. That’s where you come in! Our small committee (who live on grad student and postdoc salaries) needs support so that we can make SWMS bigger and better. For now, we ask for personal donations to the steering committee to minimize the out of pocket expenses we are incurring. Once we receive our non-profit status, we can accept tax-deductible donations to SWMS. Thank you for being part of this big step for SWMS; please know it means a lot to us and we deeply appreciate your continued support!
Sincerely,
Anna Robuck, Alexa Sterling, Chrissy Hernandez, Gabi Serrato Marks, Hilary Palevsky, Jessica Dabrowski, Mara Freilich, Sophie Chu, and all the other people who have helped SWMS grow since 2014!
Breakdown of expenses:
To become SWMS Inc. (allowing us to obtain a bank account and begin operating as a public charity in Massachusetts):
5 hours of our lawyer’s time = $1250
Filing fees = $500
Subtotal for this major next step = $1750
To complete registration with the IRS as a 501(c)3 non-profit:
More lawyer time and filing fees, ~$1250
Total: $3,000
Any remaining funding beyond what is used to reach non-profit status will contribute to operational expenses and expanded SWMS programming:
- Committee travel to conferences to present formal research result on impacts of our events and informal social meet ups to expand the reach of SWMS
- Mailchimp paid account for email newsletters to members (we’re getting too big for the free version)
- Funding for chapter activities (we currently don’t give them any funding)
- Speaker honoraria (so we don’t ask anyone to do unpaid labor)
- Website hosting costs
- Operational costs such as paying an accountant to handle our annual financial reporting
SWMS has been operating informally since 2014, when we held our first annual symposium at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Since then, we’ve hosted more symposiums as well as events focused on career development. We’ve grown our membership to more than 1,000 people and supported SWMS chapters around the world. (Please visit our website to take a look at all of our past activities and how to contact us.) Nonetheless, we’ve realized that our lack of formal financial systems are holding us back from pursuing some of our larger goals.
SWMS has operated on a budget of a few thousand dollars per year, with funding from our institutions, conference attendees, corporate sponsors, and our own money. We’re ready to expand SWMS, but that means we need to expand our budget, too.
The SWMS Steering Committee has decided to pursue formal non-profit status, with the help of a lawyer. First, we will become a charity in Massachusetts, then file for non-profit status with the IRS. We’re estimating that this process will cost about $3,000 (see a detailed breakdown of expenses below). However, SWMS can’t legally solicit donations until we have our status. That means that the committee will have to fund the registration process out of our own savings. That’s where you come in! Our small committee (who live on grad student and postdoc salaries) needs support so that we can make SWMS bigger and better. For now, we ask for personal donations to the steering committee to minimize the out of pocket expenses we are incurring. Once we receive our non-profit status, we can accept tax-deductible donations to SWMS. Thank you for being part of this big step for SWMS; please know it means a lot to us and we deeply appreciate your continued support!
Sincerely,
Anna Robuck, Alexa Sterling, Chrissy Hernandez, Gabi Serrato Marks, Hilary Palevsky, Jessica Dabrowski, Mara Freilich, Sophie Chu, and all the other people who have helped SWMS grow since 2014!
Breakdown of expenses:
To become SWMS Inc. (allowing us to obtain a bank account and begin operating as a public charity in Massachusetts):
5 hours of our lawyer’s time = $1250
Filing fees = $500
Subtotal for this major next step = $1750
To complete registration with the IRS as a 501(c)3 non-profit:
More lawyer time and filing fees, ~$1250
Total: $3,000
Any remaining funding beyond what is used to reach non-profit status will contribute to operational expenses and expanded SWMS programming:
- Committee travel to conferences to present formal research result on impacts of our events and informal social meet ups to expand the reach of SWMS
- Mailchimp paid account for email newsletters to members (we’re getting too big for the free version)
- Funding for chapter activities (we currently don’t give them any funding)
- Speaker honoraria (so we don’t ask anyone to do unpaid labor)
- Website hosting costs
- Operational costs such as paying an accountant to handle our annual financial reporting
Organizer
Christina Hernandez
Organizer
Boston, MA