BIPOC of Publishing in Canada's Fundraiser (2021)
Donation protected
Hello and thank you for checking out BIPOC of Publishing in Canada’s first official fundraising campaign! In case you’ve just stumbled upon this campaign, we are a non-profit collective for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour currently working in the Canadian book publishing industry. Our goal is to provide a safe space for BIPOC in the industry to come together and to work towards a more inclusive industry through various programs such as mentorship and peer-to-peer support. You can learn more about us here: website
BIPOC of Publishing in Canada was established in June 2019 and has been largely run through the volunteered time and labour of its four co-founders and a select few friends of BIPOC of Pub. Over the past year and a half, we have dedicated the majority of our time and effort toward building the community and finding BIPOC within Canadian publishing who are searching for this kind of community. We have also held programming for BIPOC who are interested in joining the industry in the near future, mostly through our mentorship program.
In this time, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with and hear the opinions of BIPOC in Canadian publishing about what they feel needs to happen in order to make this industry a more sustainable space for them to exist and thrive. While BIPOC of Publishing in Canada cannot feasibly address all these issues and needs, we do want to contribute toward that effort through programming designed to support BIPOC in their career and professional endeavours. In order to implement said programming, however, we will need infrastructure and the labour of more people than just the four co-founders. We do not believe in asking BIPOC, who are already overworked and underpaid in publishing, to donate their time, skills, and efforts without compensation. That, in addition to the costs of setting up these programs, is why we need your help. Below you will find a brief overview of how we intend to use the funds raised through this campaign.
Mentorship Program 2021: In 2020, we organized the first ever BIPOC of Publishing in Canada Mentorship program. We had 11 pairings of BIPOC mentors and mentees who were either early in their publishing careers or seeking to enter publishing. Our 11 mentors generously donated their time and expertise to this first round of the program, but from the beginning we knew that we wanted to one day be in a position to compensate these mentors for the time and effort they put into the program. We believe that 2021 is the year to start doing so. We have learned much from the first round; we would like to take the lessons forward and build on the work we’ve done so far to create a sustainable mentorship program - for BIPOC, by BIPOC.
Programming for BIPOC who wish to enter the industry: gaining knowledge about publishing is a difficult process and at times it seems that if you are not already connected, whether through unpaid/underpaid internships or prohibitively expensive publishing programs, there is no avenue to learn about publishing. We have programming ideas and plans that we’d like to implement through BIPOC of Publishing that involve the labour and expertise of fellow BIPOC in the industry, who we intend to compensate for that work.
Peer-to-Peer Networking & Programming: peer-to-peer mentorship and learning is an important way that many BIPOC learn and progress in their careers. We would like to introduce programming that provides a system through which BIPOC can more easily access those networks, which can sometimes be difficult to find if you don’t know the right person or have the relevant connections.
Personnel Training: As co-founders of BIPOC in Publishing in Canada, we have found ourselves having to address many needs and requests for support from BIPOC within the industry. While we have done our best to address these issues and requests, we believe that in order to be effective leaders and supporters of fellow BIPOC in the industry, we need professional training on certain issues and topics, such as accessibility, mediation, and facilitation. We want to seek out BIPOC and marginalized professionals who provide such training and engage them in our work.
Admin & Technology: This is the boring category, but admin and tech costs are foundational and essential to us being able to do the work we are doing. Whether it is costs of website hosting, Zoom subscription, accounting program & services fees, etc., these are not the flashy aspects of running BIPOC of Publishing in Canada, but without these systems and processes in place we would not be able to do any of the above!
These are the general categories toward which the funds raised through the campaign will be going. All proceeds are directly invested back to the organization - we, the co-founders, do not take any cut from the proceeds.
Thank you for considering and donating to our cause! Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about our programming or us.
BIPOC of Publishing in Canada was established in June 2019 and has been largely run through the volunteered time and labour of its four co-founders and a select few friends of BIPOC of Pub. Over the past year and a half, we have dedicated the majority of our time and effort toward building the community and finding BIPOC within Canadian publishing who are searching for this kind of community. We have also held programming for BIPOC who are interested in joining the industry in the near future, mostly through our mentorship program.
In this time, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with and hear the opinions of BIPOC in Canadian publishing about what they feel needs to happen in order to make this industry a more sustainable space for them to exist and thrive. While BIPOC of Publishing in Canada cannot feasibly address all these issues and needs, we do want to contribute toward that effort through programming designed to support BIPOC in their career and professional endeavours. In order to implement said programming, however, we will need infrastructure and the labour of more people than just the four co-founders. We do not believe in asking BIPOC, who are already overworked and underpaid in publishing, to donate their time, skills, and efforts without compensation. That, in addition to the costs of setting up these programs, is why we need your help. Below you will find a brief overview of how we intend to use the funds raised through this campaign.
Mentorship Program 2021: In 2020, we organized the first ever BIPOC of Publishing in Canada Mentorship program. We had 11 pairings of BIPOC mentors and mentees who were either early in their publishing careers or seeking to enter publishing. Our 11 mentors generously donated their time and expertise to this first round of the program, but from the beginning we knew that we wanted to one day be in a position to compensate these mentors for the time and effort they put into the program. We believe that 2021 is the year to start doing so. We have learned much from the first round; we would like to take the lessons forward and build on the work we’ve done so far to create a sustainable mentorship program - for BIPOC, by BIPOC.
Programming for BIPOC who wish to enter the industry: gaining knowledge about publishing is a difficult process and at times it seems that if you are not already connected, whether through unpaid/underpaid internships or prohibitively expensive publishing programs, there is no avenue to learn about publishing. We have programming ideas and plans that we’d like to implement through BIPOC of Publishing that involve the labour and expertise of fellow BIPOC in the industry, who we intend to compensate for that work.
Peer-to-Peer Networking & Programming: peer-to-peer mentorship and learning is an important way that many BIPOC learn and progress in their careers. We would like to introduce programming that provides a system through which BIPOC can more easily access those networks, which can sometimes be difficult to find if you don’t know the right person or have the relevant connections.
Personnel Training: As co-founders of BIPOC in Publishing in Canada, we have found ourselves having to address many needs and requests for support from BIPOC within the industry. While we have done our best to address these issues and requests, we believe that in order to be effective leaders and supporters of fellow BIPOC in the industry, we need professional training on certain issues and topics, such as accessibility, mediation, and facilitation. We want to seek out BIPOC and marginalized professionals who provide such training and engage them in our work.
Admin & Technology: This is the boring category, but admin and tech costs are foundational and essential to us being able to do the work we are doing. Whether it is costs of website hosting, Zoom subscription, accounting program & services fees, etc., these are not the flashy aspects of running BIPOC of Publishing in Canada, but without these systems and processes in place we would not be able to do any of the above!
These are the general categories toward which the funds raised through the campaign will be going. All proceeds are directly invested back to the organization - we, the co-founders, do not take any cut from the proceeds.
Thank you for considering and donating to our cause! Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about our programming or us.
Organizer
BIPOC of Publishing in Canada
Organizer
Mississauga, ON
