Editing Worldcon (section)

==Convention committees==
{{See also|Science fiction convention}}
As WSFS itself is an unincorporated society, each Worldcon is organized by a separate committee (usually) legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction; in the United States, these are usually organized as [[501(c)(3)]] non-profit corporations, while in the United Kingdom, they are usually operated by [[Private company limited by guarantee|companies limited by guarantee]]. The local organizers may be standalone, one-time committees (organized to hold the one event and then disbanded afterwards), or they may be organized by an existing local group. A few groups, such as [[MCFI]] in Boston, SFSFC (San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.)<ref name="SFSFC">{{cite web| url=http://sfsfc.org/?page_id=2| title=San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.: Who Are We?| date=May 23, 2008| access-date=June 3, 2018| archive-date=September 2, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902084123/http://sfsfc.org/?page_id=2| url-status=live}}</ref> in northern California, and SCIFI (Southern California Institute for Fan Interests Inc.)<ref name="SCIFI">{{cite web |url=http://www.scifiinc.org/ |title=Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, Inc. |access-date=July 2, 2007 |archive-date=July 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701145301/http://www.scifiinc.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in southern California are permanent corporations established to manage Worldcons (or other one-off or rotating conventions) in different years in the same geographical area.

Like most non-media science fiction conventions, all Worldcons are managed entirely by volunteers, with no paid staff. Senior committee members typically devote hundreds of hours (not to mention thousands of dollars in travel expenses in some cases) in preparation for a particular convention. While each convention is managed separately by the local committee, an informal and self-selected group of volunteers constitute the "Permanent Floating Worldcon Committee" who volunteer for many Worldcons in different years; this group offers a measure of [[Institutional memory|institutional continuity]] to otherwise disparate legal organizations.

Recent Worldcons have had budgets running in excess of a million dollars.<ref name="WorldconReports">{{cite web |url=http://www.wsfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-WSFS-Minutes-Final.pdf |title=Minutes of 2016 WSFS Business Meeting, Section D (Convention Financial Reports) |access-date=December 8, 2016 |archive-date=April 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418215145/http://www.wsfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-WSFS-Minutes-Final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The main source of revenue is convention membership, but Worldcons also collect fees from exhibiting dealers and artists and advertisers in publications, and some conventions manage to attract sponsorships of as much as 5% of total income. The main expenses are [[Convention center|facilities rental]] and related costs, then (if possible) membership reimbursements to program participants and volunteers, then publications, [[audiovisual]] equipment rental, and [[hospitality]]. Traditionally, all members (except for guests of honor) must pay for their membership; if the convention makes an adequate surplus after covering operating expenses, full or partial membership reimbursements are paid back to volunteers after the convention. Most Worldcons have a small surplus, which the rules of WSFS suggest be disbursed "for the benefit of WSFS as a whole;"<ref name="WorldconSurplus">{{cite web |url=http://www.wsfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WSFS-Constitution-as-of-August-22-2016.pdf |title=WSFS Constitution as of August 22, 2016, Section 2.9.3 |access-date=December 7, 2016 |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220121945/http://www.wsfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WSFS-Constitution-as-of-August-22-2016.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> typically at least half of any surplus is donated to future Worldcons, a tradition termed "pass-along funds".

Because of their size, Worldcons have two layers of management between the chairperson and the staff. "Departments" operate a specific convention function, while "divisions" coordinate the work of several departments. Department heads (sometimes called "area heads") have one or more deputies plus a large staff, or they may have no staff at all. Most Worldcons have between five and twelve division heads who form the convention executive group.