Maryland · Nonprofit
BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED
BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED (Maryland) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $561 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($561). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $106k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $561
- Net assets
- $213k
What Baltimore Science Fiction Society Incorporated does
Mission
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society is a literary society that exists to promote the creation and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy cultural arts, primarily through literary art forms, but also embracing the many related graphic, musical, and theatrical creations inspired by speculative fiction.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The annual balticon convention is headed by a author guest of honor and the winner of the robert a. Heinlein award for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings to inspire the human exploration of space. Also featured are the current and prior year winners of the compton crook award for the best first science fiction novel. An artist guest of honor also is featured. Over 100 other writers and artists participate in a multi-track schedule of panels providing convention members with guest of honor speeches, panels, and special presentations. Of note, is the science track of working scientists delivering current research to keep writers abreast of new findings and developments in theoretical and applied sciences including physics, space exploration, biology, earth science, and other fields. Convention members also explore expressions of science fiction literature in movies, videos, gaming, music and an art show. Balticon anywhere is uses streaming to include participants from remote locations and deliver video content during the convention and the following month.
$93,495 spent$82,500 earned by the program86% of program spendingSupport and promote basic literacy in general and science fiction/fantasy in particular through the annual compton crook award the best first novel in science fiction during the preceding year, the annual young writers contest, the annual poetry contest and support of local libraries through participation in local book and art festivals. The robert a. Heinlein award for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings to inspire the human exploration of space is co-sponsored by bsfs and the heinlein society, which pays half of the costs of the award each year.
$3,548 spent$2,915 earned by the program3% of program spendingMonthly activities offered for free for writing development and exploration of literature and video presentations derived from works in the genre. Hosted a semi-monthly workshop for writers on the second and fourth thursdays of each month in which writers reviewed works in progress. The group has been successful on having works by participants published. After march 2020, these sessions were held online using a conferencing platform. Hosted a monthly online speculative poetry workshop in which participants presented works and collaborated on work based various themes. Hosted a monthly hybrid book discussion exploring new and classic works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Presented a book discussion for one maryland one book in conjunction with maryland humanities. Hosted monthly onsite movie nights to view new and classic films of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Hosted monthly viewing sessions, with an online watch-along component, of anime videos.
$6,586 spent6% of program spendingBSFS maintains a Little Free Library in front of its building. During FY25, 608 books were distributed to the community in East Baltimore. Books for children were 59% of the total and of these 25% were in Spanish. Books4Kids funded the Spanish language books for children.
$2,265 spent$2,472 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe Bobby Gear Memorial Charity Auction at Balticon commemorates Bobby's decades as a school teacher and BSFS volunteer by raising funds for BSFS Books for Kids to "to put books in the hands of children." BSFS Books for Kids will gift funds raised to the PTA, or program at the school administered by the Maryland Book Bank, at selected school for the purchase of books ordered by students for personal recreational reading. Funds also are used to purchase Spanish language children's books to put in the BSFS Little Free Library.
$3,031 spent$6,308 earned by the program3% of program spendingAt the end of fiscal year 2025, bsfs had over 18,000 cataloged items in a library of books, magazines and recordings of speculative fiction. The library committee met monthly to review boxes of donations, add new items to the collection, and pack up duplicates for donation to the heinlein society and other literacy groups. Volunteers on the library committee logged over 300 hours during fy 2025. Revenue from de-accessions and sale of duplicate volumes is restricted to preservation of the collection;
$190 spent$31 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $109,115.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $216k to $343k (+59%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 16% · 2022 9% · 2024 10% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $141 → $37.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
100% of BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $561 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED?
- BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED (Maryland) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $561 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($561). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $561 in grants to BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $561 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BALTIMORE SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY INCORPORATED find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 1 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing