Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc


Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc. is an American 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization incorporated in 1974 as an administrative vehicle for proposing, promoting, and running World Science Fiction Conventions and other special science fiction conventions in the New England area.
Although MCFI rents space in the Boston clubhouse of the New England Science Fiction Association for its annual meetings, purchased the "Noreascon" trademark from NESFA, and has overlapping membership with NESFA, the two groups are otherwise separate.

History

Several staffers of the then-recently concluded Noreascon I, the 29th World Science Fiction Convention, met during a July 1974 at a party in Boxborough, Massachusetts, and established MCFI to bid for a Boston Worldcon in 1980.
MCFI's founders needed a new administrative corporation for that purpose because Noreascon I has been run as a one-shot effort, and thus its sponsoring group, Boston in 71, had been dissolved after that event.

Worldcons

In 1980, WSFS voters having approved MCFI's bid, MCFI ran Noreascon Two, the 38th Worldcon.
In 1989, MCFI ran Noreascon Three, the 47th Worldcon.
In 1997, MCFI bid two possible sites in Orlando, Florida, for the 2001 (59th) Worldcon, and lost to a bid for Philadelphia.
In 2004, MCFI ran Noreascon Four, the 62nd Worldcon.

Other conventions

In 2011, MCFI bid Boston for the 2013 North American Discworld Convention, and lost to Baltimore.

Outreach

The group has published convention materials in various media including digital.
MCFI's charitable and educational work includes supporting the SF Outreach book giveaway at Wondercon in 2011.