The WPSA 75th Anniversary Project
Help Support Others at the WPSA

The Western Political Science Association has long prided itself in providing an inclusive home for political scientists, one that is open to a broad range of cutting-edge research and scholars from diverse backgrounds. Many political scientists feel a special bond with the WPSA because of its openness to others and to different perspectives.

Yet there is one area in which the WPSA has been poor in promoting inclusiveness. Unlike many other political science associations, the WPSA does not have a fund to help underwrite the cost for graduate students and less well-off faculty to attend the annual meeting. Every year, the Association receives requests for financial assistants from participants, which we cannot provide. As a consequence, some individuals who would like to participate in the annual meeting are unable to afford it.

As part of the WPSA’s 75th Anniversary, the Association is launching a fund-raising campaign to create a travel endowment, which will provide support to help graduate students and faculty so they can attend the annual meeting. Please consider contributing to the WPSA Travel Fund. It will provide much-needed support to others so they can join us at the annual meeting and make us more inclusive.

Help us make our goal of
$100,000

Here is how we are doing

There are other ways in which you can help the WPSA. In addition to creating this Travel Fund, the WPSA is also using the Anniversary as a means to build financial support for Association awards. Currently, only two of our annual best paper awards are self-funded, with the rest relying on limited support out of the Association’s annual budget. The Association would like to see all the awards eventually become self-funded to ensure their long-term survival and to build the dollar size of each award, which has remained unchanged for more than a decade. The WPSA is asking members to consider donating to the individual Award Funds.

If you just want to provide help to the Association to ensure its long-term viability and to build a base for growth, please consider donating to the WPSA Endowment Fund. This fund was created to provide security if a financial crisis occurs and to provide support for major projects.

The Association’s goal for the campaign is to raise $100,000. The WPSA is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization; as such, your contributions are fully tax-deductible, as permitted by law.

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