Greetings, Nakama — We hope everyone's holiday season is off to a great start. As we reflect, we are very thankful for all the people involved in making Naka-Kon possible each year and the support to celebrate Japanese pop culture and art.
Today, we have an important message that we would like to share with everyone. To be candid, the permanent closure of Naka-Kon is a real possibility that we are facing.
Naka-Kon is a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers, and putting together the convention takes lots of time and money. We rely heavily on badge and exhibit hall space sales, and all income we generate goes back into the operation of the convention.
Our convention has taken a massive financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 cancellation, which could not have come at a worse possible time: the day before we were set to open the convention. Due to this cancellation, we lost the majority of our pre-convention operation capital—approximately $200,000.
Although we were able to host an in-person convention this year, we could not recoup any of the loss due to the capped attendance and additional operating costs caused by the postponement in date.
Now more than ever, we need everyone's help to keep Naka-Kon alive.
Getting Naka-Kon back on its feet will be a difficult road that will likely take several years to accomplish. As we move towards Naka-Kon 2022, we will be working hard to generate the funds to keep this convention running beyond next year. Our current goal is to raise $100,000 through grants and donations by Naka-Kon 2022.
To kick-start this effort, we are calling for donations today on GivingTuesday. Please support Naka-Kon at naka-kon.com/donate.
Thank you, and we are grateful for the continued understanding and support from everyone.
皆さまからの温かいご支援をよろしくお願いいたします。
