40% of the web is powered by WordPress, the free and open source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. software built and maintained by thousands of volunteers all over the world. The WordPress contributor community is made up of developers, designers, writers, photographers, freelancers, agency professionals, and hobbyists, many of whom gather regularly around the world at locally-organized monthly and annual events. Official WordPress community events are exclusively volunteer-organized, and each reflects the interests and expertise of the local community.
In 2020, significant amount of WordPress events were held online, due to the pandemic. Our community, despite the pandemic, organized 31 WordCamps in 2020, most of which were virtual. 745 meetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups in the WordPress chapter program met over 4,900 times.
What’s a WordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more.?
WordCamp is the annual conference for local WordPress communities; it’s a casual, non-commercial, educational event about WordPress. Events range from intimate 50-person unconferences to multi-track conferences attended by over 3,000. Conference session topics include WordPress development, design, business, social media integration, blogging, and marketing. WordCamp tickets are sold at an extremely low price ($25 USD per person, per day) so that events are accessible to people of any financial background. Online WordCamps are always free of charge to attend.
WordCamp Program Data
There were 31 WordCamps in 2020, most of them taking place online. It is difficult to project the growth in numbers of events in 2021 as the pandemic continues, but we do anticipate that online events will continue.
WordCamps confirmed for 2021 can be found on the official schedule.
What’s a meetup?
WordPress meetups Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. are locally-organized user groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis to discuss WordPress (commonly once a month). These events take many formats: presentations/lecture series, hackathons, social gatherings, workshops, coworking, running a WordPress help desk, contributor sprints/drives, and others. Groups hosted on meetup.com can become an official WordPress chapter group and receive financial and organizational support from the WordPress Community team.
Meetup Program Data
- 745 groups
- 109 countries with a meetup group
- 454,482 group members (as of January 2021), program-wide
- 4,900 meetup events (in the year 2020)
Again, it is difficult to project the growth in numbers of events in 2021 as the pandemic continues, but we do anticipate that online events will continue.
How does event sponsorship help WordPress?
Companies that sponsor WordPress community events support the WordPress open source project by helping our volunteer-organized, local events provide free or low-cost access for attendees. WordPress community events strengthen, inspire, and connect the community that builds and maintains WordPress.
Why sponsor via this program rather than sponsoring individual events?
As the WordPress community continues to grow, many companies find they don’t have time to coordinate with multiple teams of volunteer event organizers. The WordPress Global Community Sponsorship Program ensures that your support reaches WordCamps and meetups quickly and provides stability to locally-organized events. WordPress global community sponsors have a single, centralized point of contact and are billed quarterly, saving companies time and trouble.
This year, only one package is offered, available on a quarterly basis. A quarterly offering should help make the program nimble, if our path to global in-person events accelerates in ways we don’t currently expect. Offering one single package should make this easier to administrate, which is extra-important right now, as volunteer engagement is (for perfectly understandable reasons) so low.
The one new benefit we’re able to offer this year, is acknowledgement on the meetup.com pages of all WordPress chapter groups. Meetup.com has offered to make this happen for us, once per year for up to 6 sponsors. Therefore, this benefit will only be available to the first 6 qualifying sponsors that inscribe by 26 March 2021, and only those that commit to at least two quarters of sponsorship. Inscription will be opened early to companies that have been sponsors of this program in the past.
What are the costs and benefits associated with global sponsorship?
(Here is a link to a PDF of these costs and benefits)
Cost: $10,000/quarter; sponsor limit 6 (due to meetup.com constraints)
- Featured on all WordPress chapter meetup group pages (as of Jan 2021: 454,482 Members, 745 groups, 109 countries) — Available to inscribers by 26 March, who will commit to at least two quarters of sponsorship.
- 1 April 2021: Acknowledgement in a “Thank you” blurb appended to the group description, as well as your logo featured in a “Showcase” image in all meetup groups.
- 1 July 2021: Your logo, with a link back to the company landing page of your choice, on chapter meetup group landing and event pages
- Acknowledgement in all WordCamp “ticket purchase successful” pages (39,000 in 2020; projected 19,000 in 2021).
- Acknowledgement on the WordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. home page (over 400k annual views).
- Acknowledgement in one program-wide email to all 454,607 members of a WordPress chapter account meetup/user group.
- Acknowledgement on sponsor page on WordCamp Central (8,698 views in the past 365 days).
- Monthly email with spreadsheet of WordCamps in planning and on the schedule
- “Featured” acknowledgment on all monthly meetup organizer newsletters (received by 2,800+ WordPress community influencers every month).
- Opportunity to list discounts or free resources that meetup and WordCamp organizers can use for new user workshops, charity hackathons, etc., on the official WordCamp Organizer handbook page for use at community events. This page will be promoted through the Meetup Organizer newsletter, received by 2,800+ WordPress community influencers monthly.
Please Note:
- The 2021 version of the Global Sponsorship program does NOT include direct WordCamp sponsorship. Once we have a return to in-person camps in all regions, we will review adding WordCamps to the Global Sponsor program.
- The Global Community Sponsorship program does not include flagship events WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, or WordCamp US, as the scale of those events are outside the scope of this program.
Please see Rules for Sponsor Materials for more details about terms of sponsorship. Please also see our sample sponsorship agreement.
Interested in becoming a Global Community Sponsor Company that sponsors the WordPress community events through the global sponsorship program.? Drop us a line!