harmonyromo 8:36 pm on February 7, 2022  

2022 WordPress Community Support Financial Update

With the recent update in guidelines for WordPress events it seems like a fitting time for WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a subsidiary of WordPress Foundation. It is created specifically to be the financial and legal support for WordCamps, WordPress Meetup groups, and any additional “official” events organized within the WordPress Community Events program. to provide an overview of the state of the program’s finances. If you’d like to see where things stood in March of last year, here is a link to our prior financial post.

If you would like to view the 2020 financial statements for the WordPress FoundationWordPress Foundation The WordPress Foundation is a charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software. Find more on wordpressfoundation.org. and its subsidiary, WordPress Community Support (WPCSWPCS The collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) used to format and validate PHP code developed for WordPress according to the WordPress Coding Standards. May also be an acronym referring to the Accessibility, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc. coding standards as published in the WordPress Coding Standards Handbook.), you can find them here. These summaries are posted each year after the annual financial audit is completed.

Current cash situation: 

WPCS rounded out the year with approximately $1.2M of cash on hand. Of this total, $293,000 relates to unused Global Sponsorship funds carried over from 2020. Annual estimated overhead and operating expenses, including Meetup.com fees, is ($276,000).

In addition, prepaid expenses total $216,374. These expenses are funds that were expended in 2020 for WordCampWordCamp 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. Asia, WordCamp Atlanta, and WordCamp US, and are being held for future events.

Due to the fact that WPCS ended 2020 with a net loss, a tax form was filed to request a refund of $50,708 which is forthcoming.

The main expense for WordPress Community Support continues to be Meetup.com fees, which amount to approximately $55,000 per quarter or $220,000 per year. Since WPCS is billed per group, a review of MeetupMeetup 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 program will need to be conducted later this year in order to determine whether any groups need to be removed from the program due to inactivity. This will be done with the greatest of care as the past several years have been abnormal to say the least.

A proposal for the 2022 Global Sponsorship Program was posted on November 22, 2021. WPCS, along with several Community DeputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook., are currently finalizing contracts. A post is forthcoming with the finalized version of the 2022 program. 

What does this mean for the program:

WPCS does have an adequate amount of cash on hand to meet the current needs of the program, so as we proceed, we should do so cautiously until there is a solid return to in-person events and thus a reliable revenue stream. Responsible expense decisions have allowed the program to endure and stay flexible as in-person events slowly return from hiatus. Thank you to the organizers, sponsors, and deputiesDeputy Community Deputies are a team of people all over the world who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and generally keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about deputies in our Community Deputy Handbook. who have collectively supported and continue to support the program’s finances during this challenging time!