Welcome! This is the home of the Make Community Team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. project!
This team helps the community with official events like:
Discuss: Here we have policy debates, project announcements and status reports. Everyone is welcome to comment on posts and join the discussion.
Plan: Want to organize a meetupMeetupMeetup 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. in your community? Excited to host a WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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.? Check out one of our handbooks to get started.
Assist: Participate in the Meetup Reactivation project, apply to be a Community DeputyDeputyCommunity 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., or help out as a WordCamp MentorMentorSomeone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues..
Discover: Any skill level can find a way to be involved in our Team Projects.
Let’s Talk
Office HoursOffice HoursDefined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time. are held on Slack in #community-events
tl;dr: Exemplary WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. budgets are lean and prioritize attendees’ needs. Running the money through the WordPress Community SupportWordPress Community SupportWordPress 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. can protect you legally and financially. WordCamps are financially transparent.
Once you’ve identified a venue, it’s time to make your budget so you’ll know how much money you’ll need to raise. Your budget approval is the last required milestone before you can announce your event and start gathering speakers, sponsors, and volunteers.
Elect one member of your organizing team to be in charge of the budget and the money management. It’s important for this to be managed by one person so that there’s someone who knows how much money is available as you come to spending decisions. This person will be responsible for keeping track of actual expenses and incoming funds (including tickets and donations), and for updating WordCamp CentralWordCamp CentralWebsite for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. on changes to the budget.
Here is a Google Hangout from 2014 in which we discussed building a budget for your WordCamp and how to manage/prioritize expenses:
There are a lot of things you could spend money on, but there are very few that you need to spend money on. You want your event to be special, but be cautious about how you budget your money and don’t spend more money than you need. People will come for the content, the connections, and the community. Bells and whistles are usually not necessary, and in some cases, they distract from the things people came for in the first place. When you have to make choices, think about which choice will support the goal of growing the local WordPress community. If you’re choosing between a catered lunch and an extra room that could be used for a hack room, a workshop, or just a place for people to talk, let people buy their own lunch. If you’re choosing between extra swag and extra video coverage, go for the video — WordCamp attendees without fail say the biggest bummer of multi-track WordCamps is that they feel like they miss so much from the sessions they didn’t attend. You get the picture.
Most WordCamps are highly successful without spending money on the items below. While sometimes exceptions are made for unusual circumstances, you should plan not to include the following expenses in your budget, unless an experienced deputyDeputyCommunity 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. approves the expense.
If the organizing team pays for one of the following expenses out of pocket, without getting an OK from an experienced deputy first, that expense might not be reimbursed.
If you’re not sure about an expense, please email support@wordcamp.org to ask.
advertising
speaker travel (only for commit-level coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. developers with a financial need)
vehicle rental for event setup/breakdown
stock photos
membership fees
bank fees or taxes (for WordCamps not running the money through Central and that will have to pay taxes on the event expenses or income)
It used to be that there was no central financial support for WordCamps, and each organizer had to handle the money for an event through a personal checking account, a business account, or by creating a DBA just for the event. All of these approaches were found wanting by the majority of organizers, who felt pressure about what would happen if they fell short of their budget or if handling the WordCamp funds would negatively affect them come tax time. Some WordCamps had the terrible experience getting the PayPal accounts they were using for ticketing suspended for a spike in activity, which took a long time to fix and held up registration. Now that the WordPress Community Support is a legal entity, dedicated to promoting WordPress and educational programs (like WordCamps), all WordCamp organizers can reap the benefits of the WordPress Community Support’s legal and financial protection. These days, all WordCamps in the US and Canada all run the money through WordPress Community Support, and WordCamps around the world can also request this benefit.
Ticket payments and donations can be made to WordPress Community Support PBCWordPress Community SupportWordPress 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., and WordPress Community Support pays an event’s vendors directly, in advance. Should you run into last-minute situations that don’t lend themselves to pre-payment (“What do you mean, you forgot to order the coffee from Starbucks?!?!”), you can pay cash at the time and be reimbursed by WordPress Community Support when you submit the receipt. If you’ve reviewed the details on running the money through WordPress Community Support and you still have questions, ask via email to support@wordcamp.org.
Whether or not you choose to have the actual funds managed by WordPress Community Support, your event is still required to be transparent about the budget and funding. In the spirit of the original BarCamps, budgets should be posted for the community to see. In addition to this keeping the organization out in the open, it also provides an opportunity for community members to identify places where they could help defray expenses. The final budget will be archived by WordCamp Central. There is a ton of useful info on running funds locally here. If that is the path your organizing team chooses, be sure to request access to a Google Drive folder and Transparency Report template during the budget review process to report all income and expenses post event.
In case you have any leftover funds in the account after the event, please reach out to us at support@wordcamp.org to figure out the best method for handling it.