Running the money outside of WPCS

WordPress Community Support, PBC, was created to handle funds for WordCamps and to relieve organizers of legal and financial liability. When a 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. chooses to run funds locally, it is likely because there are local laws in place that make international transfers difficult, whether due to tax reasons or general banking regulations. Vendors may not be able to accept international wires, and sponsors may find it difficult to send funds internationally. 

Making the decision to handle WordCamp funds locally should be a last resort, as it does place liability on the party handling the funds of the WordCamp. 

One very important note for WordCamps running funds locally; in order for an application to be considered in a locale where the prior year’s WordCamp managed funds locally, the prior WordCamp must have submitted a complete Transparency Report, and that report must have been reviewed and accepted by Central. A WordCamp running funds locally has to be closed before a successor WordCamp will be considered.

What are the processes for those events running funds locally?

The planning steps for events running funds through WPCSWordPress Community Support WordPress Community Support PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation, 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. OR running funds outside of WPCS “locally” are the same all the way through the budget review process. These first steps are listed below:

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Insurance Requirements

Even if WPCS is not handling the money for the event, WPCS should still sign the venue contract, this way the liability protection provided under WPCS’s insurance policies is extended to the WordCamp. Most venues will require certain levels of insurance coverage, so it is important to inquire about this when in discussions with the venue. 

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Creating Sponsorship Agreements

Most sponsors will not need a sponsor agreement, but there are some cases when one is required:

  • If the sponsorship package is an amount higher of $10k
  • If it’s a legal requirement of the sponsor’s country (like the case of SiteGround)

Whether or not a WordCamp is running funds through WPCS or locally, they can utilize the sponsorship agreement tool on the WordCamp dashboard. 

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Creating Sponsorship Invoices

Due to the fact that most sponsorship funds will be received directly by the organizing team to an account of their choosing, invoice creation will work differently from those WordCamps running funds through WPCS. Not to worry, it’s still a fairly simple process. Organizers can utilize this template to create invoices to email to their local sponsors. Occasionally, there may be sponsors who are able to go through normal channels to make payments directly to WPCS. In this case, organizers can use the invoice creation tool on the dashboard to create and send an invoice. Once the sponsorship invoice is paid, WPCS will include those funds with the Global Community Grant.

It’s important to note that copies of all sponsorship invoices sent locally should be retained in the Google Drive Folder created for the WordCamp. 

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Receiving a Global Community Grant to get started

The Global Community Sponsorship Grant is a grant from WordCamp Central to help bridge the gap between what can be raised locally through local sponsorship grants and micro-sponsorships and the amount needed to fund the WordCamp. The amount of the Global Community Grant is determined during the budget review process. Once a WordCamp is ready to move forward with making deposits for the event, organizers should submit a vendor payment request using this process for the amount of the grant approved in the budget and any additional sponsorship funds that may have been paid directly to WPCS. 

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Paying Vendors when running funds locally

Just like with local sponsorship invoices, copies of any vendor invoices that are paid locally should be retained in the Google Drive folder created for the WordCamp. This is a very important step, as copies of all sponsorship invoices and vendor invoices will need to be submitted to WordCamp Central once the event concludes. When a WordCamp decides to handle the funds for a WordCamp locally, all responsibility to make payments to vendors in a timely manner falls on the organizing team.

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Ticket Sales when running funds locally

Tickets can be sold and attendance tracked using the Camptix plugin whether or not a WordCamp is running funds locally or through WPCS. If you want to use Stripe or PayPal and your event is handling the money locally (outside the US/Canada), then go to CampTix > Setup > Payment tab, and select “None” in the Predefined Account field, and click on the “Save Changes” button. Fields for entering your Stripe/PayPal APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. details will then appear. Enter the details of the account you plan to use to collect ticket revenue, then click “Save Changes” again.

If Stripe/PayPal don’t support your currency, or attendees in your city prefer another gateway, then it’s very important that you select a gateway early on in the organizing process. We’ll need to coordinate the setup with you, and if we don’t already have a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party to support that gateway, we’ll ask your community to create one.

That process might only take a few days, but if a new plugin needs to be created, then it could take a few weeks, or even a few months. If you don’t get started on that process early, then you might not be able to open ticket sales when you plan to. To get started, contact your mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone 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. or a deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook.. Make sure the gateway you want to use is approved before you start writing code.

The gateways/currencies we currently support are:

  • KDCpay: INR
  • Instamojo – INR
  • MercadoPago: ARS, BRL, MXN, VEF, COP
  • PayFast: ZAR
  • PayPal: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD, NZD, CHF, HKD, SGD, SEK, DKK, PLN, NOK, HUF, CZK, ILS, MXN, BRL, MYR, PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php., TWD, THB, TRY
  • PagSeguro – BRL
  • PayStack – NGN
  • RazorPay – INR
  • Stripe – AED, AFN, ALL, AMD, ANG, AOA, ARS, AUD, AWG, AZN, BAM, BBD, BDT, BGN, BMD, BND, BOB, BRL, BSD, BWP, BZD, CAD, CDF, CHF, CNY, COP, CRC, CVE, CZK, DKK, DOP, DZD, EGP, ETB, EUR, FJD, FKP, GBP, GEL, GIP, GMD, GTQ, GYD, HKD, HNL, HRK, HTG, HUF, IDR, ILS, INR, ISK, JMD, KES, KGS, KHR, KYD, KZT, LAK, LBP, LKR, LRD, LSL, MAD, MDL, MKD, MMK, MNT, MOP, MRO, MUR, MVR, MWK, MXN, MYR, MZN, NAD, NGN, NIO, NOK, NPR, NZD, PAB, PEN, PGK, PHP, PKR, PLN, QAR, RON, RSD, RUB, SAR, SBD, SCR, SEK, SGD, SHP, SLL, SOS, SRD, STD, SZL, THB, TJS, TOP, TRY, TTD, TWD, TZS, UAH, USD, UYU, UZS, WST, XCD, YER, ZAR, ZMW, BIF, CLP, DJF, GNF, JPY, KMF, KRW, MGA, PYG, RWF, UGX, VND, VUV, XAF, XOF, XPF
  • TrustPay / TrustCard – BGN, CZK, EUR, GBP, HRK, HUF, NOK, RON, TRY, USD

The additional steps for using the CampTix plugin and ticketing can be found here.

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Wrapping up and submitting a Transparency Report

The event is over, but there’s just one more task to complete before wrapping up. As stated previously, organizers must retain copies of all sponsorship invoices, records of ticket sales (preferably a report from the payment gateway showing all receipts and refunds), and vendor invoices/payment receipts in the Google Drive folder for their specified WordCamp. Once the event has concluded, organizers are required to submit a “Transparency Report” recapping total income and expenses of the event. You will find a template in your Google Drive folder. 

The Transparency Report consists of 3 separate tabs. The first tab is a quick recap of the Working Budget from the WordCamp dashboard. Only input information and formulas in those cells highlighted in yellow. It is recommended that as actual vendor invoices are received and sponsorship invoices are sent and paid, the Working Budget is updated to reflect the final totals. If there are multiple invoices for any one categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., utilize the formula approach to enter data. In the appropriate cell, input ‘=’ and then the amounts of each invoice separated by the ‘+’ sign. The total will populate once you hit ‘ENTER’. By entering the Working Budget figures here, it will make comparing these totals to the invoices and receipts listed later in the report much easier.

Please also take a screenshot of the Approved Budget and paste in this same tab.

The 2nd tab is the Income tab. Select a category of income from the dropdown in the first column, then enter the Payor, Amount, and a link to the invoice in the Google Drive for the WordCamp. For ticket income, simply list a total amount and a link to the report pulled from the payment gateway that was added to the WordCamp Google Drive. Once all invoices have been entered, a total should populate at the bottom. This total is then compared to the total entered on Tab 1, Working Budget. If there are any differences, please investigate.

The 3rd tab is the Expense tab. Similar to the Income tab, select a category of expense from the drop down list in the first column, then add the Payee name, amount, and a link to the vendor invoice/receipt. As with Income, there will be a total calculated at the bottom of this tab. The total is compared to the Working Budget, and should be zero. If not please locate any differences and either add the additional expense to the Working Budget, or locate the missing invoice/receipt.

Central realizes the planning process and managing the event is a big task, so it is ok to take a little time to rest before tackling this last step. The Transparency Report should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than 1 month after the conclusion of the event. If possible, it would be ideal to also submit banking records showing the inflow and outflow of funds that coincides with the receipts and invoices listed on the Transparency Report. If a personal bank account was used to accept sponsorship funds and pay vendors, feel free to redact the lines on the bank statement that are not related to the WordCamp before submitting.

One very important note for WordCamps running funds locally; in order for an application to be considered in a locale where the prior year’s WordCamp managed funds locally, the prior WordCamp must have submitted a complete Transparency Report, and that report must have been reviewed and accepted by Central. A WordCamp running funds locally has to be closed before a successor WordCamp will be considered.

Here is more information on what happens if a Transparency report if not submitted.

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