Global Community Sponsorship — For Event Organizers

If you have questions about any of this, ask in the #community-events channel in WordPress.slack.com or contact the Community Team.

All 2024 WordCamps and event websites should display the 2024 Global Sponsors. For sponsors with multiple brands, please reach out to their points of contact to confirm which brand will attend your event.

What is the Global Community Sponsorship program?

Some companies want to support every official WordPress event in the world or in a certain region. To help facilitate this, WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. administrates the Global Community Sponsorship Program: we bill the sponsors a certain amount every quarter and then distribute the funds based on the financial needs of each WordPress 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. group, 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., or other official WordPress community event.

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Who are the Global Community Sponsors for 2024?

The following Global Community sponsors have signed sponsorship contracts for 2024:

  • Gold level
    • Automattic (Jetpack and WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/)
    • Bluehost
    • GoDaddy
    • Woo
    • WPBeginner (Awesome Motive)

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How are we expected to acknowledge Global Community Sponsors?

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Gold Level Global Sponsorship Package

Gold Level Sponsorship is the highest level in the Global Community SponsorGlobal Community Sponsor Company that sponsors the WordPress community events through the global sponsorship program. program. Top level sponsors should be acknowledged with your top-tier local sponsors and afforded the same benefits. If you are providing booths or tables at your WordCamp, please reach out to the contact listed in your budget (or in the notification email we’ll send you when your event is published to the official schedule) and offer table/booth space to your Top Level level global sponsors as well.

  1. Name, logo, and company description on all WordCamp websites.
  2. Inclusion in the “Thank You To Our Sponsors” blog post on each WordCamp*.
  3. Monthly email with spreadsheet of WordCamps in planning and on the schedule.
  4. A number of free tickets to each in-person WordCamp, reserved for your company representatives.**
  5. A number of swag items added to the swag table of in-person WordCamps in your region, if available. subject to approval.
  6. Acknowledgement in all WordCamp “ticket purchase successful” pages 
  7. A sponsor landing page that includes a discount or coupon code for your product or service in your company description, posted to all WordCamps in your region. subject to approval.
  8. Option to have a different company brand represented at WordCamp (subject to approval, and requires company communication in advance).***
  9. Table at in-person WordCamps for meeting attendees, if space is available.****
  10. Featured on all WordPress chapter meetup group pages.
  11. Acknowledgement on all monthly Meetup Organizer Newsletters.
  12. Opportunity to list speaker topics that your employees could speak on, whether in person or remotely. subject to approval.
  13. Verbal acknowledgement by Meetup Organizers who make use of venue sponsorship funds.
  14. Acknowledgement on the WordCamp Central home page
  15. Acknowledgement on sponsor page on WordCamp Central.
  16. Acknowledgement in one program-wide email to all (over 470k) members of a WordPress chapter account meetup group.
  17. 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 1,675+ WordPress community influencers monthly. subject to approval.
  18. Quarterly acknowledgements on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/’s Twitter and Facebook.

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Silver Level Global Sponsorship Package (No global sponsors with Silver level in 2024)

Silver Level Sponsorship is the second highest level in the Global Community Sponsor program. Second Level global sponsors should be acknowledged with your second-tier local sponsors and afforded the same benefits.

  1. Name, logo, and company description on all WordCamp websites.
  2. Inclusion in the “Thank You To Our Sponsors” blog post on each WordCamp.*
  3. Monthly email with spreadsheet of WordCamps in planning and on the schedule.
  4. A number of free tickets to each in-person WordCamp, reserved for your company representatives.**
  5. A number of swag items added to the swag table of in-person WordCamps in your region, if available. subject to approval.
  6. Acknowledgement in all WordCamp “ticket purchase successful” pages.
  7. A sponsor landing page that includes a discount or coupon code for your product or service in your company description, posted to all WordCamps in your region. subject to approval.
  8. Featured on all WordPress chapter meetup group pages.
  9. Acknowledgement on all monthly Meetup Organizer Newsletters.
  10. Acknowledgement on the WordCamp Central home page.
  11. Acknowledgement on sponsor page on WordCamp Central.
  12. Acknowledgement in one program-wide email to all (over 470k) members of a WordPress chapter account meetup group.

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Bronze Level Global Sponsorship Package (No global sponsors with Silver level in 2024)

Bronze Level Sponsorship is the third highest level in the Global Community Sponsor program. Third Level global sponsors should be acknowledged with your third-tier level local sponsors and afforded the same benefits.

  1. Name, logo, and company description on all WordCamp websites.
  2. Inclusion in the “Thank You To Our Sponsors” blog post on each WordCamp.*
  3. Monthly email with spreadsheet of WordCamps in planning and on the schedule.
  4. A number of free tickets to each in-person WordCamp, reserved for your company representatives.**
  5. A number of swag items added to the swag table of in-person WordCamps in your region, if available. subject to approval.
  6. Featured on all WordPress chapter meetup group pages.
  7. Acknowledgement on the WordCamp Central home page.
  8. Acknowledgement on sponsor page on WordCamp Central.

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Important Notes for Review

As part of signing the sponsor agreement, the parent company will be the signor, and will be asked to list all affiliated brands that you would like represented at WordCamps. All entities are held to the same expectations as all global sponsors. Only one affiliated brand may be represented at the WordCamp, and requires at least one (1) month advance notice to 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., PBC and the WordCamp organizers as to which brand will be at the event. 

  • Gold level sponsors will be featured more prominently by size of logo and order, followed by Silver level sponsors, and finally Bronze.
  • Free, reserved tickets will return to the general ticket pool if they are not claimed one month before WordCamp. Tickets reserved for sponsors should not be used for ticket giveaways; these are only for your company representatives who wish to attend the event. While the number of tickets offered will vary from WordCamp to WordCamp, Gold level sponsors will be offered more free tickets, then Silver, then Bronze, and will depend on availability.
  • Not all WordCamp venues will have space to provide tables to sponsors, but if the venue has enough space to accommodate sponsor tables, then community sponsors will be offered exhibition space. If offered a table, Sponsors are asked to confirm in-person attendance at least one (1) month in advance to guarantee the space. 

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WordPress Community Event Sponsor Guidelines

1. Sponsor may provide:

  • The sponsor’s name and logo
  • Slogans that are an established part of the sponsor’s image
  • The sponsor’s brands and trade names
    • On the WordCamp site only one brand will be listed
    • It is allowed to mention multiple brands in the sponsor’s bio if they are affiliated, but it will be included only one brand link
    • During the WordCamp, at the sponsor’s booth, the sponsor can mention and provide multiple sponsor materials
  • Sponsor contact information (such as telephone numbers, email addresses, and URLs)
  • Factual (value-neutral) displays of actual products
  • Displays or handout materials (such as brochures) with factual, non-comparative descriptions or listings of products or services
  • Price information, or other indications of savings or value, if factual and provable
  • Inducements to purchase or use the Sponsor’s products or services, for example by providing coupons or discount purchase codes (subject to approval)
  • Calls to action, such as “visit this site for details”, “call now for a special offer”, “join our league of savings”, etc.

2. Sponsors may not provide:

  • Promotional or marketing material containing comparative messages about the Sponsor, its products or services, such as “the first name in WordPress hosting”, “the easiest way to launch your site”, or “the best e-commerce 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
  • Claims that WordPress, 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., WordPress Community Support, meetup organizers, WordCamps, or WordCamp organizers endorse or favor a Sponsor or its products or services (such as “certified WordPress training” or “WordCamp’s favorite plugin”)

3. As a sponsor, please keep in mind that WordCamp is different from other tech/trade shows that you may have attended or sponsored. The focus of WordCamp is on the WordPress open sourceOpen 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. project and associated community, and as a result, you will notice much less obtrusive sponsor advertising at the event venue, and in the host city. This is intentional, to keep the focus of WordCamp where it belongs: on WordPress.

With this in mind, you agree to limit all of your advertising and promotional materials and activities to your official sponsor booth or table, and to the official branding that’s part of your sponsorship package. Other than that, advertising and promotions aren’t permitted at the WordCamp venue, the official WordCamp hotel, after party locale, and at any other spaces associated with the WordCamp. Additionally, Sponsors should not organize events that conflict or compete with official WordCamp activities, workshops, associated events, and parties. Please keep in mind that a breach of these requirements is a serious matter, and could result in a breach of this Sponsorship Agreement and termination of your Sponsorship. So if you’re unsure about whether a promotional activity you’re considering is allowed, please ask the event organizers before going ahead with it.

With regard to sponsor materials, Sponsors also agree that WordPress Community Support, any subsidiary or related entity of the WordPress Community Support, and WordCamp organizers have the right to request and review sponsor materials in advance of an event, to require changes to any materials in advance, and to require that any materials that do not meet WordCamp standards (as determined by 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., or the organizers) be taken down or that any practices that do not meet WordCamp standards be discontinued during a WordCamp or event. This also applies to materials placed on any self-serve swag tables reserved for sponsor use.

4. All sponsors are expected to support the WordPress project and its principles, including:

  • No discrimination on the basis of economic or social status, race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or disability.
  • No incitement to violence or promotion of hate
  • No spammers
  • No jerks
  • Respect the WordPress trademark.
  • Embrace the WordPress license; If distributing WordPress-derivative works (themes, plugins, WP distros), any person or business officially associated with WordCamp should give their users the same freedoms that WordPress itself provides: 100% GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. or compatible, the same guidelines we follow on WordPress.org.
  • Don’t promote companies or people that violate the trademark or distribute WordPress derivative works which aren’t 100% GPL compatible.

5. Sponsorship is in no way connected to the opportunity to speak at an official WordPress event and does not alter the WordPress or WordCamp trademark usage policy found at http://wordpressfoundation.org/. The WordPress Foundation and any subsidiary or related entity of the Foundation reserve the right to modify the above requirements and expectations at any time by providing written notice to the sponsor.

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