WOC Sponsors Get It

Web of Change is an expensive event to produce. Well, it is and it isn't: compared to big city conferences, our budget is very small (esp for the impact we have!). What keeps our costs low is the  peer produced nature of the event: we receive an incredible amount of what I call "distributed generosity" and contributions from our passionate community that help the event happen each year.

Our costs are basically all transport. Getting people - who typically work inside scrappy non-profits with low or no pro/dev budgets - all the way to Cortes Island and back, is our biggest expense. Being in such stunning remote nature is the trip of a lifetime for many, but all those planes, boats, and taxi's do add up!

So, like most conferences, each year we reach out into our community and ask for support. 100% of what we raise goes to subsidize non-profits to attend. Unlike others, our target sponsors aren't huge Fortune 500 companies (though we do have one of those!) but largely smaller, values aligned, and mission driven firms who are active leaders in our industry.

I'm stoked to report that, despite the gruelling recession, we've had a number of new sponsors dig deep and show their commitment to social change by investing this year! Plus a growing number of past attendees - whose own lives or businesses have been transformed by the work and the community of WOC - are also putting cash on the lineto help others be touched in the same ways they have.

Let's face it, at most conferences, the "sponsor time" is among the most boring of the whole event. We're different - ours truly get this community and are all doing very cool things to make change happen. So I'm happy to let you know in 2009 we have returning sponsors:

• Business Objects, who were bought by German software giant SAP last year, who have strong programs run out of Vancouver that engage their global developers in social change
• Growthworks Capital, who run a large labour sponsored VC fund in Canada
• Renewal Partners, who just closed their "Renewal 2" social purpose VC fund
• Biro Creative, Canada's own leading global design agency for social change
• Care2: who have some of the smartest digital campaign and list building strategists in the field, and deeply care about social change

And we are also welcoming brand new sponsors, all of whom have been touched by the WOC inspired magic in the past:

• EchoDitto: DC based tech strategy and drupal shop working for many of the big fish in the NGO space
• Agentic.ca, Vancouver based drupal shop known for solid, state of the art projects in our field
• Free Range Studios: recognized as industry leaders in flash, storytelling, brand, and design, also for many of the most recognized social change brands 
• Hoggan & Associates, a local PR firm with a focus on environmental issues, who founded and run 2 popular climate change blogs: DeSmog Blog and Energy Boom
• Advocacy Online, a London and DC based software firm that makes powerful e-advocacy tools used by many well known charities

If you get yourself to Web of Change one of these years, and it changes your world, you partly have these people to thank for making it possible! THANKS GANG!

Oh, and of course the demand for scholarships is much bigger this year, so if you are interested in sponsoring - any amount from $250 on up, please contact me, for a package.