Chapter/Guide/Best Practices/Funding and Finances

International Game Developers Association

V. Chapter Finances & Sponsorships

Your chapter is responsible for financing its meetings, but your meetings should never be a financial burden. Be cost-conscious with your expenses, be creative with funding, and take advantage of sponsorships and in‐kind donations.

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A. Pay‐As‐You‐Go

With the pay‐as‐you‐go approach, each attendee pays for whatever food and/or beverage he or she orders. Decide in advance whether to pay via a group tab or separate checks. The Boston Chapter uses the group tab pay‐as‐you‐go approach to great effect. Every month the meeting notice reminds people that they must pay for their meal by giving money to a member of the organizing committee. If you use this system, be sure to remind people to include the appropriate percentage for tax and tip.

B. Sponsorships

Depending on your chapter’s size and location, you may be able to get support from local companies. It is up to your organizing committee to determine if sponsors are appropriate for your chapter. Local sponsorship packages apply only to your chapter and only for a specific meeting. Sponsors do not automatically become IGDA corporate partners. Refer companies interested in IGDA corporate partnership to our website: http://www.igda.org/partners/.

You are free to modify sponsorship costs and benefits as you see fit, but do not offer benefits that invade the privacy of chapter members/attendees. You can include sponsors’ information in the meeting notice sent to your mailing list, but avoid selling direct access to your mailing list. Your chapter members will not appreciate getting spam from your sponsors.

Sponsorship does not imply or guarantee control over the meeting content. You can offer sponsors content based enticements at your discretion (e.g., participation in a panel discussion, longer speaking time during the intro period, demo stations, etc.). Sponsors pay for overall exposure to the chapter, and are not buying control over the content or program.

1. Requesting Sponsorship

You can request sponsorships through either direct, personal emails, or via the IGDA’s Sponsor Request Emailer.

a.)Sponsor Request Emailer:

This function allows you to simultaneously solicit sponsorship from an extensive list of companies interested in supporting chapter meetings. Access to this function and further details are available in the chapter admin section.

b.)Direct email:

For local companies who are not on the IGDA’s sponsor list, you may offer sponsorship through direct email. We recommend you use the following example, which stipulates what sponsorship does/doesn’t include:

Reach industry professionals, promote your products and services, and build goodwill with the local game development community by sponsoring a (insert your chapter name) meeting.

Chapter Sponsorship includes:

• Logo and link on our chapter website
• Thank you messages with your name and a link to your website in all email announcements (sent to local developers)
• Thank you with your name and link in a post‐meeting report on the chapter website
• 5‐minute welcome speech during the introductory remarks
• Opportunity to give out one promo piece during meeting, such as a spec sheet or t‐shirt

2. Sponsorship rates

a.) Suggested one‐time chapter sponsorship rate for IGDA corporate Partners:

• $750 for chapter meeting with 50+ attendees
• $300 for smaller chapter meetings

b.) Suggested one‐time chapter sponsorship rate for non‐IGDA corporate Partners:

• $1000 for chapter meeting with 50+ attendees
• $500 for smaller chapter meetings

Refer to the list of current IGDA corporate sponsors to determine pricing: http://www.igda.org/partners/

Sponsorship fees should exceed the actual cost of your chapter meeting. Sponsor money helps pay for your meeting, but sponsors pay for exposure as well. Chapters keep any extra money to help fund future chapter activities.

3. Sponsorship “brokerage/escrow”

If needed, the IGDA can serve as a “broker” to process sponsorship checks. Some sponsors may request to be invoiced by, and pay directly to, the IGDA head office. If such a case arises, please arrange payment details with the IGDA. Once payment has been received, we can arrange for a transfer of the funds back to the chapter by directly paying vendors from their invoices related to the event, or by reimbursing volunteers who pay the expenses up front and provide reimbursement forms and receipts. Chapter coordinators can find the volunteer reimbursement form in the chapter admin.

C. In‐Kind Sponsorships

An in‐kind sponsorship consists of non-monetary assistance, such as free meeting space, printing and/or mailing of meeting flyers, or a donated door prize. For example, Metreon in San Francisco has provided free meeting space to the IGDA SF Chapter, and New Riders Games has shipped its books to chapters around the world to use as door prizes. Be creative to leverage resources and companies in your area to minimize the chapter's costs.

D. Entrance Fee

A few chapters collect a small entry fee ($5‐10 range). This is not recommended unless you have actual expenses. For example, the Montreal Chapter rents a movie theatre for particularly large meetings, and charges a small entrance fee to help cover costs. If food is the only expense, use the pay as you go approach, or find sponsors. Use such fees only to pay expenses, and not to generate revenue. If possible, offer IGDA members free admission or charge a slightly lower fee than you charge non‐members.

The IGDA issues membership cards to new and renewing members each month. Use these cards to distinguish members from non‐members. Or, if RSVPs are handled ahead of time, use the IGDA’s online member validation function to confirm membership status: http://www.igda.org/php-bin/validator.php

E. Government Funding

Some chapters, (particularly non-U.S. chapters), might find success in tapping into government funding for chapter support. Places like Melbourne, Montreal, and most of Ireland have governments that aggressively support their local game development sector. Contact local representatives at the city/state/country levels to see what kind of support is available, and how your chapter should go about tapping into these resources.