[Debconf-team] Sponsorship tiers/benefits for DC15?
I know it's super early, but it would be helpful to be able to
immediately reach back out to those potential sponsors who indicated
that we "reached them too late for DC14, but to talk to us for DC15",
with a list of sponsorship tiers/benefits for DC15. (We don't need the
full brochure, just the tiers.)
In the ideal world, sponsorship tiers should remain fairly constant,
year over year, so that repeat sponsors can put a reliable # in their
budgets.
As a starting point here are the current tiers and benefits. (all cumulative.)
Supporter < $2000. Logo (without link) on sponsor page
Bronze >= $2000. Logo on all web pages with link back to sponsor homepage
Silver >= $6000. Logo in full-page "Thank you!" advertisement in Linux
Magazine, worldwide, and Logo on conference t-shirts
Gold >= $12,000. Logo larger and in superior position on t-shirts,
Logo on all video streams during breaks and Logo on banner in
conference lobby.
Platinum >= $25,000. Name and description of sponsor in all press
releases related to DebConf and 45-minute slot for a Free Software-related talk.
The big problem as I see it is the change in base currency. If we do
the same thing as we did from DC13 -> DC14 and convert tiers from the
same #s in one local currency to the same numbers in the new local
currency, it will significantly change the monetary value. e.g. If we
made platinum 25,000 Euros, it would be the equivalent of 35,000 USD,
a year over year increase of 40%. I suspect we need to convert these
dollar amounts to roughly equivalent Euro amounts (assuming no major
upcoming currency fluctuations.):
Bronze: 1450 Euro
Silver: 4300 Euro
Gold: 8600 Euro
Platinum: 18000 Euro
Whatever we decide for the tiers, I'm wondering if perhaps we can
offer repeat sponsors (and only repeat sponsors) an option to donate
either using last year's tiers, or the current year's tiers. (Assuming
we don't have any major changes in tiers planned, it should make
sponsors budgetary lives easier, at the expense of complicating ours.)
This effectively puts the currency risk on us, but we're already
asking our sponsors for so much. Asking them to calculate for currency
fluctuations isn't something I really think we need to be putting on
them.
There may be one catch here, if you look at the multiyear arc; if we
look at sponsorship levels for DC13, DC14 and DC15 (proposed) in USD),
sponsorship levels will have remained stable. If you look in Euros,
DC15 sponsorships will be about 14% less than the equivalent DC13
sponsorships if we look at the drift between CHF, USD and EURO in the
past two years. (Unless I am doing something wrong.) IE: we are
potentially talking about risking leaving money on the table if we do
this, realizing of course we risking pricing out US sponsors *IF*
currency trends continue.
One idea is that we have different price books for companies in
different countries/regions, just as multinationals do with retail
goods. For example US consumers generally pay less than European
consumers for electronic goods.
Sigh, I'm probably overthinking it. The easiest answer would likely be
to just standardize on USD year over year, and let European donor
organizations get the befit of lower year over year sponsorship tiers.
With any luck, European companies will eventually start applying their
accumulated discounts toward reaching higher sponsorship tiers. (This
of course all presumes a longterm trend in the USD/Euro ratio
continuing to drop. If I could predict this with accuracy, I am in
clearly the wrong field of endeavor.)
Thanks,
Brian
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