Time for an update on the what we are now calling the 'supporting partners program'. We've been busy building out the infrastructure and have some alpha pages and workflows set up on our test site. Now is a great time for some early feedback on the direction we are taking, how things are looking and functioning, and suggestions for making things better. It is also a great time for you to volunteer to take on specific tasks (see CRM-12479).
As soon as we have finalized the fee structure (hopefully next week) we'll be kickstarting the partner program with a founding partners drive. Founding partners will get extra recognition in their badges and online listings, extra thanks from civicrm.org, other benefits, and will generally be thought of as awesome.
Here's a quick overview of what we have done so far.
Listings
You can see a list of supporting partners at http://www-test.civicrm.org/providers/supporting-partners. A few things to point out.
- We are headed in the direction of attractive logos and branding for providers (not there yet! due to my css limitations)
- We are presenting supporting partners in the wider context of other active contributors. There are currently three lists (all providers, supporting partners and active contributors). In the near future http://www-test.civicrm.org/providers/active-contributors will take over from http://www-test.civicrm.org/what/experts (and http://civicrm.org/what/moreexpert will die).
- You can search by country, and by service offered, hence we can use this to create a list of hosting providers http://www-test.civicrm.org/providers?services=Hosting
Along side the listings, we have http://www-test.civicrm.org/about-service-providers - a page aimed at end users which will explain a bit more about service providers, why they are listed on civicrm.org, things an end user might consider when choosing a provider, etc. The aim here is to make things transparent and simple to understand for end users looking for organisations that can support them.
Joining process
http://www-test.civicrm.org/supporting-partners-benefits is aimed at potential supporting partners. It outlines the business case for / benefits of joining. It links to a CiviCRM membership sign up page http://www-test.civicrm.org/supporting-partners-join (which includes a profile with all fields that will appear on your listing).
Badges
You'll see some 'placeholder' badges on http://www-test.civicrm.org/providers. The idea is that once we get these properly designed, service providers who are either active contributors or supporting partners can add them to their websites.
Targeting end users
A few people have suggested that we target end users as part of the supporting partners drive. I do agree that end users are an important resource for sustainability but my feeling is that we need a different 'ask' for them. In my experience, they are often willing to 'give back' through make it happens and initiatives that directly benefit their organisations, but I haven't had a lot of success asking them for 'core costs'. For example, when we were looking for CiviCon sponsorships from end users, they told me they couldn't sponsor a conference, but they would like to get involved in something that directly benefited their org (via a make it happen, etc.). For the most part, I think the core costs argument works better for service providers, since they are closer to CiviCRM. Given the above, and that the supporting partners program is quite tied to our providers listings, I'd like to limit this iteration to service providers.
Of course, we certainly aren't excluding end users from contributing by aiming this at service providers (any end user organisations out there can donate today via our support civicrm page) and I would definitely love to be proved wrong on the above, but I think we should work on the end user 'ask' as a different project.
Next steps
Here's a revised timetable based on our experiences getting this first draft out:
- 14 - 28 June - create first draft / alpha
- 1 - 12 July - feedback on first draft / alpha
- 8 July – founding partner program launch
- 15 - 19 July - create second draft / beta
- 21 - 26 July - feedback on first second draft / beta
- 2 August: release candidate up and running
- 22 September: Service provider launched (with founding members signed up)
Let us know what you think so far.
Comments
I think this is an excellent start. Here is my more specific feedback:
Thank you for the efforts thus far--overall I think this is a big improvement!
Hershel - I agree that having a distinct menu / link to a list of Hosting Providers is needed. I'm thinking this can be a link to a version of the provider listings with the embedded Hosting service filter?
I'd like to suggest an overhaul of the currrent http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRM/Hosting+provider+information as this mixes cheap generic hosting providers (some with comments suggesting you can't even host Civi here) alongside specialist providers with optimised setups, more resources etc. which may cost 10x the amount and that really doesn't help anyone. I think this should have at least some of the following:
tested with civi?
civi installed for you?
expert civi support?
backups included?
updates included?
civimail limit
and so on.
Cheers
DaveM
I think this is an excellent start as well. I like the two-tiered approach, one focused on financial contributions and one focused on contributed work. It makes a lot of sense to me.
That being said, are there clear, specific definitons around what will constitute a Supporting Partner and what will constitute an Active Contributor? Also, will there be levels of Supporting Partner (like Bronze, Silver, and Gold)?
Aside from help with implementation as Michael mentioned, we could definitely use assistance with designing and communicating the benefits proposition for the program. Are there additional incentives that might be compelling? Do folks need more of an explanation as to what the core team does and why funding is needed going forward?