Hi Michal,
In The Netherlands we have a similar approach as well.
Company members pay 500 euros per year, individual members 25. This
grants access to all meetings. Students can attend for free.
Currently we're having around 30 companies and 140 individual members.
The number of members has increased quite rapidly over the last 5 years
(we started in 2020) and is still growing. We chose not to make a
difference in company size or something, it's always the standard 500
for freelancers or large enterprises.
We decided to call it company *membership* because organizations
struggled to pay for a *sponsorship*, especially public entities.
During the last UC in Norrkoping I gave a presentation about our user
group which you can watch here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIezzpPaSqM&list=PLi6mvse6ZEOx3REy1Dr0JFOWxVOxkqEY7&index=24
We have recently started a Signal group "super user group" for
discussing subjects like this, aligning the user groups and sharing ideas.
Kind regards,
Raymond
On 9/6/25 14:47, Andreas Neumann via QGIS-User wrote:
Hi Michal,
The situation in Switzerland is similar to Sweden. Our main income
source are "memberships". We currently have about 130 members in
different categories.
A: provinces, large cities, large companies (1000 CHF membership per year)
B: smaller cities and companies (500 CHF)
C: private persons (100 CHF)
D: students/retired people (50 CHF)
Members also get some benefits: cheaper courses at our annual event and
they can vote how the available funds are spent. We have a grant system
like QGIS.ORG has, and every January we vote on how the money is spent.
Members can submit proposals. Also, in order to use some application
modules (water, waste-water, etc.) one has to be a member in the QGIS
user group.
About 2/3 of the Swiss provinces are members, many larger and smaller
cities and quite a few private engineering companies.
Like in Sweden, it is easist for public entities to become member in an
association. It would be very difficult to donate, and sometimes
complicated to participate in crowd fundings.
However, we had some successful crowd funding campaigns as well and many
public administrations also participate in crowd fundings.
Hope this helps,
Andreas
On 2025-09-04 09:59, Michał Żugajewicz via QGIS-User wrote:
Hi Karl-Magnus!
Thanks a lot for your quick reply and for sharing your perspective -
that's super helpful! We are a young association (founded in April
2025), so it means a lot to us to learn from our more experienced
colleagues. Your advice and insights from Sweden give us valuable
ideas for our own path 💚
After collecting feedback from other local groups, I will prepare a
summary report that I will share with everyone via email.
Best regards,
*MICHAŁ ŻUGAJEWICZ*
CEO at EnviroSolutions | QGIS Poland Representative
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
+48 501 540 755
EnviroSolutions <https://www.envirosolutions.pl>
LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/envirosolutions/>| Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/envirosolutionspl> | Instagram <https://
www.instagram.com/envirosolutions_team/>
czw., 4 wrz 2025 o 09:03 Karl Magnus Jönsson <Karl-
[email protected] <mailto:Karl-
[email protected]>> napisał(a):
Hi all!
For us in Sweden membership fees are the main income. It is easy
and not so much work for both members and board. We have tried
some crowdfunding as well, but it is a lot more work and difficult
for many public organizations (which are our main target) to
participate due to stiff budgets and procurement rules. We had
some sponsors for the international conference this year but
otherwise we do not have sponsors in that way. One thing that
probably should work well is to create a small surplus on our
national meeting and events. But we have so far decided to try to
break even on these events.
Best regards
**
*Karl-Magnus Jönsson*
*Från:*QGIS-User <[email protected] <mailto:qgis-
[email protected]>> *För *Michał Żugajewicz via QGIS-User
*Skickat:* den 3 september 2025 07:07
*Till:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Ämne:* [Qgis-user] Funding sources for QGIS development (local
groups)
Dear Colleagues!
I am reaching out with an interest in learning more about how
local QGIS user groups manage to secure funding and support for
the development of the software and related tools, such as plugins
and custom applications.
Could you please share some insights into the typical sources of
funding that your group or related initiatives rely on? For example:
* Do you receive support from public institutions such as
municipalities, government agencies, or universities?
* Are there private companies, consultancies, or NGOs that
contribute financially to your activities or sponsor specific
development projects?
* Do you make use of grants, donations, or membership fees to
sustain your work?
* Have you engaged in partnerships with organizations that
benefit from QGIS to co-finance the development of plugins or
other tools?
I am particularly interested in understanding what models have
proven effective and sustainable for your group, and whether there
are strategies or best practices you would recommend for
establishing these collaborations.
Thank you very much for your time and for any details you can
share. Your experience could be very helpful in shaping similar
initiatives elsewhere 💚
Bests,
*MICHAŁ ŻUGAJEWICZ*
CEO at EnviroSolutions | QGIS Poland Representative
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
+48 501 540 755
EnviroSolutions <https://www.envirosolutions.pl>
LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/envirosolutions/> |
Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/envirosolutionspl> | Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/envirosolutions_team/>
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