Sustaining Membership program ¶

QGIS is an entirely Open Source project. QGIS development is carried out largely by a group of volunteers, that in time have built up a large, valuable and useful code base, free to use and improve for everybody.

As a result, you have free access to the source code and binaries that we provide on our web site. As a result of this volunteer approach, a number of tasks, less interesting or important for the developers, are sometimes left behind. In addition, promoting QGIS requires our participation at congresses and conferences and the production of information material, sometimes very expensive for volunteer developers.

Sustaining membership ¶

At or above the following levels a sustaining member will be designated as being one of the following category, based on their size and assigned through self declaration:

€ 27,000+ ¶

Flagship Member (e.g. for companies larger than 100 employees, federal governmental organizations)

€ 9,000+ ¶

Large Member (e.g. for larger cities, provinces or companies up to 100 employees)

€ 3,000+ ¶

Medium Member (e.g. for universities, medium size cities or companies up to 50 employees)

€ 500+ ¶

Small Member (e.g. for smaller cities or companies up to 10 employees)

Sustaining memberships last one year, after which they may be continued with a new payment, or allowed to lapse. Sustaining members have no voting rights (unless they are simultaneously voting members in which case their voting rights are unaffected).

Membership fees are approved or changed by the QGIS general assembly. They are defined as minimum fees per category, but may be increased if the sustaining member chooses to do so.

Because QGIS.ORG is a world-wide project and different companies, NGOs or governmental organizations have different financial prospects, we do not enforce any membership levels - the organizations pick their own membership level based on self-assessment.

Acceptance of sustaining members shall be subject to the discretion and approval of The Board, who reserve the right to accept or reject applications for sustaining membership and ongoing support memberships as deemed appropriate.

Your benefits ¶

Supporting the QGIS project as a sustaining member provides the following benefits:

Public Acknowledgment ¶

All sustaining members and donors will be listed on the project Members page, ordered by membership category with a link back to the sustaining members organization or company website and the logo in a size reflecting their membership category.

Enhanced Software Quality ¶

Your contribution aids in resolving bugs and issues promptly, resulting in a smoother user experience.

Enhanced Brand Exposure ¶

Flagship, large and medium sustaining members will have their logo on the QGIS homepage footer banner with a logo size and order reflecting their membership category

Featured in Software Updates ¶

Your support is highlighted in the visual changelogs of QGIS software releases, showcasing your ongoing commitment.

Public Acknowledgment ¶

Use a special version of the QGIS logo on your website and materials, signaling your support for the project.

Enhanced Brand Exposure ¶

Enjoy an ad-free experience in QGIS, focusing on your work without interruptions.

Decisions on spending of funds will be made by the QGIS Project Steering Committee, proposed in a budget that will be approved or declined by the QGIS.ORG general assembly.

How become a Sustaining Member ¶

Initial Contact ¶

Reach out to the treasurer at finance@qgis.org or another designated person within the Project Steering Committee (PSC) to express interest in becoming a sustaining member.

Write to trearurer

Clarification and Invoice Issuance ¶

The treasurer will gather necessary details (such as contact information, address, and permission to use the organization’s logo on the QGIS sustaining membership page) and issue an invoice for the membership fee.

Payment Verification ¶

The treasurer verifies the receipt of the payment to officially recognize the organization as a sustaining member.

Membership Management ¶

Membership details are managed and displayed on the Projecta website, where sustaining members are categorized by level and sorted by the date of introduction or renewal.

Open Sustaining Members changelog

Recognition and Promotion ¶

Recognition: Sustaining members are acknowledged on the QGIS website, with logos of flagship, large, and medium members featured in the footer banner.

Visibility: Members are listed in the visual changelog of QGIS releases.

Promotion: When appropriate, QGIS will conduct social media promotion to highlight the support from sustaining members.

Ongoing Engagement ¶

Past sustaining members are listed separately for a period of two years to acknowledge their previous contributions.

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You can also make one-time payement ¶

Donations can be of any amount, via direct transfers to our bank account (SEPA payment), credit card payment (through stripe.com) or Paypal (information available at Donations page). Even a small donation can make a difference and help to reach important project goals!

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About ‘earmarked’ funding ¶

We regret that we cannot accept ‘earmarked’ funding as it creates many administrative issues. If you are interested in funding specific aspects of QGIS development, we encourage you to allocate additional human resources to the project, e.g. hiring a developer, or participating to our bug fixing initiative.

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Warning ¶

Acceptance of sustaining membership applications is at the discretion of the QGIS PSC. We reserve the right to decline offers of sustaining members if the membership organisation or party seems to be at odds with the ethos of our project. For example offers from marketing companies that have nothing to do with GIS / spatial services, or offers where we have reason to believe the presence of the sustaining member logo and marketing materials on our site and other materials will degrade the experience of our users will be declined.