Join as a corporate member
Why Support OSM?
Although OSM is free to use, it is not free to run. It depends on the efforts of thousands of people who volunteer and contribute individually as editors and sysadmins and developers, in Working Groups, and within local communities, and it is administered by the OSM Foundation (OSMF), an international not-for-profit that supports but does not control the project. The OSM Foundation Board is a group of volunteers who oversee openstreetmap.org, including its budget, technical infrastructure, and a small core staff, including one full-time site reliability engineer.
To ensure the long-term stability and quality of the OpenStreetMap project, we invite all corporate and organizational users of OSM to join the OSM Foundation as corporate members.
An OSMF Corporate Membership is the best way for companies to coordinate and collaborate with the global OSM community. Membership (at Bronze and above) opens the door to conversations between the many OSM-using companies, the OSMF, and OSMF Working Groups and promotes your company’s visibility within the OSM community through the following opportunities:
- Ability to attend the OSMF Annual General Meeting
- Permission to use the OSM logo to advertise your support of OpenStreetMap
- A seat on the OSMF Advisory Board
Membership at the Platinum Level confers the additional benefit of access to consultations with a board-designated facilitator on how to engage with OSM/OSMF on specific topics. Companies who go above and beyond in their support have historically become valued contributors, co-developers, and mapmaking collaborators.
Membership levels are loosely associated with the size of your company’s mapmaking operation and product footprint, and should be seen as a good faith guide. If your company’s mapmaking operation is a small percentage relative to an annual revenue in the billions, then the platinum level is still the most appropriate. If your company’s annual revenue is in the millions, but your OSM is a core factor for products driving revenue, then the Gold tier is still the most appropriate.
OSM data has been valued in billions, so the comparatively low cost of an OSMF corporate membership is a win-win for the project and your company’s bottom line. Many companies choose to join above the suggested level because they understand the importance of OSM to their corporate goals, as well as to the open source and geospatial technology community, worldwide.
To help with OSMF fiscal planning, we encourage a three-year membership commitment. Please email board@osmfoundation.org with any questions or to apply.
| Size of Operation | Tier | Annual Membership Fee | How We Will Thank You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Map applications are core to your business; and/or you have a product that depends on OSM data and/or revenue in the hundreds of millions | Platinum | €30,000 | Your logo featured on the OSMF corporate membership page, and your Platinum membership is acknowledged on OSM social media |
| Map applications are core to your business; and/or you have a product that depends on OSM data and/or revenue in the tens of millions | Gold | €15,000 | Your logo appears on the OSMF corporate membership page, and your Gold membership is acknowledged on OSM social media |
| OSM data is used in your product or service and/or you have revenue in the millions | Silver | €6,000 | Your logo appears on the OSMF corporate membership page and your Silver membership is acknowledged on OSM social media |
| OSM data is used in your product or service and/or you have revenue in the hundreds of thousands | Bronze | €2,250 | Your logo appears on the OSMF corporate membership page |
| OSM data is used in your product or service and you have revenue in the tens of thousands | Supporter | €750 | Your name appears on the OSMF corporate membership page |
| Updated in August 2023. | |||
Additional Ways to Support OpenStreetMap
Donate as part of your corporate social responsibility. Many companies know the importance of supporting free and open source software (FOSS) and free and open source data. The OSM community builds the world’s largest user-created map; provides job training and mentorship in GIS and related fields; offers unique community- and skills-building programs for women and historically underrepresented minorities; and responds to a wide range of humanitarian mapping needs. A gift to OSM is a high impact philanthropic investment with a global reach.
Support OSM through sponsorship of “State of the Map” conferences. State of the Map (SotM) conferences are annual events that brings the OSM community together to learn about new research, tools, community activities, and other mapmaking topics. Regional SotMs are organised exclusively by local teams, which run their own sponsorship programs and the global SotM is organized by the OSMF.
Sponsoring a few SotMs a year benefits your company in the following ways:
- facilitates skilled map editing
- builds awareness of your brand
- nurtures community/company collaboration
- offers excellent recruiting and professional development opportunities for your employees