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Recently, George Kissel -- who is working on starting a Local SIG in Connecticut (ConnCHI) -- asked about the extent to which Local SIGs have sponsors. Who sponsors Local SIG activity? Who makes it possible for Local SIGs to provide programs, services, and opportunities to their constituencies? What forms do sponsorships take? George's questions -- similar to these -- prompted a discussion among several Local SIG leaders, which, in turn, prompted me to write this column.
Who sponsors Local SIG activity and in what ways? Let's take a look at some of the many answers, along with a peek at a few of the issues associated with Local SIG sponsorship.
Each Local SIG's list of sponsors includes its parent organization, ACM. ACM provides the opportunity for every Local SIG's existence and helps define what a Local SIG can and cannot be and do. It provides prestige, non-profit status, liability insurance, and a tax-exemption, though the benefits of some of these can be reaped to varying degrees. It provides webspace, mailing lists, publicity, and program guidance. And it provides the opportunity for the existence of SIGCHI, an organization which, in turn, provides more.
Obviously, SIGCHI provides the general definition of the scope of all CHI Local SIGs' subject domain. It also provides (re)start-up funds, though presently in small amounts and on a case-by-case basis. It provides a volunteer Adjunct Chair for Local SIGs who decides who gets those funds, and who, among other things, provides on-going advice and assistance to Local SIGs, writes this column, develops and presents a full-day workshop for Local SIG leaders, and functions as a Local SIG advocate in many contexts, including meetings of the SIGCHI Executive Committee and of SIGCHI International Task Forces. And it provides HCI materials for Local SIG libraries, additional publicity, the promise of a "tutorials-to-go" program created in part for Local SIGs, and good prospects for increasing support for other Local SIG programs and services.
Local SIG siblings are a source of support of increasing amount and importance, provided via descriptions of offerings, experiences, insight, and ideas (facilitated via a discussion list and full-day workshop for Local SIG leaders), via offers of joint, video-conferenced meetings (BayCHI has extended such offers), and via gifts of publicity on the internet and at the CHI conference. BuckCHI's Gary Perlman has been a gem at offering tools and instructions to other Local SIGs via the web, and BayCHI has been gem by paying for CHI 98 badge ribbons for Local SIG members and enhancements for the Local SIGs CHI conference booth.
And Local SIG "cousins" -- local chapters of organizations with scopes which overlap with SIGCHI's scope -- become sponsors on occasion, as via the joint-sponsorship of meetings, events, and tutorials.
Though this might be one of the shortest sections in this column, the most critical sponsorship of a Local SIG comes from its volunteers, the generous people who donate their time, effort, expertise, and other resources to make a Local SIG happen. Volunteers run for and serve in Local SIG office, are given some form of responsibility for various programs and services, are "presenters" at Local SIG events, design/develop new programs and services, ...
In some cases, another sponsor underlies and enables the sponsorship of the individual volunteer -- the commercial or academic organization with which the volunteer is associated.
A variety of industrial, research, and university organizations provide invaluable support. Meeting space, audio-visual equipment and support personnel, and food and beverages are common donations, as are the use of servers for website space and mailing lists, and the use of photocopy machines to create hardcopy mailings. Sometimes, their sponsorship also takes the form of money -- money earmarked for specific purposes (such as covering the expenses of a particular event) or money to be used as determined by the Local SIG. More often than not, these forms of sponsorship are highly informal and play a key role in validating a Local SIG in the minds of those Local SIGs attempt to reach.
Sponsoring organizations benefit in a mix of ways, sometimes via fee discounts or memberships to their employees, sometimes via free exhibit space at Local SIG events, sometimes via their own or Local SIG advertisement of their support, sometimes via ...
Lastly, those each Local SIG serves play an essential role in making things possible via their participation in Local SIG activities and via monies contributed in the form of fees (membership, meeting, tutorial, ...) and purchase prices (e.g., for a Local SIG's t-shirts).
Achieving the right combination of sponsors can be challenging. Finding and maintaining individual and organizational sponsors can be a lot of work; identifying and providing appropriate and adequate acknowledgment and benefits for those who give can be tricky; situations can arise in which contributors impede rather than further a Local SIG's goals; and rules which govern Local SIG sponsorship are less than clear and might change if SIGCHI becomes an ACM Society.
Ultimately, what works and is appropriate for a Local SIG cannot remain unchanged (see my July 97 column) and varies from one Local SIG to the next, depending on a Local SIG's purpose (different Local SIGs have different purposes -- see my April 98 column), what it offers, who it serves, its geographical boundaries, and the cultures it must fit into and create (see my January 97 column).
Thanks to all who give what makes it all possible. If you want to give or know of others who may want to give, contact me or your Local SIG (see the SIGCHI Local SIGs webpage at www.acm.org/sigchi/local-sigs).
And, for the discussion that prompted this column, thanks to ConnCHI's George Kissel, ToRCHI's William Hunt, BayCHI's Don Patterson, SIGCHI NL's Steven Pemberton, BuckCHI's Gary Perlman, IHM Toulouse's David Novick, CHI-Squared's Andrew Sears, Puget Sound SIGCHI's Robert Burns, CapCHI's Arnold Smith, NUCHI's Wendy Sudar, and to any other participant whose email I may have misplaced.
Richard I. Anderson, Local SIGs Chair
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