Review/revise partner program

Several months ago the core team ran an annual partner survey, the results of which can be found here. The core team has been interested in revising the partner program and has been reflecting on the survey results, on informal discussions with various partners and on a past post by Parvez.

A recent partner call demonstrated interest in "rejuvenating" the partner program. This issue is intended to provide a thread for discussing and improving the program. Questions that the core team is actively considering (not necessarily in order):

• What is the purpose of the partner program?
• Why do most partners support CiviCRM?
• How do we encourage/enable new partner support?
• Does the "dues" structure discourage additional support?
• What do "partner dues pay for?" (and what don't they pay for?)
• What opportunities exist for partners to self organize?
• How can partner support be leveraged to garner support from other stakeholders?

Items we're confident should change

• Benefits should focus on promotion (listings, recognition, demos, etc.), not on access or process related items (like RFP support). Benefits that are not consistently applied, or applied at the discretion of others, should be dropped (like discounts on event sponsorships and registration. These should be offered at the event level at the discretion of organizers).
• As we transition civicrm.org to a new platform/design, we should consider how to better recognize and promote those who support CiviCRM. The current partner listing is viewed as very positive, however we interested in determining other opportunities to recognize support.
• The "Founding" label should go away and be replaced with a label that indicates "length of support". Many partners are not founding, but have supported for several years.
• "Dues" should somehow be made more fluid to provide smaller shops a way to support the project at a lower investment, and larger shops a way to commit more (without being locked into a cap).