The Canterbury Tech MeetUp Contestable Fund
Why have we created a MeetUp Fund?
MeetUp groups are run by passionate volunteers around a special skill or interest. Our Canterbury technology sector is supported by a fantastic range of groups with focuses on everything from artificial intelligence to product management, cloud services to Python coding.
These groups play a fundamental role in our community, helping people to keep their skills updated, make friends and solve problems by connecting with expertise.
Some of the groups have said it’s hard to get venues and budget for event hospitality like food and drink so Canterbury Tech has
- created a MeetUp contestable fund to help pay operational expenses
- organised a Slack group for Meet Up organisers to coordinate
- organised the first unconference for organisers to meet and bolster the community connections
Our founding Sponsor Amazon Web Services have been so supportive of our community and provided the initial money to set up this fund.
If your organisation is looking for ways to give back to the community and the volunteer grass roots of our community then we encourage you to get involved and donate to the fund or offer your venue to support MeetUps, please get in touch at info@canterburytech.nz if you would like to add your support.
Founding Sponsor
If you are interested in talking with the AWS team about business opportunities, the AWS Lift Program (specially designed to help businesses kickstart their digitisation journey) or anything else, you can get in touch with the South Island team here:
- Dre Turnbull
- Account Manager
Book a meeting - Casey Orr
- Solution Architect
Book a meeting - Gordon King
- Enterprise Account Manager
Book a meeting - Leigh Andrews
- Enterprise Solution Architect
Book a meeting
How does the fund work?
The MeetUp Fund opens for application from 1 July 2023. Once all the money has been distributed the fund will close for the year.
The allocation of money will be prioritised for:
- MeetUps who participate in the regular MeetUp organisers community events and Slack group (to join please email info@canterburytech.nz)
- Local MeetUps that don’t have current sponsorships, vendor support or national bodies.
- Helping to establish new MeetUps for important skill gaps.
To apply
- Fill out the form at the bottom of this page giving at least 2 weeks notice prior to your event.
- Wait for acceptance of your application.
- Then follow the instructions provided in the acceptance email to receive funding in the form of a pressie card.
- If you want to add a new MeetUp to the directory then please fill out this form
What's Expected?
We ask you to apply at least 2 weeks in advance of your event so we can process and review your application. We hate to disappoint but we do reserve the right to decline applications for whatever reason including when the fund is exhausted for the year.
There are 5 small things to do after receiving your funding acceptance:
- Come and pick your pressie card up from our offices in town in person
- Invite us to your MeetUp so we can come along if we have time (we’ll provide a list of contacts to invite)
- Include logos of the Fund sponsors on the title page of your presentation (Canterbury Tech and AWS) – we’ll send this to you in your acceptance email
- Verbally acknowledge the sponsors and the fund at the beginning of your session
- After the event send out a short email or online MeetUp message to your attendees which includes some key messages from the community supporters.
- Tag Sponsors in social media posts if any
Common sense – No insensitive, discriminatory or political topics.
