The UBCM Convention welcomes sponsors from a broad range of sectors. In 2023, there were 46 sponsors, including private companies, industry associations, local government associations, unions, provincial agencies, and others.
In July 2019, UBCM’s Executive appointed an Independent Review Panel to examine how the organization finances and sponsors its annual convention. The review panel’s report outlined a list of guiding principles for convention finance and sponsorship that serve as a guide for all sponsorship-related decisions.
All prospective new sponsors and trade show participants are vetted and assessed by UBCM staff. In approving new sponsors, UBCM applies its membership policy and takes the diversity of interests and issues within its membership into consideration.
While sponsor contributions represent an important source of revenue that reduces the cost of member participation, they make up a relatively small part of UBCM’s annual convention budget. In 2023, sponsors provided roughly 13% of all Convention revenue.
Sponsors participate in multiple ways, including trade show exhibit space; complimentary participant registration; advertising on the convention app, website, or printed program; and occasionally providing welcoming comments at events.
Of the 1902 participants who attended the 2023 Convention, roughly 41% of attendees were non-members:
- 380 (20%) government representatives,
- 315 (17%) registrants from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, professional associations, unions, and others.
- 70 (4%) who received complimentary registration through their organization’s sponsorship.
