An open letter from Francisco

Hey Community Heroes, It’s Francisco Founder of Led by Community C.I.C

I’m writing this as an open letter to every Led by Community reader.

For more than three years, I’ve put my own time, money, and energy into building Led by Community.

I did it because community builders deserve support, peers, and practical help.

Today, Led by Community is bigger than just me.

It takes a team to run the programmes, the community, the events, the mentorship, and the behind-the-scenes work that makes it all feel simple.

A lot of what we deliver has been free.

Free sessions.

Free resources.

Free support.

And yes, we also tried to make Community Week work as a paid conference.

Some people assume that conference revenue should cover everything.

At times, it has helped.

It has covered part of the cost of keeping the lights on.

But here’s the truth.

Running a bootstrapped conference while building a community is brutally hard.

We still chose to give many free tickets for Community Week in London and Toronto.

Because we care about access, not just revenue.

In July, Led by Community became a mission-driven non-profit.

We have tried to make it easy for members to contribute.

But we have not yet created consistent monetary support.

And without that, we are risking the thing we all rely on.

Our Impact

Over 6,000 community builders have RSVPed to our events globally only in 2025.

That number matters, because it proves the impact is real.

So I need to ask for help.

If Led by Community has helped you feel less alone in your role, learn faster, or make better decisions at work, please contribute what you can.

Even $10 helps.

If you’ve been benefiting quietly, this is the moment to step in and help carry it.

A community is like a potluck dinner. It only works when more than one person brings the food.

What your contribution supports

It helps us pay for:

• The people running programmes, events, and operations.

• Tools and platforms that keep the community running.

• Speaker and mentor logistics.

• The time it takes to keep quality high, week after week.

How to support

Option 1: Give $10 as a one-off contribution.

Option 2: Give a little every month.

Option 3: If you can do more, you will be directly funding more free value for others.

Note: We use a system Open Collective to keep our finances and support contributions transparent. You'll be taken there to contribute.

I wish I didn’t need to send this email.

But I’d rather be honest than pretend we can keep stretching forever.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for being here.

And thank you, genuinely, if you choose to support Led by Community today.

Your friend,
Francisco Opazo
Founder, Led by Community

P.S. We just launched the Community Manager Appreciation Day with our friends of The Community Collective, and CMX and Community Consultants Collective as Community Partners! Find a city and join a meetup here.