Meetings Mean Business! Grants Program
The Wisconsin Department of Tourism recognizes meetings and conventions as a niche tourism market with significant growth potential. To help make Wisconsin destinations competitive in their efforts to attract regional and national meetings or conventions, we offer a grant program designed to assist Wisconsin destinations with financial assistance for facility costs or host destination expenses. The goal of this program is to generate visitor spending from meetings and conventions tourism in Wisconsin.
Overview
This program helps potential Wisconsin destinations by providing financial assistance for facility costs or host destination expenses as they bid for regional and national meetings or conventions.
Purpose of the Fund
- Attracting national or Midwest regional meetings and conventions generates significant economic impact from additional room night bookings and traveler spending in the community in which they are held. Approximately 30% of Wisconsin’s traveler spending comes from business travel and meetings and conventions.
- Many destinations have invested in conference infrastructure to tap into this important niche market. This program provides the financial assistance a destination might need to go after new business.
- Attracting national and regional conferences gives Wisconsin a competitive edge and top-of-mind awareness as the premiere place to host meetings or conventions.
- Destinations can go after a variety of different kinds of meetings and conventions that best fits their business model including but not limited to associations and organization meetings, tradeshows, education, reunion or socializing.
Guidelines
- The fund has $110,000 per year available for matching grants. Destinations may apply for 50% of the costs for convention facility rental, in-community convention transportation or host costs, up to a maximum of $20,000 during our fiscal year.
- Organizations receiving funding from Meetings Mean Business fund may not also request funding from the Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) grant fund for the same event.
- This grant does NOT fund in-state events that are regularly scheduled or which routinely rotate to destinations within the state.