Community BoardsLocal Businesses.
Stronger Together.
A complimentary Community Board gives you a useful way to communicate with customers inside your business, plus Host Participation Revenue, local nonprofit impact and a growing network designed to give local businesses more visibility.
- Your space
- Your customers
- More local connection
- No cost to become a Host
No cost to request. No cost to become a Host.
Example Community Board for a local restaurant
Running a local business means constantly finding better ways to stay connected with your customers.
You already have customers walking through your door. The challenge is making more of those customer relationships while keeping your business visible, relevant and connected to the community, without adding another complicated marketing program to manage.
Customer attention is limited
Customers are busy. Important specials, openings, events, services and updates can easily go unnoticed, even by people already inside your business.
Digital marketing can feel crowded
Social posts, email and online advertising all compete for attention. Local businesses still need simple ways to communicate with customers where real relationships are already happening.
Marketing takes time
Most local business owners have enough to manage already. Another platform, campaign or vendor to administer is not necessarily helpful.
Local businesses often operate separately
Good businesses may serve the same community without having an easy way to support, recommend and create visibility for one another.
Community involvement competes for resources
Many local businesses want to support organizations in their community, but time and budget compete with normal operating priorities.
Your physical location creates value
A good local business brings people through the door and builds trusted customer relationships. Yet there are limited ways for the business to participate financially in the additional value its location and audience can create.
One simple tool. Several of those challenges, at once.
A Community Board turns space inside your business into a customer communication tool you control, a place in a growing local-business network, an opportunity for Host Participation Revenue and a way to support a local nonprofit.
- UsefulA customer communication tool you control
- FreeNo charge to become a Host
- ProfitableUp to $1,200 in first-year Host Participation Revenue
- VisibleNetwork exposure as the marketplace develops
- Local$100 a year to a nonprofit you choose
- ControlledFinal approval over your advertisers
- ConnectedA network of local businesses
- EasySystem Stream runs the program
More Than a Free Community Board
The physical board is the starting point. As a Host, you get a useful customer communication tool, the opportunity to earn Host Participation Revenue, a way to support a local nonprofit, final approval over the advertisers on your board, and participation in a growing network of local businesses.
Useful
Turn space inside your business into an easy-to-update communication tool for the customers already walking through your door.
Free
There is no charge to request or become a Community Boards Host.
Profitable
Up to $1,200in first-year Host Participation Revenue
$100 for each active advertiser Community Boards brings; $200 for an advertiser you introduce, during that advertiser's first campaign on your board.
Visible
Become part of a network designed to create additional visibility for participating local businesses, with broader digital marketplace capabilities planned as the network develops.
Local
Each active board separately generates a $100 annual contribution to an eligible small local nonprofit selected by the Host.
Controlled
You have final approval over the advertisers that appear on your Community Board.
Connected
Participate in a network where local businesses can help create visibility and opportunity for one another.
Easy
System Stream handles advertiser recruitment, campaign formation, coordination, production administration and renewals.
Your business gets most of the board.
The Community Board is designed first as a useful communication tool for your business. The lower portion supports the local-business network that makes the program possible.
Example Community Board for a local laundromat
60% Your space
Permanent branding for your business plus reusable dry-erase space for specials, openings, events, classes, reminders, menus, community updates or whatever is useful to your customers.
37% Six local advertisers
Six advertiser positions connect your customers with other local businesses and help support the Community Boards network.
3% Community Boards
A thin branded footer identifies the network while keeping the board focused on your business.
Your Community Board is provided at no cost to you. Production begins after the local advertiser campaign reaches the level needed to support the board.
Your board. Your design.
Your Community Board should look like it belongs in your business. Provide your existing design, branding concept or artwork for review and production preparation. If you do not have a design, we can provide professionally prepared options for you to review and choose from.
Permanent branding can include your logo, colors, tagline and other approved visual elements. The writable area remains flexible for the messages you change over time, so your board reflects your business.
A restaurant may write today's specials. A pet care business may post a welcoming greeting with room to spare. A laundromat may keep a simple checklist. A coffee shop may combine a handwritten note with a chalkboard-style special. There is no required weekly format. Your 60% is designed to stay useful, flexible and easy to update.
Earn up to $1,200 in first-year Host Participation Revenue.
Community Boards shares part of the value created at your location with you. Earn $100 for each active advertiser Community Boards brings to your board, and $200 for a qualifying advertiser you introduce, during that advertiser's first campaign on your board. Six positions are available.
You do not have to sell advertising. System Stream handles the network and the process; you run your business.
in first-year Host Participation Revenue
Community Boards-sourced advertiser
Host-introduced advertiser, first campaign on your board
Give the businesses you already know first opportunity.
Before we open the remaining positions on your board more broadly, we'll give you a chance to identify customers, vendors, suppliers, neighboring businesses, friends who own businesses and other relationships that may want to hear about the opportunity first. Nobody you know should see a filled board later and wish they had known about it in time.
You tell us who to consider. System Stream handles the rest.
Who to think about
Customers, vendors, suppliers, professional relationships, neighboring businesses, friends who own businesses, or businesses you regularly recommend. There is no number to reach, and partial details are fine.
They hear about it first
Approved Host-introduced businesses get a first opportunity before remaining positions are opened to broader advertiser outreach. Advertisers you introduce can also increase your first-year Host Participation Revenue.
You are not selling anything
You run your business. We run the network. There is no quota, and System Stream handles the review, the outreach and campaign formation.
An introduction is not a reservation
An introduction does not reserve a position or a category. Advertisers still complete the normal Community Boards reservation process, and you still have final approval over who appears on your board.
Local businesses that fit your customers.
You have final approval over the advertisers that appear on your Community Board.
Your business, your customers, your establishment. System Stream handles advertiser review, category protection and network administration, and no advertiser appears on your board without your approval.
You can recommend
Know a local business that would be a good fit for your customers? Suggest it, and we'll factor your recommendation into campaign formation.
You have the final say
Advertisers must meet Community Boards eligibility and category rules and receive your approval before they appear on your board.
Your board also gives back locally.
Each active Community Board generates a separate $100 annual contribution to an eligible small local nonprofit serving your area. You choose from eligible organizations, and you can nominate an unlisted local nonprofit for eligibility review.
The contribution is separate from Host Participation Revenue. It does not reduce what you receive.
A bigger impact as the network grows
One board generates a $100 annual contribution. As more active boards are established locally, each generates its own contribution, and renewed boards can continue that support year after year. Together, participating local businesses can create broader recurring support for eligible local organizations, at no cost to any Host.
The planned digital marketplace can add nonprofit visibility, helping people learn about local missions, events and ways to get involved as the network develops.
- 1 We present eligible local nonprofits serving your area.
- 2 You choose the one that means the most to your business.
- 3 Don't see the right fit? Nominate a nonprofit for review.
- 4 If it qualifies, it's added to your options.
per active board, each year, to an eligible local nonprofit
Your Business. Your Board.
Community Boards is built for local businesses that serve local customers. The writable space adapts to the way your business communicates, whether that means specials, appointments, events, workshops, reminders, schedules, community updates or something entirely different.
Community Board Examples
Examples shown are illustrative concepts. Business names, advertiser information, phone numbers, website addresses and QR codes shown in these examples are fictional.
Don't see your industry?
That does not mean Community Boards is not for you. If you operate a local business and believe a Community Board would be useful to your customers, you can still request one. Every Host request receives personal review.
The board is the beginning of the network.
Your board is a useful communication tool from day one. Participation also connects your business to a local-business network designed to grow in value as more Hosts and advertisers join. The roadmap below shows how that value is planned to build, from your first board to a connected local marketplace.
Built as participation grows
The marketplace will be developed and launched as the network reaches the level of participating Hosts and advertisers needed to support a genuinely useful local marketplace. Features and timing follow local participation, and no specific traffic, reach or results are guaranteed.
Founding network recognition
Early Hosts help establish the network in their local market. As the marketplace develops, the plan is to recognize those participants as founding members and provide enhanced launch visibility where practical. Specific recognition and placement details remain part of launch planning, with no guaranteed ranking or traffic result.
Getting started is simple.
You don't have to buy a board, find six advertisers or manage a new advertising program. Start by telling us about your business.
Request your Community Board
Tell us about your business and location. There is no cost to request a board.
We review it with you
Every request receives personal review. We confirm fit and answer questions before moving forward.
We run the network
If participation is confirmed, System Stream handles advertiser campaign formation and the process required to move toward production.
The full sequence: Request → Personal Review → Advertiser Campaign Formation → Production When Viable → Delivery and Installation Verification → Ongoing Network Administration.
Questions Hosts ask
How much does it cost to become a Host?
Nothing. There is no charge to request or become a Community Boards Host. Production follows successful advertiser campaign formation.
When do I receive the board?
After your request is reviewed and participation is confirmed, System Stream begins forming the advertiser campaign for your location. The board is produced when advertiser participation supports production, so timing varies and installation is not guaranteed.
Do I have to find advertisers?
No. System Stream handles advertiser recruitment and campaign formation. You may recommend local businesses you think would fit your customers.
Can I control which businesses appear?
Yes. You have final approval over the advertisers that appear on your Community Board. Community Boards also reviews advertiser eligibility and manages category protection, and you may recommend businesses you would like considered.
How does Host Participation Revenue work?
You receive $100 per year for each active advertiser Community Boards brings to your board, and $200 for an advertiser you introduce during that advertiser's first 12-month campaign on your board. With six active Host-introduced advertisers in their first campaign, that is up to $1,200 in first-year Host Participation Revenue. If that advertiser renews, the standard $100 applies. Revenue depends on active advertiser participation and is not guaranteed.
Is the nonprofit contribution taken from my Host revenue?
No. The $100 annual nonprofit contribution is separate and does not reduce Host Participation Revenue. Each active board generates its own contribution. As boards are established and renewed, those contributions can create broader recurring support for local organizations. The planned marketplace may also help people discover participating nonprofits, their missions, events and ways to get involved.
Can I choose the nonprofit?
You select from eligible local nonprofits serving your area. You may also nominate an unlisted local nonprofit for eligibility review.
Can I choose what is printed in my portion of the board?
Yes. Provide your existing design or artwork for review, or choose from design options we can prepare for you. Permanent Host branding may include your logo, colors, tagline and other approved visual elements. You choose the direction before the permanent design moves forward, while the dry-erase area remains available for messages you update over time.
What can I write on my board?
Use your dry-erase space for information useful to your customers, such as specials, openings, events, classes, menus, reminders, schedules, community updates or other business-specific messages. Your permanent printed branding stays in place while the writable content changes as often as you like.
What if all six advertiser positions do not fill?
System Stream manages campaign formation and evaluates when advertiser participation supports production. You are never required to purchase an unfilled position.
What if my industry is not listed?
You can still request a board. Every Host request receives personal review.
Is Community Boards only a physical board?
No. The physical board is the starting point. Community Boards is being built as a broader local-business network and digital marketplace. As the network grows and reaches the level of participating Hosts and advertisers needed to support a useful local marketplace, additional digital capabilities are planned to roll out, including business profiles, local discovery, specials, offers, updates, cross-promotion and engagement visibility.
Is there an advantage to becoming a Host early?
Early Hosts help establish the Community Boards network in their local area. As the marketplace develops, the plan is to recognize early participants as founding members and provide enhanced launch visibility where practical. Specific recognition details are part of launch planning and do not include a guaranteed ranking, placement or traffic result.
Am I signing up for another program I have to manage?
No. System Stream runs the network, including advertiser recruitment, campaign formation, coordination and renewals. You continue running your business and using your writable Host space.
Put a Community Board to work for your business.
Request a complimentary Community Board for your location. We'll review your business and location and, if participation is confirmed, begin forming the local advertiser campaign.
- Free Community Board
- No cost to request
- No advertising to sell
- No network to manage
Start by telling us about your business.
Request My Community Board