Widen the circle.
Every founder who joins brings new experience and fresh perspective into the room. The more of us there are, the better this gets for all of us. You know good people. Bring them in, and we’ll say thank you three ways.
Our best new members come from you.
More members make EO Chicago better for everyone. New founders bring fresh energy to our forums and events, and the chapter gets stronger with every one of them.
Member referrals are our biggest source of growth. Nothing we do as a chapter works as well as you telling a founder, “You should meet these people.”
So this is our ask. Think of the founders you know who’d love this room, and make the intro. We’ve improved our process so they’re in good hands from the moment you refer them.
EO Chicago Multiplier is our referral incentive program for the year, with three ways to say thank you for making our chapter more awesome.
Every good intro deserves a thank you.
Individual Referral Reward
$250 EO Chicago Swag Store credit per new memberSwag Store coming soon
Refer a candidate who joins EO Chicago and you earn a $250 credit to the EO Chicago Swag Store, which is coming soon. No limit. Every successful referral who joins earns you another $250.
Forum Bonus
A memorable experience for your whole forum
The forum whose members together refer the most new members who join gets a custom experience for the whole forum, planned and paid for entirely by the chapter, announced in April 2027. Tied? It’s settled with a ping-pong competition at EO House.
Blitz Bonus
An entry into a $250 drawing
Every qualifying referral you submit earns you one entry into a $250 drawing, held in April 2027.
It’s one intro.
- Make the introTwo ways to do it. Email your prospect and introduce them to the Membership Committee by copying membership@eochicago.org, or bring them as your guest to Momentum on December 2 and make sure your name is on their registration. Either way, the referral is assigned to you.
- We take it from thereWe’ll guide your prospect through the application, including a Test Drive Forum and revenue verification. Our Membership Committee then looks at each applicant for core values and business fit.
- They join, you get creditOnce they complete the full application, verify their revenue and pay initiation fees and prorated dues by March 31, 2027, the referral counts.
First intro gets the credit. If two members refer the same person, credit goes to whoever’s intro reached membership@eochicago.org first, or whose name was on their Momentum registration first. No retroactive requests.
Who to think of.
Your referral counts when the person you introduce:
- Meets all EO Chicago membership requirements. $1M+ in gross revenue and active control of the business as CEO, owner, founder, controlling shareholder or family owner. Full requirements
- Is new to EO Chicago. Anyone who hasn’t been in communication with the Membership Committee for 6+ months counts as new.
- Joins by March 31, 2027. Completes the full application, verifies revenue and pays initiation fees and prorated dues.
Bring them to Momentum on December 2.
It’s the easiest way to show someone what EO is. An afternoon at East Bank Club with a real forum experience and a keynote from Brian Smith, founder of UGG.
Bring them as your guest and make sure your name is on their registration. That counts as your Multiplier intro. Momentum is open to founders at $250K+ in revenue. Your guest counts toward Multiplier once they join and meet the criteria above.
The details, all in one place.
Eligibility
The referred candidate must
- Meet all official EO Chicago membership requirements: $1M+ gross revenue, active CEO/Owner/Founder/Controlling Shareholder/Family-Owned control, etc.
- Be a new prospect to EO Chicago
- If a person hasn’t been in communication with the Membership Committee for 6+ months, they can be considered a new prospect.
- Complete the full application, verify revenue and pay initiation fees and prorated dues by March 31, 2027.
The referring member must
- Be a member in good standing (dues current) at both the time of referral and the time of payout.
- Send an introductory email to the prospect and to membership@eochicago.org, our designated inbox for referral submissions, or bring the prospect as a guest to Momentum (December 2, 2026) with the member’s name assigned on their registration. No retroactive requests.
Forum eligibility
- Forums must be made up of active EO members in good standing.
Payout structure
- Individual referrals: a $250 credit to the EO Chicago Swag Store (coming soon) for every successful referral who joins, with no limit.
- Forum Bonus: a custom, memorable experience for the top-referring forum, planned and paid for by the chapter. Announced in April 2027.
- Blitz Bonus: one entry per qualifying referral into a $250 drawing, held in April 2027.
- Tie-breaker: if there’s a tie for the Forum Bonus, the top forum is decided by a ping-pong competition at EO House.
Additional considerations
- The Multiplier campaign runs from October 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027.
- Multiplier is for EO Chicago member referrals only. EO Accelerator referrals are highly encouraged and are made the same way, but rewards are tied only to referrals who join as EO Chicago members ($1M+ in revenue).
- One referrer per candidate. If there’s a dispute, credit goes to the first intro: the earliest email to membership@eochicago.org, or the earliest Momentum registration with the member’s name on it.
- The executive board retains the right to review edge cases (for example, a “referral” who is already deep in conversation with the chapter).
