Sponsored Families for Non-Members

As a benefit to employees, Enterprise organizations can offer sponsorships for free Families organizations. Sponsored families organizations allow users to securely share personal credentials with up to five family members or friends, encouraging good security habits at home as well as at work.

This article pertains to Families sponsorships for employees who are not currently a member of the Bitwarden organization, however organizations can also sponsor members.

Unlike sponsorships for members, sponsored Families organizations for non-members:

• Require that an organization owner contact Bitwarden to turn on the functionality.

• Require that an owner, admin, or permitted custom role member issue a sponsorship for each employee they wish to extend the benefit to.

• Will occupy one seat in the Enterprise organization per employee who is issued a sponsorship.

The remainder of the instructions on this page will help administrators issue sponsorships and non-members redeem issued sponsorships.

To issue a Families sponsorship to an employee who is not a member of thee Enterprise organization:

1. In the Admin Console, navigate to Members → Free Bitwarden Families and select  Add sponsorship.

   

2. In the Add sponsorship box, enter the employee's email address and any notes you'd like to make about the sponsorship and select Save to issue a sponsorship invitation to that employee's inbox:

   

One seat in the Enterprise organization will be occupied per employee who is issued a sponsorship using this method.

To accept an Families sponsorship that has been issued to you by an employer:

1. Check your email inbox. When you receive the invitation, select Accept Offer:

   

2. Follow the prompts on-screen to log in with your personal Bitwarden account or create a new one.

   tip

   If you have an existing Bitwarden Families organization, you can apply the sponsorship to that organization. Make sure you log in with the account that's an owner of your Families organization.

3. Once logged in, you'll be directed to a screen where you can redeem your sponsorship for a New Families organization or apply the sponsorship to an Existing Families organization:

   • New Families organization
   • Existing Families organization

   Select New Families organization from the dropdown:

   

   Fill in the following information:

   • An Organization name

   • A Billing email

   • Whether you want to add Additional storage (GB). Your sponsorship covers 1 GB free.

   • Payment information

   You won't have to make any payments for the Families organization as long as you are an active member of the sponsoring organization, unless you add Additional storage. When you are done filling in your information, select Submit.

   Select the organization from the dropdown and select Accept Offer:

   

   When you accept the offer, your old subscription will be replaced by the Enterprise sponsorship. You won't have to make any payments for the Families organization, unless you add Additional storage, for as long as you are an active member of the sponsoring organization.

   note

   If you are on the 2019 Families plan, you can still redeem a sponsorship but your organization will not automatically include all features released after 2020. To upgrade your current plan, navigate to the Subscriptions → Billing page and select Upgrade plan.