# Sponsored Families for 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 currently a member of the Bitwarden organization, however organizations may also opt to allow [sponsorships for non-members](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/organization-sponsored-families-plans/).

Sponsored Families organizations for members:

- Require members to have or create a Bitwarden account separate from their work account, ensuring separation of personal and professional credentials.
- Include all premium Bitwarden features for all six users, including [advanced two-step login methods](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/setup-two-step-login/), [encrypted file attachments](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/attachments/), [emergency access](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/emergency-access/), and more.
- Can be turned off by organizations that don't wish to offer it using a [policy](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/policies/#remove-free-bitwarden-families-sponsorship/).

> [!TIP] Enabling F4E for self-hosted organizations.
> If your Enterprise organization is self-hosted, an administrator will need to [complete these steps](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/families-for-enterprise-self-hosted/) before employees can redeem their Families sponsorships.

The remainder of the instructions on this page will help members redeem their Families sponsorships.

## Redeem a sponsorship

To redeem the Families sponsorship offered to your by your organization:

1. Log in to the Bitwarden web app with the account through which you're offered a sponsorship. In other words, log in with your work account.
2. From the navigation, select **Settings**→ **Free Bitwarden Families**:

![Free Bitwarden Families](https://bitwarden.com/assets/4N84OPFobJYDw7pr05Ls1W/caf30220fd12b3635f6c3e420645b9bf/2024-12-04_10-20-37.png)
3. On this screen: 

 - If you're offered sponsorships through multiple organizations, select **Which Free Families offer** to redeem.
 - Enter the**personal email** that you'll use for your Families organization account.

> [!TIP] For F4E, use your personal account if you already have one.
> If you have a personal account separate from your work account, use that account's email address. Otherwise, you'll create a new account later in this process.
> 
> In either case, your personal account [**must be in the same region**](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/choose-my-server/) as the organization offering the sponsorship. If you already have a Families organization in the correct region, you can apply the sponsorship to that subscription. Reach out to an administrator if you're not sure which region you need to use.
 - Once you've entered the required information, select **Redeem**.
4. Check your personal email inbox. When you get an email inviting you to activate your free Families subscription, select **Accept Offer**:

![Accept Families for Enterprise Offer](https://bitwarden.com/assets/1G0VmQSY0lCTEgsetHc2cy/81347ce663fcfc717b6dd21295ada1a1/Screen_Shot_2022-05-23_at_9.38.42_AM.png)
5. Follow the prompts on-screen to log in with your personal Bitwarden account or create a new one.
6. 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

Select **New Families organization**from the dropdown:

![New Free Bitwarden Families](https://bitwarden.com/assets/3NnhjGPkYir4aMCLzvmJf1/db51c17a40db8d7a399ed49ec65d98f5/2024-12-04_10-24-32.png)

Fill in the following information:

- An **Organization name**
- A **Billing email**
- Whether you want to add **Additional storage (GB)**. Your sponsorship covers 5 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.**

### Existing Families organization

Select the organization from the dropdown and select **Accept Offer:**

![Existing Free Bitwarden Families](https://bitwarden.com/assets/5HIpHzcAzTsBjE4UZhjCV0/1f3ce019f188b2a1be20cc1587534864/2024-12-04_10-24-53.png)

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] F4E for 2019 Families
> If you are on the [2019 Families plan](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/updates-to-plans/), 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**.

> [!NOTE] You'll still get renewal emails when you're F4E.
> After redeeming your sponsorship, you may still get renewal reminder emails for your Families organization in your personal inbox. As long as you're still an active member of that sponsoring Enterprise organization, you can ignore these emails. If you're no longer a member, navigate to **Billing** → **Payment method**, and check that the payment method is valid.

## Next steps

Once you've setup your sponsored Families organization:

- Learn the basics of [administering a Families organization](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/courses/password-manager-family-admin/).
- Dig deeper into [how to use an organization to share data with your family or friends](https://bitwarden.com/it-it/help/getting-started-organizations/).