External Partners Can Join You in Connect — Without Purchasing a Paid Slack Plan

We’ve joined a new pilot that expands Slack Connect, making it easier for you to bring more people into your virtual space.

With “sponsored connections,” your Slack Connect channels — channels shared with workspaces outside of Stanford Slack Grid — are hosted, or sponsored, by Stanford. This means you can now invite external partners using Slack’s free plan to collaborate via Slack Connect.

Once they accept the invitation, external users will have access to paid Slack’s features, such as Huddles and “Clips” when collaborating within a sponsored Slack Connect channel. Outside of the Connect channel, the partner organization will have the same experience as free tier users. For example, they won’t be able to create additional Slack Connect channels and will have limits on the number of apps they can install and limits to their message repository via search.

On your end, the sponsored connection channel has the same properties as any other Slack Connect channel.

• Your admins will have the opportunity to approve it before it’s connected.
• The channel will appear in Manage Slack Connect as well as a user’s Slack Connect Hub.
• Security and retention policies are the same as any other Slack Connect channel.

One more important point: sponsored connections created during the pilot will remain after the full release of the feature.

Sponsored connections function similarly to any other Slack Connect channel. With Slack Connect, which launched last year, individuals from up to 20 different organizations can chat and share files in a single channel. Although you’re restricted to 20 organizations in a channel, there’s no limit on the number of individuals from those organizations who can be members. This convenient option eliminates the need to set up and manage multiple guest accounts.

If you have feedback or feature questions, feel free to reach out to the Slack team via feedback@slack.com.