$600 a month to push a BROKEN friendship APP? No thanks, Bumble.
It’s 2025: why building your own IRL community is worth more than to be a Bumble BFF community lead: in cash, connection, skills and credibility!
Let’s be honest: the idea of being a Bumble BFF Community Lead sounds exciting at first. You get paid to throw events, hand out merch, and post content that help students “find their people.” But if you scratch beneath the surface, the role reveals a bigger truth: you’re doing brand marketing for a product that still hasn’t delivered on its core promise: helping people build real friendships.
Hi, I’m Gerrit, an expert in IRL community building and marketing with focus on Gen Z and Y, with experience analyzing over 200 friendship apps worldwide. My background is in entrepreneurship and innovation consulting. My advice? Don’t wait for these apps to solve your social life, especially not Bumble BFF. Start your own thing. Organize real-life events on campus and build your own community.
Let’s take a look: Bumble BFF Community Lead job description
If you're someone who thrives on meaningful connections and knows how to bring people together, the Bumble BFF Community Lead role on campus might be your dream gig. But what exactly does this position involve?
The problem with promoting a flawed product like Bumble BFF
Bumble BFF sounds great in theory: swipe your way to friendship! While Bumble BFF has a promising concept, its user experience falls short in a big way. Anyone who’s actually tried it knows how awkward, transactional, and disappointing the experience can be.
You match but don’t chat.
You chat but don’t meet.
You meet once but never again.
Ask yourself: is Bumble’s Inc. goal truly to help you make meaningful connections, or just to keep you hooked long enough to pay for a subscription? Two years after launch, and you still can’t even apply basic filters in their plans feature. Honestly, for a company of their size, that's embarrassing and in my opinion, not worth your money.
As a campus ambassador, you’ll be expected to hype up a product you know doesn’t work the way it claims to and that’s not just emotionally exhausting, it’s disempowering. Would you promote a matcha store with a 3,2 rating on Google and bad experience reviews on Reddit? Me neither. You're building someone else’s brand with a worse product instead of your own.
You become a billboard, not a community builder
Sure, you’re gaining “real-world experience,” but what are you really doing?
Hosting events for a company, not for your people.
Creating content for a brand, not for your own mission.
Reporting metrics to HQ, not building something you control.
Even worse, you're driving people into an app that might leave them more frustrated than fulfilled. That’s not impact, that’s performative community building.
Here’s a better idea: start your own IRL Community
What if instead of spending 5+ hours a week doing brand work, you poured that same energy into building something of your own? Something which will pay your college fee’s. Imagine this:
A Run Club every Sunday, 10:00 a.m. for all students on campus
A Walk & Talk Circle for women, news students or transfers
A weekly “Hike and fun” to reconnect with nature
A Friendship Dinners or social cooking event with rotating hosts
You're not just gathering people. You’re creating spaces for real connection and leading with authenticity, not marketing KPIs.
How to earn the same $600/month (or MORE) with your own IRL Community
Let’s say you host just 1 event per week.
That’s roughly 4.3 events per month (since most months have 4.3 weeks).
You want to match $600/month.
Here’s the math:
Minimum to Break Even:
$600 ÷ 4.3 events = ~$140/event
Now ask yourself: Can you bring 20-25 young people together for a run club, dinner, or walk & talk and have each contribute just a small amount?
🧾 Example 1: Donation-based model
You ask for $5-10 suggested donation per person.
20 people × $7,5 = $150/event
4.3 events = $645/month
You already beat Bumble’s pay.
You keep your independence.
You build your own brand.
🎫 Example 2: Small ticket event model
You sell tickets for a themed dinner, journaling session, or hike-and-brunch:
20 people × $8 ticket = $160/event
4.3 events = $688/month
You can also offer extras like:
- A $5 add-on for snacks
- A $10 custom journal
- A $15 T-shirt or tote bag (marketing and belonging purposes)
🤝 Example 3: Local partnership model, UNO (no mercy) night
You partner with a local bar, café, or pizza spot to host a fun, recurring UNO connect night, and split revenue based on spend.
Event Setup:
Ticket price: $5 per person (goes to you directly)
Revenue share: You get 20% of what each person spends at the venue
Average spend per participant: $15 (drinks, snacks, pizza, etc.)
Participants: 30
Revenue breakdown:
Ticket revenue: $5 × 30 = $150
Venue spend: $15 × 30 = $450 total spend
Your 20% share: $450 × 0.20 = $90
Total earnings per event:
$150 (tickets) + $90 (revenue share) = $240
Now multiply by 4.3 events per month:
$240 × 4.3 = $1,032/month
Summary of making money on your own, instead getting paid by Bumble
By running just one creative, low-barrier event per week, and collaborating with a local business, you’re not only matching Bumble’s $600/month… You’re nearly doubling it. Plus:
You build your own community brand
You create win-win local partnerships
You own the relationship, not the algorithm
Real benefits of starting your own IRL community on campus
Your learning curve will skyrocket, far more than if you were working for someone else. Hosting connection events isn’t hard. Start simple: team up with a roommate or friend on campus. Set a clear 60-day goal for what you want to achieve. Fail fast, learn quickly, and grow. Along the way, you’ll meet other builders, gain real experience, and most importantly, you’ll own the community you create. In an age of loneliness, the person bringing people together is the one everyone notices. You don’t need Bumble’s brand. You can be your own.
It’s yours. No corporate approval needed.
You build real assets. A brand, a following, an impact.
You can monetize ethically. Through donations, event tickets, memberships, or local partnerships.
You grow in real leadership. Not just influencer-lite marketing.
You leave a legacy. Something that lives on your campus, even after you graduate.
Start with this tools to build a community
This is the tech stack I'd recommend to build your own IRL community:
Project management: Notion
Calculation: Google Sheets
Calculations for events
Track revenue and expenses
Internal communication: WhatsApp
Visual creation: Canva, Capcut
Pinterest: if you don’t have content yet
Marketing:
social media: Instagram and TikTok
local event listing platforms.
Ticket sales: Lu.ma, Eventbrite
Note: maybe there is something more popular in your region
Donation: Buy Me A Coffee
Other:
Linktr.ee or bento.me
free QR-Code tracking: www.QR1.at
Save your domain, before your doing marketing
E-Mail: for communication and make sure to set up 2 factor authentication
People love supporting things that feel personal and real, especially when they can feel the impact.
Stop promoting someone else’s idea of friendship. Start building your own.
The Bumble BFF Community Lead program might offer a paycheck, but what if the real opportunity is building a space where women connect without swiping, branding, or corporate filters? You don’t need Bumble to help people find their people. You just need an idea, some consistency, and the belief that you can be the community catalyst your campus actually needs.
Best,
Gerrit
Gerrit Dokter is an expert in IRL Community building & IRL marketing for consumer brands, creating loneliness solutions for Gen Z and Y, and social entrepreneur based in Munich, Germany. When he’s not exploring the future of friendships and IRL connections, he’s probably diving into the latest research on loneliness, sharing knowledge about IRL community that sparks real-world connection, or curating unique experiences that bring people together. Say HEY on LinkedIn — he’s always up for a good conversation.
Sources and disclaimer:
This post reflects my personal opinion and experience. If the Bumble BFF Community Lead role speaks to you — go for it! Everyone’s journey is different, and some people have had great experiences in ambassador programs. My intention is simply to offer an alternative perspective and encourage you to explore the power of building something on your own. Take what resonates, leave the rest.
Found here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7354504847229886464/
Job description: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4260448197/
