user11100: It is not a secret LEGO recognize and support a lot of AFOL groups all around the world. Most of these groups are LUGs (LEGO User Groups) which are formed by groups of adult LEGO fans gathering together in real life (or maybe term "offline" fits better?). LUG and its members have certain perks, like LUGBULK and some other good stuff, so I won't go too much details about it as this is not the point of this question.
My question is about Bricks SE, which has been recognized as Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM) couple of years ago. It is not entirely clear what kind of benefits does Bricks SE and its members have as RLFM.
From my investigation I found that LEGO has provided some free sets for past severals Winter Bash competitions. As well as some sets used for review. There have been several events in 2017 where Bricks SE members participated. It seems it has been a little quite since then.
So, what kind of perks we, as a community as well as members of this community, get (or can get) regularly in terms of physical (sets, bricks, else) and non-physical (events, gathering, previews, etc) perks?

user708: Great question. There are a lot of benefits. Here are some of them:

Direct communication with LEGO staff. As our ambassador, I'm connected with the AFOL Engagement Team and can reach out to them with specific questions. We've also participated in Fan Media Days in Billund, and I attended a meet and greet with TLG staff in Enfield.
Direct communication with the AFOL community. As our ambassador, I have access to the LEGO Ambassador Network (LAN). This is basically a forum where ambassadors communicate with one another. TLG has several staff members regularly participate and answer questions on LAN.
Increased awareness among AFOLs for our community. I participate on LAN as a representative of our community, and our community is listed in the community locator to make it easier for other AFOLs to discover. I'm also able to add events (e.g. Winter Bash) to the event calendar for everyone to see.
Activity Support. As was mentioned in the question, LEGO will support activities throughout the year by providing LEGO sets for us.
LUGBULK. We technically have access to this, but we've never tried it as administration would be painful, and most of us can simply join local LUGs.

The most significant perks from my point of view are the connection points that recognition provides for us. 
I will say that we don't currently make full use of our activity support. We can have one supported activity up to 500EUR per quarter, and we typically don't take full advantage of this. I'm happy to explore ways that we could do more with this support, but understand that I have to request sets for a specific purpose and report back to TLG regarding how they were used and how they performed (e.g. page views, new users, etc), so we need to be thoughtful about how our requests benefit the entire community.

11100: <p>It is not a secret LEGO recognize and support a lot of AFOL groups all around the world. Most of these groups are LUGs (LEGO User Groups) which are formed by groups of adult LEGO fans gathering together in real life (or maybe term "offline" fits better?). LUG and its members have certain perks, like LUGBULK and some other good stuff, so I won't go too much details about it as this is not the point of this question.</p>

<p>My question is about Bricks SE, which has been recognized as <a href="https://bricks.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/367/becoming-a-recognized-lego-user-group">Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM)</a> couple of years ago. It is not entirely clear what kind of benefits does Bricks SE and its members have as RLFM.</p>

<p>From my investigation I found that LEGO has provided some free sets for past severals Winter Bash competitions. As well as some sets used for review. There have been several events in <a href="https://bricks.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/416/bricks-se-year-in-review-2017/417#417">2017</a> where Bricks SE members participated. It seems it has been a little quite since then.</p>

<p>So, what kind of perks we, as a community as well as members of this community, get (or can get) regularly in terms of physical (sets, bricks, else) and non-physical (events, gathering, previews, etc) perks?</p>
 708: <p>Great question. There are a lot of benefits. Here are some of them:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Direct communication with LEGO staff. As our ambassador, I'm connected with the AFOL Engagement Team and can reach out to them with specific questions. We've also participated in Fan Media Days in Billund, and I attended a meet and greet with TLG staff in Enfield.</p></li>
<li><p>Direct communication with the AFOL community. As our ambassador, I have access to the LEGO Ambassador Network (LAN). This is basically a forum where ambassadors communicate with one another. TLG has several staff members regularly participate and answer questions on LAN.</p></li>
<li><p>Increased awareness among AFOLs for our community. I participate on LAN as a representative of our community, and our community is listed in the <a href="https://lan.lego.com/clubs/59-bricks-stack-exchange/?do=overview" rel="nofollow noreferrer">community locator</a> to make it easier for other AFOLs to discover. I'm also able to add events (e.g. Winter Bash) to the event calendar for everyone to see.</p></li>
<li><p>Activity Support. As was mentioned in the question, LEGO will support activities throughout the year by providing LEGO sets for us.</p></li>
<li><p>LUGBULK. We technically have access to this, but we've never tried it as administration would be painful, and most of us can simply join local LUGs.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The most significant perks from my point of view are the connection points that recognition provides for us. </p>

<p>I will say that we don't currently make full use of our activity support. We can have one supported activity up to 500EUR per quarter, and we typically don't take full advantage of this. I'm happy to explore ways that we could do more with this support, but understand that I have to request sets for a specific purpose and report back to TLG regarding how they were used and how they performed (e.g. page views, new users, etc), so we need to be thoughtful about how our requests benefit the entire community.</p>
