How sponsorship works
Door Money turns ambition into a sponsor-ready project. Organizers explain what they are making, who it reaches and what a sponsor receives. Sponsors see what their money makes possible, and get the visibility described in the offer.
Support the work. Get something specific back.
A sponsor funds a named project and can see what the money makes possible. The organizer features the sponsor in an agreed place and documents that it happened.
A sponsorship is not a donation, an investment or a share of the work, and it buys no say in it.
The organizer makes the final call
A project is sponsor-ready when it answers four questions: what the funding enables, who the work reaches, what the sponsor receives, and how delivery will be documented. Door Money asks each of them before anything is published, and the organizer decides the rest.
- Choose which sponsorship options to offer.
- Set the price on every one of them.
- Accept or decline a sponsor's materials before anything appears.
- Choose how delivery will be documented.
- Offer only placements they have the authority to deliver.
Visibility in the places the work already reaches
A useful sponsorship does not have to interrupt the work. It can sit where an organizer and an audience already meet. These are kinds of placement, not a list of what every fundraiser offers.
- Physical placementsOn equipment, uniforms or other things the audience sees, where the organizer controls them.
- Digital placementsOn a website, in a video, or in agreed posts on the organizer's own channels.
- Printed creditsA name or a credit line in a program, on a poster, or in printed materials.
- Venue or event visibilitySignage or a presence where the activity happens, with the venue's permission where it is needed.
- Production-specific visibilityAn agreed credit on the work itself, or a thank-you that is part of it.
- Approved product placementA product appearing in the work, only where that is specifically agreed.
- Audience-facing communicationsA mention in the emails and announcements the audience already receives.
A price is the organizer's own. Suggested prices exist only where there is a sales history to suggest from, which today is music.
Support that can be pointed at
Every fundraiser names the ways its organizer will document delivery, before anyone pays, and lists only those. The sponsor's record keeps the purchased offer, what was delivered and the evidence supplied.
What Door Money does not promise
- Sales, customers or a commercial return.
- Audience growth, impressions or a measured reach that nobody measured.
- Distribution, festival acceptance or any result outside the organizer's control.
- A Door Money inspection. Documentation comes from the organizer, and Door Money passes it on.
From an ambition to a record
A tour, a season, a production, a series, a practice: something the organizer wants to make happen, and an audience it reaches.
The organizer opens a fundraiser and writes the project down so a stranger can read it: what the funding enables, who the work reaches, and what a sponsor receives.
The organizer picks which sponsorship options to offer, at prices they set themselves, and states what appears, where, and how delivery will be documented.
A person or a business reads both sides of the exchange, picks an option and pays Door Money. Each sponsorship is either fixed-price or open to bids; the organizer decides which. The sponsor then sends what the placement needs, and nothing appears without the organizer's approval.
The organizer delivers what the offer described, in the place and the window it named, and documents it.
Door Money holds the money, passes the organizer's documentation on to the sponsor's record, and releases funds according to the fundraiser's terms.
Each fundraiser states its own delivery and release terms, and a sponsor sees them before paying.
Six terms, in plain language
- Sponsorship option
- A priced offer describing the visibility available. The organizer chooses which ones to offer.
- Placement
- Where the sponsor appears. It may be physical, digital, printed, or part of a production.
- Deliverable
- A specific promised appearance or action, with a due date or a delivery window.
- Materials
- What the sponsor sends so the placement can happen: a name, a credit line, artwork, product information.
- Evidence
- The organizer's documentation that a deliverable happened. It is not a certification by Door Money.
- Record
- The sponsor's summary of the purchased offer, the delivery, the evidence and the payment outcomes.
Where Door Money starts
The starting categories are music, sports teams, film, theater, restaurants and hospitality, and digital workers, with Other for a project that fits none of them. The set is growing: Door Money is designed to expand as new categories can make a clear, deliverable sponsorship promise.
Music
Tours, residencies, recordings, and named music efforts.
Possible placements include programs, equipment, venues, websites, and posts.
Sports teams
Seasons, tournaments, travel, and equipment.
Possible placements include approved uniforms, venue signage, team materials, and digital channels.
Film
Productions, completion, and screenings.
Possible placements include agreed credits, screening materials, promotional channels, and product placement.
Theater
Productions, performance seasons, and touring work.
Possible placements include programs, foyer signage, websites, and agreed promotion.
Restaurants & hospitality
Dinner series, chef residencies, guest experiences, and community meal programs.
Possible placements include restaurant spaces, sponsored guest experiences, dinner series, chef residencies, and community meal programs.
Digital workers
Independent digital projects, production, research, and the tools needed to do the work.
Possible placements include a monthly email signature, a virtual meeting background on eligible calls, and a credit on a project page the worker controls.
Other
A project that can name a clear audience, a real funding purpose, and a specific sponsor promise.
Possible placements include any the organizer can describe exactly and has the authority to deliver.
A start, not a limit
A project is sponsor-ready, and a new category fits, when the organizer can state four things:
- What the funding enables.
- Who the relevant audience is.
- What the sponsor receives.
- How the promised delivery will be documented.
What is open today
Music fundraisers are open to sponsors today. Depending on the category, organizers can publish fundraisers or prepare private drafts; sponsorship payments open when delivery terms are ready.
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Turn ambition into a sponsor-ready project.
Sponsors find work with an audience they care about, and see exactly what their sponsorship makes possible and what they will receive. Organizers turn what they want to make happen into a project a sponsor can read.