Sponsorship Policy

Shareable is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. As a nonprofit, Shareable gratefully accepts donations from foundations, individuals, and corporations. As an educational organization, Shareable has a responsibility to its community of readers to present fair and unbiased information; and as a nonprofit, Shareable is governed by IRS regulations on what Shareable can accept from donors and what it can do in return for those donations. To comply with its educational mandate and IRS regulations, Shareable welcomes sponsorships subject to the following guidelines.

Sponsorship Guidelines

  • Shareable solicits and gratefully accepts corporate sponsorships as a mutually-beneficial exchange in which Shareable receives cash from a sponsor to support its educational work and the sponsor receives acknowledgement for its sponsorship.
  • Shareable chooses which sponsorships it wishes to accept and reserves the right to reject any sponsorship offer.

  • Sponsorships may vary by sponsor.

  • Shareable does not accept advertising.

  • Shareable does not endorse—either explicitly or implicitly—any of its sponsors, nor does it endorse those sponsors’ products, services, or ideas.

  • The Shareable website includes content that is provided by its community of readers, including reader comments in response to editorial content. This content may endorse or oppose a sponsor, or its products, services, or ideas. The opinions expressed in such content are not necessarily those of Shareable, its staff, or its editors. Shareable will not give preferential treatment to reader-submitted content that mentions its sponsors, or their products, services, or ideas. Preferential treatment includes—but is not limited to—editing or removing content that a sponsor considers unfavorable or highlighting or promoting content that a sponsor considers favorable.

  • Shareable staff and contractors should not receive any substantial benefit from association with sponsors. Any substantial benefit should be brought to the attention of the Shareable Project Director or the Tides Center.

  • Shareable retains full control of its work, program, and content. Sponsors do not have authority over the operation of what they have sponsored.

  • Shareable retains the right to review and approve all communications in regard to a sponsorship. This includes—but is not limited to—announcements, articles, and press releases about the sponsorship.

Acknowledgment Guidelines

  • In return for a sponsorship, Shareable will acknowledge the sponsor on the Shareable website by:

    • Placing the sponsor’s logo in the footer of the Shareable website;
    • Placing the sponsor’s logo and a one-paragraph value-neutral description of the sponsor and its product line(s) or service(s) on the Sponsors page of the Shareable website. (Shareable will not place descriptions on the website that contain qualitative or comparative descriptions of a sponsor’s products, services, facility or company, as this would be considered a “substantial return benefit” by the IRS.); and

    • Providing a hyperlink on the Sponsors page of the Shareable website to the sponsor’s homepage, provided that product(s) and service(s) are not sold on the homepage, as IRS regulations consider this to be advertising. If at any time the sponsor changes its website and begins selling product(s) or service(s) on its homepage, the sponsor must notify Shareable immediately and provide an alternate page to link to (such as an About page) where product(s) and service(s) are not sold.

  • Shareable will place the items mentioned in the preceding three bullet points on the Shareable website upon accepting a sponsorship and will leave them in place for one year.

  • Shareable will not acknowledge its sponsors in any newsletter, including an email newsletter, as IRS regulations consider this to be advertising.

Please contact info@shareable.net if you’re company is interested in learning more about our current sponsorship opportunities. 

Created January 31, 2012, revised November 24, 2014.