How to Become a Sponsor
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The Foundation wants to make it easy for individuals and companies to contribute to the Firebird development effort through sponsorship and donations. This How-to should assist such people to decide what sponsorship model best suits them. If there are any concerns overlooked here, we encourage you to contact us for the exact information you are missing.
Sponsor vs Donor
We are sometimes asked what is the difference between a sponsor and a donor. Well, the boundaries are a little fuzzy and, generally, it is not an issue that needs to be made very distinct. All contributed funds, as well as foundation subscriptions, go into a single pool. All funded projects are thus sponsored by the foundation through sponsorship and membership.
In practice, from the point of view of allocating funds, we consider a sponsor of the foundation's activities as one who undertakes to provide a fixed amount at agreed intervals for an agreed period of time, while a donor makes a one-time contribution. A one-time donation that is sufficiently large to enable us to commit to completing a special project or to enhance an existing project in a way we could not have done otherwise is certainly sponsorship.
Sponsors and donors are entitled - and encouraged - to advertise their involvement in Firebird's development by displaying a sponsor, donor or member logo on their company or personal websites. You may download the appropriate logo by clicking on the Member/Sponsor Logos link at the left of this page.
Sponsors and donors appear on the listing of sponsors. You will be asked for a small company logo and a short paragraph of text about your company and, if you wish, about your involvement with Firebird.
Sponsorship Models
We have a "banding" scheme to help intending sponsors to choose a level of contribution that works for them:
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More than $1000 per month or one-time donations of $12,000 or more.
From the 2007-2008 year forward, paid-up Platinum sponsors have the option of taking a full discount of Corporate membership fees for the duration of their sponsorship.
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$500 to $1000 per month or one-time donations of $6000 - $11,999.
From the 2007-2008 year forward, paid-up Gold sponsors have the option of taking a full discount of Corporate membership fees for the duration of their sponsorship.
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$175 to $499 per month or one-time donations between $2000 and $5999
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One-time donations or ongoing commitments from around $900 to $1999, which might be in regular instalments averaging around $75-$174 per month
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A committed proportion of each product sale is donated
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Getting Money to Us
Sponsorships, donations and other funds are nominally always in US dollars. However, the Foundation has facilities around the world to accept USD-equivalent electronic transfers also in Euros, Sterling pounds and Australian dollars. Cheques in other currencies can also be handled through our Australian accounts, as long as the cheques bear exact details of the country, banking institution, account and (where applicable) any internal codes required in the locality where the cheque is drawn, in printed form (machine-readable or human-readable).
It is usual for platinum and gold sponsors to be invoiced at regular intervals through the year in instalments. To save on foreign exchange losses and transfer costs, we can do the paper work and arrange for sponsors at these levels to accrue your funds and hold them in trust for the Foundation. When we need to make a payment to a grantee, or to settle some other account, in or near your locality or in your currency, we will send you a withdrawal request with instructions for sending the payment directly to its final destination.
Since these kinds of arrangements could place an unacceptable burden on you or your staff, we are just as happy for you to respond to invoices by making cash payments directly to one of the Foundation's accounts or to send us cheques.
- For more information about platinum and gold sponsorship arrangements, or to request details of our bank accounts for international funds transfers, please contact us.
- To do credit card transactions online in US dollars or Sterling pounds, please go to the Contributions page.
- For sending cheques by mail, please use the Foundation's official address, as published here.
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