Sponsorship Deliverables: Make-Goods and Credits Backed by Proof of Performance

Proof of performance lives in one place and the tracker in another

A sponsorship season is a long list of promises: board rotations at each event, a feature in the newsletter, a read on the podcast, a hospitality package for the sponsor's guests. Each one is delivered by a different team and proved by a different artifact, a photo, an aircheck, a send report. When something is missed or late, the sponsor is owed a make-good placement or a credit, and the policy says which.

The deliverables tracker is a sheet in Google Drive kept by a coordinator, the proof is filed in Box, the newsletter sends live in Mailchimp, and the sponsor deals and their credits sit in Attio. Sponsors reply with confirmations and objections by email. The tracker is usually close, which is what makes its errors costly: a line marked delivered with no proof behind it becomes a credit nobody issued.

Who works in the room

Nova leads the audit and is the room's default agent. For a busy event day it splits the proof files across parallel helpers and gets one verified list back. Myco owns dispositions, credits and bonus placements, so a question about any of those reaches it without a mention, and it writes to Attio through a lasting grant the sponsorship lead approved for the room. When Myco has an approved outcome, it opens a thread for Fin with the sponsor, the deliverable and the offer, and Fin drafts the note for the partnership manager.

From audit to close-out notes

The make-good policy, the credit rates and the bonus inventory for each event are in Google Drive and summarized in the room guidelines, along with one standing rule: an audit's verification status records what the proof showed at the time.

When a sponsor writes back

Sponsor replies change the record in specific ways, and only those. When finance confirms that a sponsor's overdue payment has cleared, every deliverable for that sponsor is re-checked under the full policy, because a make-good that was held may now be owed. When a sponsor confirms after the fact that a hospitality package was delivered, the confirmation is recorded on the deal, but the verification status the audit set stays as it was, since the audit found no proof at the time.

A late-rate escalation is narrower still. It changes the credit amount on each late deliverable, and Myco recomputes only that figure. The disposition, the make-good and the bonus placement do not move. Each change is posted in the thread with the old and new value, so the sponsorship lead can approve the set in one pass.

What the checks catch

• A tracker line marked delivered with no photo, aircheck or send report in Box behind it
• A newsletter feature that went out in Mailchimp without the sponsor's block
• A verification status overwritten after a sponsor's later confirmation, which belongs alongside it instead
• A cleared payment that re-checks one of a sponsor's deliverables and misses the other
• A late-rate change that alters dispositions instead of only the credit amounts

What stays with people

• Approving every verification status, disposition, credit and bonus placement before Attio is written
• Sending every note to a sponsor, which Fin prepares as a draft in Gmail
• Confirming payments and deciding objections
• Signing off the close-out notes

Integrations in this workflow

Kylon is not a sponsorship management system, and it is not built to replace one. It sits across the CRM, file store and email tools the team already works in, and gives the handoffs between them one place to happen.

• Attio
• Box
• Gmail
• Google Drive
• Mailchimp
• Slack

• Attio holds each sponsor's deal with its deliverables, credits, bonus placements and close-out notes
• Box keeps the proof of performance for every deliverable
• Mailchimp shows the send report for each sponsored newsletter issue
• Google Drive keeps the deliverables tracker, the make-good policy and the credit rates
• Gmail carries sponsor confirmations and objections, and each reply is a draft a partnership manager sends
• Slack is where the event and newsletter teams post delivery news on the day

Where to start

One event and its sponsors is enough to begin. Connect Attio and the Box folder where proof is filed. The room guidelines should open with one rule: a deliverable counts as delivered only when its proof is in Box, and the sponsorship lead approves every credit before it is written to Attio.

“If the proof is not in the folder, the deliverable is not done, however sure the tracker looks.”

Set it up with your agent

Open a new Room, add your agent and paste this prompt. It connects the tools, builds the App with you and asks for your rules one step at a time, and nothing goes out until a person approves it.