Terms & Conditions

Last updated: 19 August 2026

1. What SponsorNI does

SponsorNI is a marketplace that helps sponsors and sponsor seekers discover each other, communicate, agree sponsorship terms, make payments and manage sponsorship activity. Sponsor seekers may include clubs, teams, athletes, creators, events, charities, schools, community organisations and other eligible users. Sponsors may include businesses, organisations and individuals acting for a legitimate sponsorship purpose.

The underlying sponsorship arrangement and its deliverables are agreed between the sponsor and the sponsor seeker. SponsorNI provides the marketplace, communications and payment infrastructure but does not itself provide the underlying sponsorship rights, exposure, appearances, content, hospitality, advertising or other deliverables promised by a user.

Unless we expressly state otherwise, SponsorNI does not guarantee that a listing will attract a sponsor, that a sponsor will proceed with a deal, or that either party will achieve a particular commercial result.

2. Eligibility and authority

You must be at least 18 years old to operate an account or enter into a financial transaction through SponsorNI. If the person who is the subject of a sponsorship is under 18, their account and sponsorship activity must be managed by a parent, legal guardian or an appropriately authorised adult or organisation.

If you use SponsorNI for a company, club, team, charity, school, event or other organisation, you confirm that you have authority to act for and bind that organisation where applicable.

3. Accounts and profiles

You must provide accurate, current and complete information, keep your login details secure and promptly update information that changes. You are responsible for activity carried out through your account unless the activity results from a security failure for which SponsorNI is legally responsible.

Profile names may be a personal name, organisation, club, team, event or other name under which the sponsorship is presented. You must not impersonate another person or organisation, misrepresent your authority, or create a profile that is misleading.

We may request information or evidence reasonably needed to verify an account, investigate a report, comply with law or protect users and payments.

4. Opportunities and auto-publication

Sponsorship opportunities submitted through SponsorNI are normally published automatically when submitted. Auto-publication is not an endorsement, approval or verification by SponsorNI. You remain responsible for the accuracy, legality and completeness of every listing.

A sponsor seeker must clearly describe what is being offered, what funding or support is sought, relevant deadlines, audience information and any material conditions or deliverables. Figures such as attendance, reach, followers or audience demographics must not be fabricated or presented misleadingly.

We may edit, suspend, unpublish or remove an opportunity where we reasonably believe it is inaccurate, unlawful, misleading, unsafe, fraudulent, inappropriate for SponsorNI, subject to a credible report, or otherwise contrary to these terms.

5. Applications, negotiation and formation of a deal

Sponsors may apply to an opportunity with an amount, proposal or package selection. The parties may ask questions, make counter-offers and exchange files through SponsorNI. A counter-offer may be higher or lower than the amount originally advertised where both parties choose to agree it.

After an application or counter-offer is accepted, SponsorNI requires the parties to complete the sponsorship contract workflow before payment is made. The sponsor records the proposed deliverables and additional agreement points, and the sponsor seeker may accept or counter each item individually. Payment remains locked until every required deliverable, agreement point and the final sponsorship amount are agreed through SponsorNI.

Once all required items are accepted and both parties have confirmed their legal or contracting identity details, SponsorNI creates and privately stores a versioned final PDF contract. That contract records the agreed sponsorship amount, SponsorNI commission calculation, exact net amount due to the sponsor seeker, finalisation date and time, fulfilment deadline, Sponsor review period, agreed deliverables, additional terms, supporting-file hashes and the SponsorNI Terms version in force. Final versions are locked. If the parties later agree a legitimate change before release, SponsorNI creates a new contract version and permanently retains the superseded version.

6. Payments and SponsorNI commission

Creating an account, browsing opportunities and publishing a standard opportunity are free unless SponsorNI clearly states otherwise. The sponsor normally pays the sponsorship amount agreed through the platform. SponsorNI’s commission is deducted from the gross sponsorship amount payable to the sponsor seeker.

If SponsorNI introduces an additional fixed fee or other charge, it will be shown before it applies to a new transaction. The exact commission rate, any fixed fee, total SponsorNI fee and expected net Sponsor Seeker amount are snapshotted when the final sponsorship contract is generated. We may change fees prospectively for future contracts, but a later settings change will not alter the SponsorNI fee calculation already recorded for a final contract.

Payments are processed using Stripe. SponsorNI does not receive or store full card numbers. SponsorNI absorbs the Stripe payment-processing cost charged to the platform for the sponsorship transaction. Those processing costs are not deducted from the Sponsor Seeker’s contracted net amount. The final contract therefore shows the gross sponsorship, SponsorNI commission in both percentage and pounds, and the exact amount SponsorNI is due to transfer to the Sponsor Seeker.

Where a sponsorship relationship was introduced through SponsorNI, the parties must not use SponsorNI messages, exchanged contact details or another payment method to move that sponsorship off-platform in order to avoid the SponsorNI commission. SponsorNI administrators may review private sponsorship messages and attachments where reasonably necessary for support, fraud prevention, dispute handling, platform compliance or investigation of suspected fee circumvention. Administrative access is restricted to authorised SponsorNI personnel.

7. Stripe Connect and sponsor seeker payout accounts

Sponsor seekers who receive money through SponsorNI must complete Stripe Connect onboarding and maintain a payout account that is eligible to receive transfers. SponsorNI may block Sponsor payment until the Sponsor Seeker’s payout account is ready, preventing a secured payment from being taken for a party that cannot receive the contracted payout. Stripe may require identity, business, tax, bank-account or other compliance information.

By setting up payouts through SponsorNI, a sponsor seeker authorises SponsorNI to use Stripe Connect for the purposes of creating or linking the connected account, generating onboarding and account-management links, checking onboarding and payout status, sharing necessary account and transaction information with Stripe, initiating transfers of eligible SponsorNI funds, and taking reasonable payment-related actions required to process refunds, reversals, disputes or compliance issues.

Your use of a Stripe connected account is also subject to Stripe’s applicable terms, including the Stripe Connected Account Agreement. You must provide Stripe with accurate information and comply with Stripe’s requirements.

8. Secured payment, fulfilment and release

When Stripe confirms a successful Sponsor payment, SponsorNI records the payment as Payment secured — funds held. This means the payment has been received through SponsorNI’s Stripe marketplace payment flow but the Sponsor Seeker has not yet been paid. SponsorNI does not describe this arrangement as legal escrow.

The Sponsor Seeker must then complete the deliverables in the final contract and submit evidence against the relevant deliverables. The Sponsor receives the agreed review period shown in the contract to approve fulfilment, request specific changes or open a formal dispute. A missed review deadline does not automatically release money; the case is escalated so funds cannot be held indefinitely without oversight.

When the Sponsor confirms every contracted deliverable and confirms review of the final PDF, SponsorNI releases the exact contracted net amount to the Sponsor Seeker’s connected Stripe account and retains the snapshotted SponsorNI commission. Stripe then controls the timing of the onward bank payout.

We may continue to withhold release where there is a payment failure, chargeback, fraud concern, sanctions or compliance issue, incomplete Stripe onboarding, open dispute, suspected breach of these terms, court or regulatory requirement, or another reasonable basis to protect users or the platform.

9. Refunds, cancellations, disputes and chargebacks

Refunds and cancellations are assessed according to the stage of the sponsorship, the final contract, evidence, the parties’ statements and applicable law. Before payment, a deal may normally be cancelled through the available platform workflow. After payment has been secured, a cancellation or material disagreement may require SponsorNI held-funds review rather than a unilateral release or refund.

While funds remain held, a Sponsor may request changes against specific deliverables or open a formal dispute. An open dispute freezes the money and the relevant contract/evidence record. SponsorNI administrators may request further evidence and, after reviewing the case, record a full release, full refund, or a partial release with the remainder refunded where that outcome is appropriate and lawful.

If funds have already been transferred, SponsorNI may seek a transfer reversal or require the Sponsor Seeker to repay amounts where reasonably necessary to process a valid refund, chargeback or legal obligation. Users agree to cooperate with reasonable requests for evidence.

Stripe or a card issuer may still open a payment dispute or chargeback. SponsorNI may retain and use the final contract, acceptance records, fulfilment evidence, messages, timestamps, hashes and Stripe identifiers to respond. Chargebacks should not be used as a substitute for the SponsorNI dispute process where the issue can reasonably be addressed through the platform. Nothing in these terms limits any statutory right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded.

10. Sponsorship deliverables and fulfilment

The Sponsor Seeker is responsible for delivering the sponsorship benefits recorded in the final SponsorNI contract by the agreed deadline. Evidence is submitted against specific deliverables while the Sponsor’s payment remains secured and unreleased. Each deliverable may be recorded as not submitted, evidence submitted, changes requested or accepted.

The Sponsor must review fulfilment reasonably and in good faith. If more work or evidence is needed, the Sponsor should identify the affected deliverable and explain what is missing. If the parties cannot resolve the issue, either the platform workflow or SponsorNI administrators may use the final contract, archived contract versions, supporting files, messages, audit trail, payment records and evidence when handling the dispute.

SponsorNI’s payment decision within the platform does not make SponsorNI a court or arbitration service and does not replace either party’s legal rights.

11. User content, files and intellectual property

You retain ownership of content you upload, subject to rights you have agreed with another user. You grant SponsorNI a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, reproduce, resize, display and distribute that content only as reasonably necessary to operate, secure and promote SponsorNI and the relevant public opportunity or profile.

You must have permission to upload logos, photographs, videos, sponsorship decks, documents and other materials. Private messages and private deal files are intended only for the authorised participants and authorised SponsorNI administrators where access is reasonably required for support, security, moderation, payment protection, a dispute or investigation of suspected platform-fee circumvention.

Completed partnerships may be identified in SponsorNI success-story or marketplace activity features using information that was already public on the relevant profiles or opportunity. We will seek appropriate permission before using additional private quotes, private files or new promotional material supplied specifically for a case study.

12. Reports and moderation

Users can report opportunities and public profiles. Reports must be made honestly and must not be used to harass a user or interfere with a legitimate listing. SponsorNI may review reported content, contact the parties, request evidence and take action including no action, warning, editing, unpublishing, suspension or account removal.

We may preserve information connected with a report where reasonably necessary for safety, fraud prevention, legal claims or regulatory obligations.

13. Prohibited use

You must not use SponsorNI to:

• publish false, deceptive, defamatory, infringing or unlawful content;
• commit fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion or other financial crime;
• misrepresent sponsorship inventory, audience figures, authority or affiliation;
• circumvent SponsorNI payment flows for a deal that was agreed through SponsorNI in order to avoid platform fees;
• harass users, send spam, scrape personal data or use automated tools in a way that harms the service;
• upload malware or attempt to interfere with the security or operation of SponsorNI;
• use the service for an activity prohibited by Stripe or applicable law.

14. Taxes and legal responsibilities

Users are responsible for their own tax, accounting, advertising, sponsorship, safeguarding, licensing and regulatory obligations arising from the sponsorship they enter into. Sponsor seekers are responsible for determining how sponsorship receipts should be treated for tax and accounting purposes.

SponsorNI may retain transaction records, provide payment information or make disclosures where reasonably required by law, Stripe, a payment provider, tax authority, regulator or court.

15. Availability and changes to the service

We aim to keep SponsorNI available and secure, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability. We may change, suspend or discontinue features where reasonably necessary for maintenance, security, legal compliance, fraud prevention or development of the service.

16. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or liability that cannot be excluded under applicable consumer law.

Subject to that, SponsorNI is not responsible for indirect or consequential loss, loss of expected sponsorship exposure, loss of opportunity, or loss arising from another user’s failure to perform the underlying sponsorship arrangement where SponsorNI has exercised reasonable care in providing the marketplace.

Where you use SponsorNI wholly or mainly for business purposes, our aggregate liability arising out of a particular paid sponsorship transaction will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be limited to the greater of the SponsorNI commission actually received on that transaction or £100. This limitation does not apply where the law prevents it.

17. Suspension and termination

You may stop using SponsorNI at any time, subject to completing outstanding payment, dispute or contractual obligations. We may restrict or suspend an account where reasonably necessary to investigate fraud, protect users, comply with Stripe or legal requirements, deal with a serious report, or enforce these terms.

Closing an account does not automatically delete records we must keep for transactions, legal claims, fraud prevention, tax or regulatory reasons.

18. Privacy and cookies

Our Privacy Policy explains how we use personal information. Our Cookie Policy explains our use of cookies and similar technologies. Both form part of the information we provide about use of SponsorNI.

19. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as SponsorNI develops or where law, Stripe requirements or our payment model changes. The current version will always be published on this page with its last-updated date. For a material change affecting an existing paid deal, we will apply the terms that were in force when that deal was agreed unless the law requires otherwise or the parties agree to the change.

20. Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the laws of Northern Ireland. Subject to any mandatory rights available to a consumer in another part of the UK or elsewhere, the courts of Northern Ireland will have jurisdiction over disputes relating to these terms.

If you have a complaint or question, contact info@sponsorni.co.uk or use the contact form on SponsorNI. We will try to resolve marketplace issues fairly and promptly.