Vendor Sponsorship Model
Principle: sponsor the surface, not the score. Vendors may support the Foundation's public surface area (labs, events, education, integration work, evidence tooling) but may never buy ranking position, hide gaps, or alter weighting logic. This protects AiGovOps neutrality as a trusted convener.
Sponsor tiers
| Tier | What it funds | What it never buys |
|---|---|---|
| Community | Docs, education pages, meetups | Ranking, score, gap suppression |
| Lab | Reference integrations, test harnesses | Placement above non-sponsors |
| Event | Conferences, workshops, hackathons | Editorial control of findings |
| Evidence | Signing/verification tooling work | Changes to weighting or status logic |
Neutrality controls
- Sponsorship disclosure is published on every vendor profile.
- Status (Ready/Integrate/Gap) is evidence-derived and independent of sponsorship.
- Weighting logic is open-source and versioned; changes require public PR review.
- Gaps are never removed for sponsors; a sponsor may fund work to close a gap, tracked openly.
- Vendors may support their individual profile page but cannot edit competitor entries.