Who can be sponsored, and who cannot.

We wrote six categories because they cover most of who we expect to hear from. We are not naive enough to think they cover everyone. A group can be disadvantaged, under-resourced and doing exactly the work this programme exists for, and still not fit a label we happened to write down.

So the six are the common cases, not the boundary. The boundary is the other two conditions: you cannot fund these tools yourself, and the work is about poverty, livelihoods or access. Meet those and you are in scope, whatever you call yourselves.

You will still get a written decision with a reason, and a decline here means the two tests were not met — not that your category was missing from a list.

One honest limitation: because this route is assessed rather than looked up, it is the one case where you cannot settle the answer from this page alone. If that is you, apply and let us do the deciding — that is our job, not yours.

Most programmes like this stop at registered nonprofits. That leaves out the market trader, the mechanic, the twelve-member farming cooperative — most of the people actually working their own way out of poverty. So the test here is need, not tax status.

Being a for-profit business does not disqualify you. Being a profitable one that could simply buy this does.

We accept applications from anywhere we can lawfully provide the service. In practice that means the platform must be legally available in your country and we must not be prohibited from supplying you under applicable sanctions and export rules.

The interface is in English today. That is a real limitation, not a preference, and it constrains who this is useful for until it changes.

If you are unsure whether your country is covered, apply. Checking is our job, not yours.

Stating these openly is fairer than letting people find out after they have filled in a form.

• Groups that could comfortably pay. Including well-funded NGOs and profitable businesses. Sponsored places are finite and every one that goes to a group that could have bought it is one taken from a group that could not.
• Fee-charging private schools where tuition fees are the main funding source. Bursary-heavy or state-subsidised cases are worth applying with an explanation.
• Political parties and campaign organisations whose primary purpose is electing candidates or partisan campaigning.
• Groups that discriminate in who they serve or employ on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
• Anyone using it to profile or surveil the people they serve. The platform is for a group’s own knowledge, not for building records on the people it works with.
• Lenders and debt collectors operating in low-income markets. We are not going to make that work more efficient.
• Where supplying you would be unlawful for us under sanctions or export control.

Being outside these categories is not a guarantee of approval. Places are finite and we will say so plainly if that is the reason.

One link, and we deliberately keep the bar low — the groups this programme is for are often the ones least able to produce paperwork.

We do not ask for financial statements, board lists, headcounts of the people you serve, or demographic data. None of it would change the decision.

If you are approved, we may ask to publish you in the directory so a sponsor can find you. That is a separate decision from being approved, and it is yours.

• You write your own description. We edit for length and clarity, never for emotional effect.
• You see the exact text before it goes up, and nothing is published without your written agreement.
• You can be removed at any time, for any reason or none, with no effect on access you already have.
• Declining to be listed does not disqualify you. Places funded by the 3% profit commitment do not require a listing at all.
• No photographs, no named individuals, and nothing about the people you serve.

Access runs for twelve months and renews on a short confirmation that nothing has changed. There is no limit on renewals and no point at which we convert you to a paid plan without asking.

Access would end if:

• Your group stops meeting the criteria on this page — for example, it grows to the point where it could comfortably buy the tools.
• The workspace is used to profile or surveil the people you serve.
• The information in your application turns out to be materially untrue.

In every case we would write first, explain, and give you at least 30 days to export your data. We would not lock a workspace without warning. If a sponsor withdraws mid-term, that is our problem to solve, not yours — your twelve months stand.