HOW TO BECOME A PRIZE SPONSOR & FUND THE COMPETITION:

We are accepting Sponsors who may apply to fund the Prize purse for a particular SDG (out of 17) or fund the overall (all SDGs) initiative.  If you have an affinity and passion for one or all of the United Nations SDGs, please let us know:

• Company/individual may apply (to apply please email Sponsor@SDGmetaversePrize.org ) to contribute funds to the prize competition (non-profit donation) as an official sponsor

• Sponsors may apply/commit anytime: Pre-Announcement in Feb (“Original Sponsor”) or post-launch (March 2022 to March 2023).

• Sponsor Selection Criteria (one or both of the two):

  • Has the organization or individual had an historical affinity to – and support for – one or more SDGs.  Has one of more SDGs been demonstrated as part of their core values.

  • Does the organization or individual play a significant infrastructure role in the development of the Metaverse (e.g., hardware, software, bandwidth, network, standards, etc.)

• Two Options for Each Qualified Prize Sponsor (each Sponsor may choose one or both):

  • Top Performing "Best Experience of Show" Team:  A sponsor may contribute to the cumulative cash prize purse for the team that is awarded the overall "#1 Best Experience of Show" across all 17 SDGs.  As described above, this is split between the two age-group category top ranked teams (14-18 and 19+).

  • SDG-Level Sponsorship - A sponsor may identify a particular SDG that they have an affinity to, and be recognized as a sponsor of that particular SDG.  Their cash funding - whatever denomination - will then be split evenly across all 17 SDGs, for each of the two age-group categories.  As described above, each SDG will be a competition within the broader competition, whereby a top finalist team will be identified from all of the teams competing within a particular SDG (Evaluation and Judging process described above).  In addition, some portion of their funding will be used to purchase VR headsets for those teams that apply within the Sponsor's selected SDG and quality for economic support.  For example, if a Sponsor who has an affinity to SDG #4 commits $40,000; $1,000 will be allocated to each of the 17 SDGs in age category 14-18, $1,000 will be allocated to each of the 17 SDGs in age category 19+, thus in total $34,000 will have been committed (17 x $1,000 + 17 x $1,000).  The remaining $6,000 (of the original $40,000) will be used to fund headsets for those teams specifically applied to compete on SDG #4 who apply and qualify for economic aid.  In addition, there is a 15% operations charge of the total $40,000 ($6,000) that is added to the Sponsor's commitment that is applied, that covers travel costs, operations cost, and related expenses. 

• Prize Sponsor Funding Allocation/Utilization:

  • The vast majority of a sponsors' funding will be allocated as prize awards (cash) for competing teams (as described above).  However, there is a portion of the sponsor funding that will be used to cover the following additional costs and objectives:

    • A pool of funding will be collected and reserved for competing teams to apply for economic assistance in affording a VR Headset.  This will be very selective based on an application process, and only awarded to schools that are able to demonstrate they do not have the resources or local sponsor support to afford a VR headset, and that is a barrier limiting their ability to participate in the competition.  The approval of applications will be based on a first-come-fist-serve basis, and only if funds are available.

    • Potential travel costs for competing teams in the finals - As described previously, the 34 teams that are selected in Round 2 as the top finalist across the 17 SDGs in the two age-categories may be asked to come to the final awards ceremony in-person in order to demonstrate their experiences and also be present for the ceremony.  If it is determined that this process will be done in-person (vs. 100% virtually), and thus travel is required (airfare, hotel, food, etc.) to the UN ITU WSIS summit in May 2023 in Geneva Switzerland, an expense budget will be covered by using a portion of the Sponsor funding donations.  Part of this determination will be based on the total prize accrual that is committed from all collective sponsors.  There may be a scenario where the top finalist teams do not attend the award ceremony in person, but rather virtually, as a result of limited funding and/or other logistics concerns.

    • And finally, there are operational expenses for Exponential Destiny in which a portion of sponsor funding (estimated at 15% of total Sponsor contribution) will need to be allocated. Specifically;

• • 1. • Operating team travel costs for the Exponential Destiny team members who are administering and operating the competition.  This specifically includes less than 10 individuals traveling for the February 28th summit (Geneva, Switzerland) announcement and the subsequent outreach events, as well as the final ITU WSIS summit in May of 2023.

       • Prize Platform Fees - There is a cost incurred by Exponential Destiny charged by the prize competition platform being used (tentative) to administer the prize, as well as other services they charge for running the competition on their platform.

       • Lastly, there is a portion of funding that will be used to compensate the Exponential Destiny team resources that contribute to the operations of the prize.  The only individuals from Exponential Destiny that will be compensated are those young leaders and mentors on the team who come from low-income and under-resourced communities, as this compensation is part of their job responsibility after being re/upskilled.  In the spirit of full transparency; ALL of these personnel/resource payments - of fair market value - and any other allocations of Sponsor funding contributions will be outlined and itemized in detail at the conclusion of the competition for each Sponsor.  Note: Marcus Shingles - the Exponential Destiny co-founder and CEO is contributing his time 100% pro-bono for this particular initiative and will not receive any personal compensation for his time and effort, nor will any other UN-ITU or other resource not mentioned.  The first priority and objective is to funnel as much prize (cash) from sponsors directly to the competing teams as competition award, while covering out-of-pocket basic, reasonable, and required expenses of the Exponential Destiny team, and fair and reasonable compensation for the young leaders of Exponential Destiny for their time.

• Prize Sponsor Funding Amounts: It is the discretion of each qualified organization or individual who is accepted as an official prize sponsor to determine their funding contribution/ donation amount.  General guidelines to consider is a monetary amount that provides the right incentive and award for individuals to form teams and participate in the competition.  (suggested and recommended amount will be provide upon application).

• Sponsor Funding Timing - A commitment will be made for the agreed upon sponsor funding amount, however the vast majority (roughly 80%) of the actual payment of the committed funding will be requested from the Sponsor only at the time in which it is needed for its purpose.  For example, the prize purses funding (majority of funding) is not needed until May 2023 until the final awards ceremony.

• For a detailed list of Sponsor Benefits and discuss being a Sponsor, please email Sponsor@SDGmetaversePrize.org