Nothing has moved yet
No partners are named yet, because naming an org before money has moved uses their credibility to launder ours. The list goes up when the first transfer clears.
This page is the working detail behind 20% of Vers Capital, the share that leaves the platform entirely. It is the smallest share on purpose: housing, healthcare access, legal aid and mutual aid are problems people are thirty years into solving, and a marketplace is not going to out-organise them.
What this share buys
- Direct contributions to trans-led orgs and mutual aid.
- Sponsorship of programming we are not running ourselves.
- Co-funded drops where the house margin goes out with it.
Who we look for
Chosen for proximity rather than profile. In practice that is four things, and the first one outranks the rest:
| What we look at | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Proximity | Close enough to the people this platform is named after to be accountable to them. Led by them wherever possible. |
| Direct service | The money reaches a person, not a communications budget. Housing, healthcare access, legal aid, mutual aid. |
| Size | Small enough that our contribution is material. A five-figure gift to a national org is a rounding error to them and a headline for us, which is the wrong way round. |
| No strings we benefit from | We are not buying a logo, a co-brand, a mailing list or a quote. |
Proposing a partnership
Write to zo@studiozonyc.com with who you are, who you serve, and what an amount at our scale would actually change. That last part is the one that matters and it is the one most proposals skip.
We would rather hear “this covers four months of one caseworker” than read a strategy deck. If a contribution at our size would not change anything for you, say so and we will both save the time.
What we will not do
- Name you before we have paid you. That is the whole reason this page has no list on it.
- Ask for anything back. No logo placement, no co-brand, no endorsement, no list access.
- Announce a gift as a campaign. If a contribution needs a launch to be worth making, it was marketing.
- Route money for anyone. We are not a fiscal sponsor and cannot hold funds on your behalf.
- Fund political campaigns or candidates. Out of scope for this account.
When the list goes up
When the first transfer clears. Not when a conversation starts, not when an intention is agreed. The list on this page will be organisations that have been paid, with nothing on it that is merely planned, so that the page stays a record rather than a promise.