Last year's sponsors get first dibs. Automatically.
The First-Rights Engine honors returning sponsors with a private reservation window before each sponsorship goes public. It runs on a daily cron, notifies sponsors, tracks decisions, and gracefully releases unclaimed slots — so your renewal program is a feature, not a fire drill.
Configure days per sponsorship — engine transitions state on a daily cron.
When the window closes, remaining slots are released to the public automatically.
Returning sponsors log in to a private dashboard of their reserved slots with countdown timers.
Four steps. Zero awkward emails.
You set up the rules once. The engine handles the rest — assigning holders, opening windows, notifying sponsors, tracking their decisions, and handing off unclaimed slots to your public storefront when the timer runs out.
Assign first-rights holders.
Mark last year's sponsors as first-rights holders one at a time, or CSV-import a whole season. Holders can be scoped to a specific sponsorship, a tier, or the whole event.
Engine reserves the slot.
On your configured date, the sponsorship flips into a reserved state. Availability math accounts for the reservation; public shoppers see nothing. A countdown timer starts ticking against the window length.
Sponsor claims or declines.
The holder receives a notification with a direct link to their private dashboard. They can claim, decline, or ignore — all three outcomes are tracked and reportable.
Unclaimed slots auto-release.
When the window closes, the daily cron releases any unclaimed reservations to the public storefront. The sponsorship becomes purchasable immediately. No staff action required.
The details that make it work
Give your top-tier sponsors 30 days, mid-tier 14, and entry-tier 7 — or set one window for the whole event. The engine honors whatever you configure.
Initial invitation, mid-window reminder, final-day warning — all templated, all editable. Plus a notification bell on every sponsor dashboard.
Availability math always subtracts active reservations before public sell. A sponsorship with 5 slots and 2 reserved shows 3 publicly, full stop.
Every window closes with a claimed/declined/expired outcome. Your admin gets a renewal-rate number per event and per sponsorship.
What a returning sponsor sees when the window opens.
A focused dashboard with the exact slots they’re eligible to claim, how long they have to decide, and a one-click claim flow. No searching, no scrolling through a catalog of sponsorships they can’t see.
Initial invite, mid-window nudge, and final-day warning ship as email + in-app. Editable per chamber.
Sponsors claim straight from the dashboard; payment (if required) happens in the same flow.
Claim, decline, and expire outcomes populate the renewal report without manual data entry.
Renewal at scale, without the babysitting.
The hardest part of a renewal program isn’t the policy — it’s the execution. The First-Rights Engine handles the execution so your staff can focus on relationships.
Zero awkward emails.
No one has to chase returning sponsors to 'hold their spot.' The engine does it automatically with branded, templated messages.
A renewal rate you can measure.
Every expiry is a tracked data point in reports. Your board gets real numbers — not 'most people renewed, I think.'
Set and forget.
Windows run on a daily cron; you don't manage them day-to-day. Configure the rules once per season and step away.
Never oversold.
Availability math accounts for reserved slots before selling publicly — so a late-claiming sponsor never collides with a public buyer.
Renewal is a feature, not a ritual.
The calendar takes care of honoring last year's sponsors — and of moving on gracefully when they pass.
First-Rights Engine included on Growth and Premier plans.