Underwriting Policy

The membership program at DOM is designed to ensure that everyone in our community can access the communications technology resources they need to participate in our local media communications. Equipment is made available through subsidies from Comcast and the City of Denver, and free use of that equipment is restricted for noncommercial projects. DOM is responsible for ensuring that those subsidies do not constitute unfair competition against commercial equipment rental operations in Denver, and that we are only providing free equipment access to projects that could not otherwise be completed.

In general, when a project has underwriting support, it has sufficient funding to rent equipment from a commercial rental house, or at DOM's commercial rental rates. For that reason, we expect producers who intend to recognize underwriting support for their show to rent their equipment from us.

However, when underwriting revenues are insufficient to cover the associated rental costs, DOM has created a method by which members can gain financial support for their show while still accessing equipment for free under their DOM membership. In this scenario, all funds donated in exchange for underwriting recognition must be donated directly to DOM or the Open Media Foundation, not to the show producer. The minimum underwriting amount is $75 and the maximum is $5000. Any underwriting support received is then credited against the producer's account to cover membership, training, or equipment rental costs.

Program Credits for Contribution of Goods and Services - Individual credits for such contributions are limited to fifteen seconds. Total credits for all contributions are limited to sixty seconds.
Credits may include an acknowledgment of the contribution made. Credits may not contain any advertising information. The following guidelines apply to all credits for contributors:
- Credit must appear at either the beginning or end of the program;
- Credit may be aural, visual or both;
- Credit may include a logo;
- Credit may include a name, address, and phone number;
- Credit may include a phrase describing the business of the contributor and the nature of the contribution;
- Credit may not contain any qualitative or promotional information