Giveback Policy

The promise

• Every month, we allocate exactly 50% of that month's qualifying revenue to the Community Fund.
• Money in the fund is spent only on prizes and the cost of getting them to winners.
• Money the fund doesn't spend carries forward to future prizes. It never comes back to us.
• Every dollar in and out is posted on the public ledger.

Qualifying revenue

Qualifying revenue is money Poké Life actually receives from these three sources, after the network's or partner's share and before any of our own expenses:

• Display ads: what an ad network pays us for ads shown on the site.
• Affiliate commissions: what retailers and marketplaces such as TCGplayer pay us when someone buys through our links.
• Sponsorships: cash a company pays us to sponsor the site, a page, or a feature.

Refunds, reversed commissions, and chargebacks reduce qualifying revenue in the month they happen. Revenue from anything else isn't qualifying revenue. If we add a new kind of revenue, we'll say on this page whether it counts before we start earning it.

When it starts

Allocation starts on the first day of the first giveaway entry period. Revenue earned before then, while the site is in preview, isn't allocated. The launch prizes are a gift from us, recorded on the ledger as a publisher contribution.

Monthly allocation

Ad networks and affiliate programs usually pay 30 to 60 days after the month ends, and their final numbers can differ from early reports. So each month works in two steps:

1. Estimate. When the month closes, we allocate 50% of the revenue our partners' dashboards report for it.
2. True-up. When the money arrives, we post a correction for the difference, up or down.

Both lines appear on the ledger, so you can see how close the estimate was.

What the fund pays for

The fund pays the full cost of each prize:

• The prize itself
• Sales tax on the prize
• Shipping, packaging, and shipping insurance to the winner

Everything else it takes to run the site comes from our half, including staff time, software, hosting, data licenses, and payment or banking fees. Prizes are retail sealed product, bought new, and shipped straight from the retailer to the winner when we can. The receipt is the ledger record.

Carry-forward

Milestones don't line up neatly with revenue, so in a given month the fund may spend less or more than that month's allocation. Whatever isn't spent stays in the fund for later prizes. The fund balance is never returned to us, used for site costs, or lent out.

Quarterly check

At the end of each calendar quarter, we compare everything allocated to the fund with everything it has spent. If the unspent balance is larger than the cost of one average prize from the last 12 months (or of the next posted prize, if we haven't awarded any yet), we add prizes or step up their size the next month until it isn't. The quarterly reconciliation is published with that month's statement.

Our contributions and advances

Prizes never wait on the fund. A milestone is never skipped: if one completes before the fund can cover its prize, we pay the difference ourselves. That money is recorded one of two ways:

• Publisher contribution: a gift to the fund that is never paid back. The launch prizes are publisher contributions.
• Advance: money we front when milestones arrive before revenue does. An advance may be paid back from later allocations. Every advance and every repayment is its own ledger line.

Sponsor prizes

A company may donate a prize directly. Sponsor prizes are labeled with the sponsor's name, listed on the ledger for the record, and kept outside the fund: they don't count toward the 50% and don't reduce it.

Reporting

• A monthly statement is posted on the ledger by the end of the following month: revenue by source, the allocation, spending by category, prizes awarded, and the balance carried forward.
• True-ups are added to the month they belong to as payments arrive.
• The ledger is append-only. Mistakes are fixed with a new correcting line, never by editing or deleting old ones.
• Every prize links to its drawing on the winners page.

If the giveaway pauses or ends

We'll post notice on the site first, as the Official Rules require. Revenue earned through the last day of the final entry period is still allocated, including true-ups that arrive later. Whatever remains in the fund is awarded as prizes, in drawings run under the Official Rules, within six months of the final entry period. It is never kept by us.

Not a charity

The Community Fund isn't a charity, a nonprofit, or a separate legal entity, and nothing here is a donation. It's a public promise about how Poké Life splits its own revenue, kept in a separately tracked balance. Buying through our links isn't a donation and isn't tax-deductible, and it doesn't give you entries or better odds in the giveaway.

Changes to this policy

We'll post any change on this page at least 30 days before it takes effect, and it only applies to revenue earned after that date. A change will never reduce what's already in the fund or what was promised for revenue already earned. Questions go to contact@poke-life.com.