Sponsorship integrity policy

Sponsorship buys a clearly labelled position in an issue. It does not buy influence over anything else we publish, and there is no arrangement under which it could.

Water-quality data, contaminant analysis, filter rankings, testing recommendations and certification findings are produced from federal and state datasets, utilities' own reports and the certification bodies' own listings. None of those inputs is a commercial relationship, and none of them changes because a company becomes a sponsor.

Sponsors see their own placement before it runs. They do not see, review or approve the editorial content of the issue it sits in.

While a campaign is running we continue to cover, test, compare and recommend competing products and companies exactly as we would otherwise. A sponsor's competitor can appear in the same issue as the sponsor's placement, including in a recommendation.

We will not agree to withhold, delay or soften coverage of a competitor as a condition of a sponsorship, and a request to do so ends the conversation rather than changing the price.

There is one paid position per issue and it is never shared, so a sponsor is the only commercial partner in every issue they book.

Commercial exclusivity applies only to the paid sponsor position in an issue: it never extends to editorial coverage, rankings, testing results or recommendations, and it can never be used to keep a competitor out of anything we publish.

Exclusivity also does not extend beyond the issues booked: it is not a category lock-out, and a competitor may buy the following issue.

Sponsors never receive subscriber lists, subscriber identities, email addresses, individual behaviour, or any data that could be used to identify or re-target a reader. There is no arrangement — paid, reciprocal or otherwise — under which subscriber data leaves our systems.

Campaign reporting is aggregate performance only: how many issues ran, how many were delivered, and how many clicks the placement's tracked link received. Figures are reported as measured, with the definition used stated alongside them, and no audience size or engagement level is guaranteed in advance.

Every paid placement is labelled in words, in the body of the issue, above the sponsor's copy. The label reads "SUPPORTED BY [BRAND] · PAID PARTNERSHIP"; a placement described in running text is introduced as "Supported by [Brand]" or "Sponsor: [Brand]".

The label is never carried by styling alone. A tint, a border, a logo or a different typeface may accompany the words, but none of them substitutes for them: a reader who sees no colours, loads no images, or is using a screen reader still reads that the block is paid.

Sponsor links are our own tracked redirect to the sponsor's own domain. They are never affiliate links, and a placement never earns us a commission on top of its fee — the fee is the whole of what we are paid for it.

We turn down sponsorships, and we would rather run an issue with no paid placement than run one we would have to defend. These are the reasons we record when we decline:

The newsletter is written and sent by hand, so a week will eventually be missed. What a sponsor is owed when that happens is settled before they pay, not negotiated afterwards.

A make-good is owed only where a material technical or send error on our side prevents a booked placement from being delivered. If an issue carrying a booked placement is not sent within 10 days of its scheduled send date, or the placement is omitted or materially misrendered, that placement runs again in the next issue at no charge. If no replacement issue is sent within 30 days of the original date, the per-issue portion of the fee for that placement is refunded. A make-good is not owed because a campaign produced few sales, because the sponsor's landing page converted poorly, or because the sponsor's offer did not land. Delivery, open and click figures are reported as measured; no audience size or engagement level is guaranteed.

The same rule, alongside the payment terms, is in the sponsorship terms document that accompanies every proposal.