/ PROOF

From media budget to verified contribution: what evidence should a brand keep?

A campaign ends. The media plan is closed, the report is filed, the team moves on. Six months later someone asks a simple question: what did your campaign actually give to the cause?

A journalist, a nonprofit's board, a consumer, a new colleague. The answer should not depend on who still remembers.

In our piece on proof we described proof as an inspectable chain: claim, action, recipient, evidence. In our piece on partnerships we asked five questions every brand–cause deal should answer. This one is practical. It is about the folder: what to keep, and in what order.

Three files, not one

Most confusion comes from mixing three different things into one sentence like "we supported X".

Keep them apart:

1. The mechanism. What was promised, to whom, on what rule.
2. The payment. What actually moved, when, and who confirmed receiving it.
3. The claim. What you can honestly say about what that money did.

Each needs its own evidence. Strong evidence in one does not cover a gap in another. A perfect bank transfer does not prove an impact. A moving impact story does not prove a transfer.

1. The contribution mechanism: what was promised

This is the rule written before the campaign starts. If the rule is vague, everything downstream is vague.

Keep:

• The written agreement between the brand and the recipient organisation, signed and dated.
• The calculation rule in one sentence: a fixed sum, a share of a defined budget, or an amount per unit. Include the base (which sales, which market, returns in or out).
• The ceiling and the floor, if there are any. If there is no cap, say so.
• The period: start date, end date.
• The recipient's identity: legal name and registration details you checked, with the date you checked them.
• What the contribution is for: a programme, a service, general operating funds. Agreed with the organisation, in its words.
• The exact wording used in the ads. The promise as the audience saw it, not as the brief described it.

The last item matters more than it looks. The audience judges you on the ad, not on the contract. If the two differ, the ad is the claim.

2. Payment evidence: what actually moved

This is where most "partnerships" quietly stop. The mechanism existed. Nobody can show it was executed.

Keep:

• The calculation statement at the end of the period: the base figure, the rule applied, the resulting amount.
• The transfer record: the bank order or equivalent, with date and amount.
• Written confirmation from the recipient that it received that amount. This is a different document from your own transfer record, and a stronger one.
• Any receipt the organisation issues, where applicable. Its tax treatment depends on the country and the organisation, so leave that to your advisers.
• A note of any gap between the promise and the payment, and why. A cap reached, a period shortened, a correction. Gaps that are written down are explainable. Gaps found by someone else are not.

If the contribution is not money (media space, staff time, products), keep the equivalent: what was given, its stated value and how that value was set, and the recipient's confirmation.

3. Supportable impact claims: what you can honestly say

This is the file most often skipped, because it feels like communication rather than evidence. It is evidence. It is the evidence for your sentences.

Keep:

• Every public sentence about the contribution: ads, packaging, social posts, press releases, reports.
• For each sentence, the document that supports it. "We donated €X to Y" points to file 2. "This funded Z" needs something from the organisation saying so.
• The recipient's own description of what the money was used for, if it has given one. Its words, with its permission to quote.
• The organisation's review of how you describe it, where it asked for one.

And a short list of what not to write without matching evidence:

• Outcome numbers ("trees planted", "meals served", "lives changed") that the recipient has not reported.
• Words like "long-term", "always" or "committed" for a single campaign.
• Anything implying that a label, a logo or a membership proves the claim on its own. It does not. Evidence does.

A useful habit: if a sentence has no document next to it, rewrite the sentence until it does, or remove it.

What it looks like when the three files line up

We published a fictional example of a proof page to show this in one place: the promise as shown in the ad, the calculation rule, the amount paid, the transfer date, the nonprofit's confirmation, the list of documents on file, and a change history. Every name and number on it is invented. The structure is the point.

You don't need that format to do the work. A shared folder with the three files above, kept up to date, already puts you ahead of most campaigns.

A note on rules

Rules on environmental and social claims made to consumers are tightening in Europe, through Directive 2024/825 and its transposition into national law, which differs from one country to another. We covered that in an earlier piece. This checklist is an editorial practice, not legal advice, and keeping these files is not by itself a guarantee of compliance. Have a specific claim reviewed by counsel.

The practical case does not depend on any regulator. Nonprofits, journalists and your own future colleagues will ask the same questions.

The checklist, in one paragraph

Before launch: agreement, rule, period, recipient, ad wording. After the period: calculation, transfer, recipient confirmation, gaps explained. Before you say anything: one document per sentence.

The question at the start of this piece then has a short answer. Open the folder.

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Where to go next

• Brands: our charter sets out the commitments behind this work. If you want to publish the three files as a proof page, start here.
• Nonprofits: you hold half the evidence. If you want brands to work with you on these terms, join as a nonprofit.
• Agencies and sales houses: the mechanism is often written in your media plan. Join as an agency.