Support Us

Support is optional

USASI is free to read, search, compare, and download. Every page, the comparison workspace, and the full catalog data export are available to everyone, with no account and no payment. Tipping will never be required to use any part of the catalog, and there is no paid tier or premium access.

Tips never affect the catalog

Editorial treatment is independent of payment. A tip — from anyone, including a listed organization or its staff — has no effect on whether an entry is listed, how it is described, which entries are selected for the homepage, or how any artifact is assessed under the openness rubric. The catalog does not publish donor names, totals, goals, or "recent supporter" notices.

How tipping works

When a tip link is available, it leads to a page on an external tip or payment provider chosen by the project owner. Payment takes place entirely on that provider's website. This site does not collect card details, process payments, store any information about people who tip, or load any payment scripts. Nothing is sent to a payment provider when you view a USASI page; the provider is contacted only if you choose to follow the link.

The provider's own terms and privacy policy govern the payment. USASI cannot promise refunds, anonymity, or particular payment terms, because those are controlled by the provider. Check the provider's page before you pay. Tips are not set up as recurring payments by this site.

Sponsorship policy

USASI may accept sponsorships of its weekly email and one independent homepage advertisement to help cover upkeep. The catalog stays free, with no paid tier or premium access. Tips remain separate from advertising. These rules apply to every sponsorship:

• Clearly labeled. Email sponsorships carry the label "Sponsored". The homepage panel says "Advertisement · Paid sponsor", names the sponsor, and is visually separate from editorial content.
• One website placement. The optional homepage panel sits below the two directory previews and before the news section. It contains a modest locally served logo, a factual sentence, and one paid link. It is entirely hidden when no actual sponsor is configured, with no placeholder or reserved space. There are no advertisements in search results, directories, catalog cards, Compare, or editorial articles, and no sponsored listings, badges, rankings, or news items.
• No influence. Payment never affects inclusion, descriptions, assessments, openness tiers, homepage editorial selections, or news coverage. Sponsors may approve only their own advertisement; they do not see or approve editorial content in advance. USASI retains the right to reject or remove an advertisement.
• Disclosure. In the weekly email, when a sponsor is an organization listed in the catalog or maintains a listed artifact, the issue says so next to any editorial mention of it. Paid support is not a catalog endorsement.
• No tracking or reader-data sharing. USASI does not share reader data with sponsors. The homepage panel uses no third-party scripts, embeds, pixels, or tracking links. Its image is served locally; its outbound link is marked rel="sponsored noopener noreferrer". A sponsor receives no request merely because a reader views a USASI page. Following the link opens the sponsor's site under its own privacy practices.

Sponsorship inquiries: usasihq@gmail.com. A separate paid product, such as research reports, would require this page and the USASI Compact to be revised first.

What tips are for

Tips are a way to say the catalog is useful and to help with its upkeep. USASI does not claim charitable or nonprofit status, and tips are not presented as tax-deductible donations.

Other ways to help

Reporting an error, suggesting a well-sourced entry, or improving the documentation helps just as much. See how to contribute, or write to usasihq@gmail.com.