I owe an apology to Kim Skildum Reid. Recently I passed along a great article she had written. It was a terrific article and I credited her for it. But that was wrong. I failed to ask her permission to share it with you. I infringed on her copyright. I presumed based on my respect for her in the profession and that we have had collaborator discussions in the past that I was “entitled” to go ahead, use her content and just simply recognize her for it. That is not so. I should have asked for her permission and credited her in the way she so desired. I encourage you to visit her website, as I have in the past: http://powersponsorship.com and learn from her expertise on copyrights and so much more that is applicable in our sponsorship industry.
No matter if you are a small charity or large professional sports organization; a small business or global corporation, your content that is copyrighted or logo that is trademarked is yours. No one can, nor should use it without your permission. They need to ask and then you determine if you wish it to be used and if so, how!
I respect Kim for her industry knowledge and the content on her website. I also respect her for bringing this to my attention as it is a great reminder for me and also a lesson learned for you as a reader and a reminder. If you have copyrighted and/or trademarked material protect it. If you plan to share someone else’s work, ask for permission.
Kim, I am sorry that I infringed on your copyright and did not ask permission. I look forward to sharing your content with our readers in the future, and yes I will ask permission first.