Knotty or Nice Founding Partners

KNOTTY OR NICE

A live action digital advent calendar — and a holiday tradition in the making.

Every December, families count down to Christmas together. Knotty or Nice gives them something to share: 24 original live action short films, unlocking one per day like doors on an advent calendar — with every household receiving the episodes in its own unique, randomized order. No two families experience the same Christmas.

At the heart of every episode is the Spirit of Christmas — a magical presence who has slipped his handler's care and is causing joy (and a little chaos) in a sleepy town. Created by TOH Entertainment, led by Terri Hitchcock as Executive Producer, and protected by a patented distribution model in both Canada and the United States, Knotty or Nice is produced by Honey Head Films (North Carolina) with Sara Elizabeth Timmins (HBO, Sundance, Hallmark) as co-producer. The 24 episodes are written by a dedicated writers' room with credits at Sony Pictures, Tyler Perry Studios, Walt Disney, Hallmark, and Universal Studios.

Community groups — sports associations, schools, and charities — sell the calendar to their own supporters and earn directly on every sale, turning a beloved holiday tradition into sustainable, recurring funding for the causes they care about.

💛 Your gift helps bring this tradition — and its funding — to communities across North America.
In addition to online donations, Spirit of Fun Foundation can also accept large contributions directly from individuals, corporations, Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), foundations, retirement accounts, and charitable trusts. To learn more, contact: terri@tohentertainment.com

More On The Team: Terri Hitchcock is the inventor and patent holder of the Hitchcock Knot distribution model, with a background in large corporate project controls. Sara Elizabeth Timmins has produced films on HBO, Sundance, Hallmark, Amazon, and Starz, and was Field Producer on the Emmy-nominated McMillions. Honey Head Films is an award-winning North Carolina production house with credits on Amazon Prime, Fandango, and Tubi.

About Spirit of Fun Foundation: Spirit of Fun Foundation generates sustainable, recurring funding for community organizations, sports associations, schools, and charities by supporting entertainment and media initiatives whose commercial proceeds are directed back to those communities. To learn more, visit Spirit of Fun Foundation

Knotty or Nice launches December 1, 2027 — but only if production is funded by December 31, 2026. That funding delivers two things: 24 original live-action holiday episodes, and the complete marketing toolkit every community group needs to run its own campaign — personalized landing pages, email templates, social media graphics, and a ready-made campaign calendar.

Story-integrated merchandise must be ordered in January 2027 so it can be built into the episodes during spring production and ship to subscribers in November. Principal photography in North Carolina follows in spring 2027. The episodes and affiliate toolkits must both be finished before community groups begin selling in summer 2027.

Christmas does not move. If funding arrives after December 31, the launch slips to December 2028, and every sports association, school team, and charity waiting to sell loses a full season of earnings. Each year of delay also pushes back the five-year path to returning US$100 million to community organizations.

Gifts made by December 31 make it possible for community groups to earn their first payouts in 2028 instead of 2029.

If this campaign succeeds, every community group in North America gains a December fundraiser that costs nothing to run and pays every year.

A minor hockey team in Winnipeg, a school band in Charlotte, or a little league in Atlanta signs up for free and receives its own affiliate code and a ready-made marketing toolkit. Its supporters buy something their families genuinely want: Knotty or Nice, a live-action digital advent calendar of 24 original holiday short films, one unlocked each day from December 1 to Christmas Eve. Families who choose a merchandise bundle receive story-integrated keepsakes before December begins — ornaments, props, and set pieces that appear on screen — so they spot their own pieces in the episodes as they watch. There's no inventory, no cash handling, and no risk for the community group, and a payout arrives every February.

How this campaign is funded decides how much those communities earn. If production is financed by private investors, the model must repay them first, and community groups earn $2 per subscription and $20 per merchandise bundle. If production is funded through charitable gifts, grants, and loans raised through this campaign, we can offer $4 per subscription and $25 per bundle. Where funding is mixed, the charitable rate applies to the share funded charitably. A team that sells 250 subscriptions and 40 bundles earns $2,000 instead of $1,300 — every year. Your gift doesn't just help make the series; it raises what every community earns from it.

And families come back. Each episode is a complete story, but together they form a larger one: the Spirit of Christmas has slipped away from Ethel, its keeper, and is spreading joy and chaos through a small town. Every household receives the episodes in a different order, so every family pieces the story together differently and returns each December to experience it again. The merchandise works the same way: bundles are randomized, so each household's collection is unique. Families resubscribe each year to a newly randomized experience and keep using the keepsakes they already own, while new pieces released in future seasons let them add to their collection. That gives community groups two ways to earn year after year — from returning subscribers and from new merchandise sales.

Today, community groups rely on chocolate bars, raffles, and car washes that take enormous volunteer effort for modest returns. This campaign creates something that doesn't exist yet: a fundraiser that families look forward to, built to return US$100 million to community organizations over five years.

PRODUCTION MILESTONES

January 2027: story-integrated merchandise ordered for production and fulfillment
Spring 2027: principal photography completed in North Carolina
Summer 2027: all 24 episodes in post-production; affiliate marketing toolkits delivered and community group sign-up opens
November 2027: merchandise bundles shipped to subscribers
December 1, 2027: Knotty or Nice launches
February 2028: first community payouts issued

COMMUNITY PAYOUT TARGETS (CONSERVATIVE CASE)

Year 1: $9.78 million
Year 2: $24.03 million
Year 3: $33.06 million
Year 4: $31.04 million
Year 5: $7.49 million
Five-year total: $105.39 million returned to community organizations

These targets assume the worst case: that Knotty or Nice is a short-lived trend that runs its course in five years. Even then, it returns more than $100 million to communities. If it becomes the lasting holiday tradition we're building it to be, payouts continue beyond Year 5 and hold steadier from Year 3 onward.

COMMUNITY OUTCOMES WE WILL MEASURE AND REPORT

• Number of community groups registered as affiliates
• Subscriptions and merchandise bundles sold through affiliate codes
• Total dollars paid to community groups each year, against the targets above
• Share of sales funded at the charitable commission rate
• Cumulative progress toward returning US$100 million to community organizations over five years

HOW WE TRACK AND REPORT
Every sale is recorded automatically through each group's unique affiliate code, so community earnings are measured transaction by transaction, not estimated. Each affiliate has a real-time dashboard showing its sales, earnings, and next payout date. Each spring, after February payouts are issued, we publish an annual impact report on our Mahalo page and website and email it to every donor who opts in. It covers total funds returned to communities, the number and types of organizations participating, and stories from the groups that earned.

WAYS TO GIVE
- Grants from private and family foundations
- Grants from donor-advised funds
- Program-related investments (PRIs) from private foundations: below-market loans that count toward your annual distribution requirement and are repaid from series revenue
- Loans with interest to support production
- Other arrangements: if you'd like to work with us in a different way, contact Terri Hitchcock directly at terri@tohentertainment.com

WAYS TO PARTNER

Founding Partner
For foundations and individuals who want to help launch the series. Founding Partners are named in the Founding Families Special Thanks credits, which air at the end of every episode, every season, and are listed on the Spirit of Fun Foundation and Knotty or Nice websites. They receive a private briefing with Executive Producer Terri Hitchcock and a virtual set visit during spring 2027 production. In early November 2027, Founding Partners are invited to an exclusive early preview: the complete series, randomized just as families will receive it, on an accelerated schedule. Partners become the first households to experience Knotty or Nice, and their feedback helps us test and refine the platform before it opens to families on December 1.

Community Champion
For partners who want their gift to keep giving to a cause they already care about. Community Champions receive a permanent affiliate code tied to the community organization of their choice, so every sale through that code earns for that cause year after year, along with a personal annual report showing what the code has generated.

Legacy Spirit
Only 24 will ever exist, one per episode, at $1,000,000 each. A Legacy Spirit partner holds a permanent Spirit of Christmas designation in the credits of one episode, every season, for the lifetime of the series, and a Spirit affiliate code for the cause of their choice. They receive the Annual Spirit Report each December, a handwritten letter from Terri Hitchcock, and a framed Spirit certificate. The designation can be given in someone else's name, or anonymously.

Funds raised beyond what production requires go toward story-integrated merchandise inventory. Every dollar given here reduces the financing needed for merchandise, lowering costs so more of every sale can be returned to community organizations.

YOUR CHARITIES CAN EARN TOO
If your foundation is a charity, or supports charities, they are welcome to join Knotty or Nice as affiliate partners at no cost. They receive their own affiliate code, a ready-made marketing toolkit, and a payout every February. Your gift helps build the fundraiser; your grantees can earn from it every year.

THE RELATIONSHIP
Every partner receives the same commitment: transparent reporting on what your gift made possible, measured transaction by transaction, and a standing invitation to see the work up close. Major partners are not just funding a series. They are founding a December tradition that pays communities every year.