Market Development Funds is how you put co-marketing money to work: allocate budgets to partners, let them request and claim against those funds, and track the ROI of what they spend, all reconciled to your CRM.
What this area does
MDF programs usually run in spreadsheets and email, which makes them slow to approve and impossible to prove out. This area replaces that with a structured program. You create funds with a budget and period, allocate that budget to partners by segment, and decide whether each partner gets a fixed amount or draws from a shared pool. Partners then request funds, submit claims with proof of spend, and report ROI, all through branded forms that write to CRM-linked records. Each fund moves through a clear lifecycle: request, approval, claim, ROI, and reimbursement. Your team reviews submissions in one inbox, marks requests paid, and tracks fund balances and results, while partners see their allocation and submit from the portal. Because MDF is built on the Forms platform, the request, claim, ROI, and invoice steps reuse the same review and approval mechanics your team already knows.Why it matters
- Time to value - Stand up a full MDF program - budgets, request forms, the claim and approval flow, and ROI reporting - in an afternoon, so funds start driving demand this quarter instead of waiting on a build.
- Low total cost of ownership - Partner marketing runs the whole program, from allocation rules to claim approvals, with no engineering.
- CRM-native - Requests and claims live as CRM-linked records, so spend ties back to the real pipeline it created and the VP can defend MDF ROI to finance with the numbers already in the source of truth.
How it fits together
Each fund moves through a clear lifecycle from allocation to proven ROI:Capabilities
Funds & Allocation
Create funds and allocate budget to partners by segment.
Requests, Claims & ROI
Collect requests and claims, and track the ROI of funded activities.
Who works in this area
Partner Marketing
Designs funds and reviews requests and claims.
Partner Operations
Allocates budgets and configures the request lifecycle.
Finance
Approves spend and reconciles reimbursements.
Headless
All guides
Set up an MDF program
Stand up a marketing fund end to end: general details, budget allocation by segment, ROI tracking, lifecycle timelines, and a partner-facing overview.
Request funds by email
Let partners request MDF straight from their inbox, with the AI agent filling in the request for them.
Request funds by embed
Put an MDF request form on your own site or partner page so partners request in context.
Request funds by link
Give partners a shareable link to submit an MDF request in seconds, attributed to the right partner.
Run the MDF request-to-payout flow
Operate the full MDF lifecycle: configure the request, claim, ROI, and invoice steps, then review requests, collect proof of spend, and mark requests paid.
Track ROI on a fund
Measure the return of a marketing fund from partner-reported outcomes and real-time CRM data.