Sponsor

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Sponsor (disambiguation).

To sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. Sponsorship is typically done for promotional purposes, to generate publicity, or to obtain access to a wider audience.

Sponsorship may be an arrangement to exchange advertising for the responsibility of funding a popular event or entity. For example, a corporate entity may provide equipment for a famous athlete or sports team in exchange for brand recognition. The sponsor earns popularity this way while the sponsored can save a lot of money. This type of sponsorship is prominent in sports, the arts, media and the charity ('cause-related') sector. It is also becoming increasingly important in education. Many companies want their logo on sponsored equipment in return. Formula One teams, for example, have heavily relied on the income from tobacco advertising.

Although a company's motives may be altruistic, sponsorship is more commonly used to derive benefit from the associations created for a company's brand(s) or image as a result of the sponsorship.

People may sponsor an individual or group of people to undertake a fundraising task, usually for a charity or other cause requiring funding.

The word sponsor derives from the Latin word for guarantor.

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