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Sponsorship Porsches during WTA championships in Madrid

To sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. A sponsor is the individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor.

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, known as cause-related, is prominent in the sports, arts, media and charity sectors.

When commercial radio stations began broadcasting in the early 1920s, the programs were aired without advertising. Many radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers and programming was provided to sell radio transmitters and receivers. This led to a system where radio and television programs were financed by selling sponsorship rights to businesses. Eventually, the broadcasters began selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses.

Sponsorship is also becoming increasingly important in education. Many companies want their logo on sponsored equipment in return. Formula One teams relied on the income from tobacco advertising. Other types of sponsorships revolve around companies paying for parts of television broadcasts and sporting events which bear their name. For example college bowl games now contain the name of their sponsor such as the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl.

Many times a company's motives for sponsorship are altruistic in order to create goodwill in the community which increases their good reputation. However, 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.

Sponsorship belongs to the promotional tool of Marketing.

In Japan, sponsorship is prevalent in television, as evidenced by each Japanese television series (after its opening sequence, its ending and subsequent episode preview).

US naval craft are sponsored before they are launched by a prominent female personage.

• Donation
• Cause marketing
• Ambush marketing
• Sports marketing
• Sustaining Program
• European Sponsorship Association