sponsor

noun

1. A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or financial aspect.

   “He was my sponsor when I applied to join the club.”

   “They were my sponsors for immigration.”

   “The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone.”

2. A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for another person or organization, especially where the responsibility has a religious, legal, or financial aspect.

   “My narcotics anonymous sponsor became my best friend when I finally was able to do something about my meth problem.”

   “Members also choose a sponsor, with whom they are supposed to remain in regular, even daily, contact—and that, too, is a powerful boost for monitoring.”

3. A person or organization that pays all or part of the cost of an event, publication, media program, etc., usually in exchange for advertising.

   “And now a word from our sponsor.”

verb

1. (transitive)To be a sponsor for.

   “Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.”