Definition of Sponsorship
Qualified sponsorship activities. Soliciting and receiving qualified sponsorship payments is not an unrelated trade or business, and the payments are not subject to unrelated business income tax.
Qualified sponsorship payment. This is any payment made by a person engaged in a trade or business for which the person will receive no substantial benefit other than the use or acknowledgment of the business name, logo, or product lines in connection with the organization’s activities. “Use or acknowledgment” does not include advertising the sponsor’s products or services. The organization’s activities include all its activities, whether or not related to its exempt purposes.
For example, if, in return for receiving a sponsorship payment, an organization promises to use the sponsor’s name or logo in acknowledging the sponsor’s support for an educational or fundraising event, the payment is a qualified sponsorship payment and is not subject to the unrelated business income tax.
Providing facilities, services, or other privileges (for example, complimentary tickets, pro-am playing spots in golf tournaments, or receptions for major donors) to a sponsor or the sponsor’s designees in connection with a sponsorship payment does not affect whether the payment is a qualified sponsorship payment. Instead, providing these goods or services is treated as a separate transaction in determining whether the organization has unrelated business income from the event. Generally, if the services or facilities are not a substantial benefit or if providing them is a related business activity, the payments will not be subject to the unrelated business income tax.
Similarly, the sponsor’s receipt of a license to use an intangible asset (for example, a trademark, logo, or designation) of the organization is treated as separate from the qualified sponsorship transaction in determining whether the organization has unrelated business taxable income.
If part of a payment would be a qualified sponsorship payment if paid separately, that part is treated as a separate payment. For example, if a sponsorship payment entitles the sponsor to both product advertising and the use or acknowledgment of the sponsor’s name or logo by the organization, then the unrelated business income tax does not apply to the part of the payment that is more than the fair market value of the product advertising.
Advertising defined
Advertising. A payment is not a qualified sponsorship payment if, in return, the organization advertises the sponsor’s products or services. For information on the treatment of payments for advertising, see Exploitation of Exempt Activity — Advertising Sales in chapter 4.
Advertising includes:
Messages containing qualitative or comparative language, price information, or other indications of savings or value, endorsements, and inducements to purchase, sell, or use the products or services. The use of promotional logos or slogans that are an established part of the sponsor’s identity is not, by itself, advertising. In addition, mere distribution or display of a sponsor’s product by the organization to the public at a sponsored event, whether for free or for remuneration, is considered use or acknowledgment of the product rather than advertising.
Exceptions outlined:
Exception for contingent payments. A payment is not a qualified sponsorship payment if its amount is contingent, by contract or otherwise, upon the level of attendance at one or more events, broadcast ratings, or other factors indicating the degree of public exposure to one or more events. However, the fact that a sponsorship payment is contingent upon an event actually taking place or being broadcast does not, by itself, affect whether a payment qualifies.
Exception for periodicals. A payment is not a qualified sponsorship payment if it entitles the payer to the use or acknowledgment of the business name, logo, or product lines in the organization’s periodical. For this purpose, a periodical is any regularly scheduled and printed material (for example, a monthly journal) published by or on behalf of the organization. It does not include material that is related to and primarily distributed in connection with a specific event conducted by the organization (for example, a program or brochure distributed at a sponsored event).
The treatment of payments that entitle the payer to the depiction of the payer’s name, logo, or products lines in an organization’s periodical is determined under the rules that apply to advertising activities. See Sales of advertising space under Examples, earlier in this chapter. Also see Exploitation of Exempt Activity — Advertising Sales in chapter 4.
Exception for conventions and trade shows. A payment is not a qualified sponsorship payment if it is made in connection with any qualified convention or trade show activity. The exclusion of qualified convention or trade show activities from the definition of unrelated trade or business is explained later under Convention or trade show activity.
Selling donated merchandise. A trade or business that consists of selling merchandise, substantially all of which the organization received as gifts or contributions, is not an unrelated trade or business. For example, a thrift shop operated by a tax-exempt organization that sells donated clothes and books to the general public, with the proceeds going to the exempt organization, is not an unrelated trade or business.
Resources
This content is not all inclusive of details which can be found from the IRS Pub 598, from this location on the web:
http://www.unclefed.com/IRS-Forms/2001/HTML/p5980302.html
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p598
https://www.501c3.org/nonprofit-unrelated-business-income/
https://www.501c3.org/kb/selling-products-unrelated-business-income/