There are a lot of nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma and across the United States. Some are well-established and extremely successful, while others struggle through their first few years and eventually close down completely. As nonprofit lawyers, we know that nonprofit failure isn’t due to lack of heart.

It’s good for companies to give back to the community and be socially responsible. But it comes with some caveats, and every nonprofit organization needs to know the difference between sponsorship and advertising.

So how exactly do you distinguish between sponsorship and advertising, and more importantly, why does it matter?

The nonprofit space includes organizations of all sizes, from large national and international organizations with hundreds of employees to tiny startups with one employee or no paid staff at all. They’re all working hard to solve an issue or serve a specific population, but it takes money to do so.