Why some of the Nation’s Largest School Districts Are Embracing Sponsorships at Scale
Broward, Fulton, Duval, and Pinellas are formalizing community partnerships, and rewriting what's possible when districts take the lead.
In most school districts, sponsorships have never been a centralized effort. They’ve lived at the school level, driven by coaches, principals, and booster clubs, built on local relationships and individual initiative. For years, that approach has worked well enough.
But in large districts, “well enough” isn’t cutting it anymore.
Leaders in four of the nation’s largest districts — Broward County (FL), Fulton County (GA), Duval County (FL), and Pinellas County (FL) — are looking for better solutions to traditional school sponsorships. Sponsorships are happening, but they’re difficult to track, inconsistent from campus to campus, and nearly impossible to scale in any intentional way.
That lack of visibility isn’t just an operational issue — it hinders equitable outcomes. Some schools develop strong, sustainable partnerships, while others — often with fewer resources — struggle to get started.
From a district perspective, there’s limited ability to support schools consistently or expand what’s already working to drive more revenue for their programs. In response, these districts are rethinking their approach to sponsorships — and, increasingly, to formalize it.
Fulton County Schools and Broward County Public Schools have implemented SponsorPlace to bring more structure and visibility to sponsorships across all of their K–12 schools. Duval County Public Schools and Pinellas County Schools are also adopting SponsorPlace, working toward a more connected, district-supported approach to managing sponsorships.
We’ve always had incredible community support. This gives us the opportunity to better showcase what’s happening across our schools and expand on that success.
— Mistine M. Dawe, Director of Strategic Partnerships · Pinellas County SchoolsThe goal isn’t to replace what schools are already doing, but to strengthen it. “This initiative represents a strategic opportunity to enhance how our schools engage with community partners while ensuring transparency, consistency, and financial accountability in sponsorship activities,” says Marvin Dereef, Chief Financial Officer of Fulton County Schools. “We believe that strong community partnerships are essential to enhancing student experiences, and SponsorPlace offers a structured and responsible way to cultivate those relationships.”
Across these four districts, SponsorPlace is serving as the foundation for sponsorship management — standardizing agreements, ensuring proper reporting of funds, supporting compliance with district financial policies, all while making it easier for communities to support schools.
Broward County Schools is already seeing results — generating over $100,000 in sponsorship revenue within six months of joining SponsorPlace. “There’s a lot of opportunity that goes untapped,” says James A. Knapp, President & CEO of Broward Education Foundation. “Not because people don’t care, but because it’s hard to coordinate across a system this large. If we can make sponsorship management easier for our schools and help them generate more revenue for their programs, that’s a win.”
For districts of this size, streamlining sponsorships means every school can collect much-needed funding while staying accountable to district procedures. This support can now reach every school, create more consistency, and ultimately deliver more value to the communities they serve.
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