As lead generation, sponsorships underperform everything measurable. As reputation infrastructure in a defined community, the town you live and sell in, they're often the cheapest trust you can buy: your name on the Little League banner is a years-long 'we're from here' signal.
Buy them like media, not charity: foot traffic and audience match, logo placement with your town+service (not just a name), the linked mention on the event site (a real local backlink), and activation. Being present beats being printed.
Measure the shadow (branded search, 'saw you at intake mentions') and cap the budget: a fixed annual community line-item, spent deliberately, immune to every additional raffle request that follows the first yes.