Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 324, Corporate Sponsorship.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 324.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
In Transcription by CastingWords This episode is called Corporate Sponsorship, about when a company decides to give money to help an organization.
Let's get started.
I don't know how we're going to keep our free sports program going without more funding.
As it is, we're strapped.
I know you've been resistant in the past, but what about corporate sponsorship?
I'm sure we can find some businesses that want to support us.
I know you're trying to help, but I'm not willing to sell out.
It's not selling out to have sponsors.
Some businesses really want to keep public programs like ours free and available to the public.
Being a benefactor is their way of helping us do that.
In exchange, those companies get more exposure and enhance their public image.
It's a win-win for everyone.
Don't get me wrong.
It sends the wrong message to the kids in the program.
I don't think it's an all or nothing idea.
You can limit the kinds of sponsorship you accept.
Just don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
You know, it may be our only option.
Okay, okay.
I'll look into it.
You may be right.
If it's a choice between canceling our programs and getting sponsorship, then I may have to live with it.
Good.
Let's keep an open mind, and I'm sure we'll find something that will work.
Our dialogue begins with Travis saying to Megumi...
To keep something going is to continue.
So he doesn't see how they are going to be able to continue their free sports program for children, I would guess, without more funding.
Funding is another word for money, money that is used for a particular program, project or organization.
Travis says, as it is meaning, in our current circumstances we're strapped and I don't know how we're going to continue.
To be strapped.
S-T-R-A-P-P-E-D means that you don't have enough money, that you are broke, that you just have enough money to survive or very little money.
All of these could be definitions of strapped.
The word strap has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
So Travis is asking where they can get the money to keep the program going.
Megumi says, I know you've been resistant in the past, but what about corporate sponsorship?
To be resistant means not wanting to do something.
Even though other people think you should do it, you don't want to.
The verb is to resist and the adjective here is resistant, to be hesitant.
She says, I know you've been resistant in the past.
You haven't wanted to in the past.
But what about corporate sponsorship?
Corporate sponsorship is when a company gives money to an organization, usually a nonprofit organization, an organization that doesn't try to make money but tries to help other people.
Corporate sponsorship is usually given to these organizations, and the company gets advertising.
The company's name is mentioned, so that people know that they have provided money for this organization, and that is a kind of advertising.
It's very popular, for example, for local sports teams baseball teams, football teams, soccer teams, for young people to have local businesses pay for their uniforms, the clothing they wear while they are playing.
And usually that clothing will have the name of the company.
So every time the team goes out and plays a game, people see the name of the company.
So the organization benefits, get something from the money to help them pay for the organization, the project and the company gets some advertising.
Travis says, I know you're trying to help, but I'm not willing to sell out.
To sell out is a phrasal verb, a two-word verb, meaning to change your beliefs about something just so you can get some money, or to stop doing something that you think is important and in order to get more money from someone.
That's to sell out.
To sell out has a couple of meanings in English.
Take a look again at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Travis is saying that he doesn't want to get the money from the company and change his beliefs about it.
Megumi says it's not selling out to have sponsors.
A sponsor is a person or an organization that supports something, usually by giving money to that organization.
A sponsorship is the actual giving of the money to the organization.
The sponsor is the person or the organization.
Megumi explains that some businesses really want to keep public programs like ours free and available to the public.
Being a benefactor is their way of helping us do that.
A benefactor, B-E-N-E-F-A-C-T-O-R, is is similar to a sponsor.
It's a person or an organization that provides a lot of money for something and sometimes doesn't ask for any advertising or anything in return.
They say, here's the money.
You don't have to tell other people about it.
They just give you the money because they are being nice.
They want to help you.
We have benefactors who donate money to ESL Podcast.
That's an example of helping an organization.
Megumi says, Exposure means the ability to be seen.
People see you.
We might use the word visibility, the fact that people can see you, that they know about you.
A company's public image is the way other people look at that company, other people's opinion of that company.
Megumi says...
It's a win-win situation for everyone.
The expression win-win means it's a situation where both people or both organizations benefit.
Each person gets something good from this exchange, this situation.
Travis says to Megumi, don't get me wrong.
We often use that phrase to mean, don't misunderstand me.
You're worried that the person is not going to understand what you are saying.
If you want to go out for dinner instead of eating at home, you may say to your wife or husband don't get me wrong dear, I love your cooking, but today let's go to dinner.
You may not love his or her cooking, but you should never say that, of course.
Don't get me wrong, I never do that.
Don't get me wrong, Travis says, I'm not trying to get on a high horse about sponsorship.
The expression to get on a high horse or to get on your high horse is So.
He says I'm not trying to get on a high horse.
But I don't want product placement, business signage, and outright advertising at our games.
Product placement is when a company puts their product in an event or a movie or a TV show.
So if you are watching a movie and one of the people in the movie is drinking a Coca-Cola Well, Coca-Cola probably paid the movie company to use their particular soda.
That's an example of product placement.
Signage is when you have large flat pieces of wood or plastic with writing on them.
Seeing advertisements as you drive down the street is an example of signage, but anything that is a sign that has information on it that you are supposed to look at and follow can be called signage.
Travis says he doesn't want product placement, business signage, or outright advertising.
Outright, one word, means direct, clear, in the open, not hidden.
He says, I don't want advertising at our games.
It sends the wrong message to the kids in the program.
Megumi says, I don't think it's an all or nothing idea.
All or nothing means something must be done completely wrong.
She's saying it's not an all-or-nothing idea.
You don't have to do everything that you would normally do in a corporate sponsorship.
Then she uses an old expression, Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
To throw the baby out with the bathwater means to get rid of something good.
When you are trying to get rid of something bad,
So you get rid of both the good and the bad at the same time.
A baby, when they take a bath in a small bowl... has what we would call bath water.
And you throw the water out, but of course you don't throw the baby out.
So it means keep the good things and don't get rid of the good things just to get rid of the bad things.
Travis says, okay, I'll look into it.
I'll investigate it.
Megumi says, good.
Good.
Let's keep an open mind and I'm sure we'll find something that will work.
To keep an open mind means to not make a decision before you have all the information.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I don't know how we're going to keep our free sports program going without more funding.
As it is, we're strapped.
I don't know how we're going to continue.
I know you've been resistant in the past, but what about corporate sponsorship?
I'm sure we can find businesses that want to support us.
I know you're trying to help, but I'm not willing to sell out.
It's not selling out to have sponsors.
Some businesses really want to keep public programs like ours free and available to the public.
Being a benefactor is their way of helping us do that.
In exchange, those companies get more exposure and enhance the public image.
It's a win-win for everyone.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not trying to get on a high horse about sponsorship.
But I don't want product placement, business signage, and outright advertising at our games.
It sends the wrong message to the kids in the program.
I don't think it's an all-or-nothing idea.
You can limit the kinds of sponsorship you accept.
Just don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
You know, maybe our only option.
Okay, okay, I'll look into it.
You may be right.
If it's a choice between canceling our programs and getting sponsorship, then I may have to live with it.
Good.
Let's keep an open mind, and I'm sure we'll find something that'll work.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
