Adaptive equipment sponsorship

Adaptive equipment is the cleanest fundraising unit this organization has. It is expensive enough to matter, specific enough to describe, and priced within reach of a single bidder or a small group.

Choose units people can picture

• A communication device, or a year of its software and support
• A powered or manual wheelchair, or a custom seating assessment and fit
• Adaptive sports equipment — a handcycle, a sports chair, a sit-ski
• Home modifications: a ramp, a grab rail set, a bathroom adaptation
• Vehicle adaptations, or a driving assessment
• Sensory equipment for a family or a classroom
• A hearing device, magnifier, or screen reader licence

Where the full item is beyond one bidder, split it honestly — the assessment, the device, the year of support — rather than pretending a partial sponsorship funds a whole chair.

What a sponsor receives, and does not

Put both on the item page before anybody bids, for the same reason every other sponsorship page should.

• Yes: the knowledge that the equipment was funded and provided
• Yes: a description of what the device does and why it matters, written generally
• Yes: recognition, and a photograph of the equipment itself
• No: the recipient's name, photograph, diagnosis or circumstances, unless that person specifically offered them
• No: choosing who receives it
• No: meeting the recipient as an entitlement of the sponsorship

Where a recipient wants to meet a sponsor or say thank you, that is theirs to offer, unprompted. A person who has just been given equipment they needed is not in a position to decline a request from the organization that gave it.

Allocation has to be visibly independent

Same principle as a scholarship fund. Who receives equipment is decided on assessed need against criteria, by people who are not the fundraising committee, and a sponsor has no role in it.

Publish that the process exists and how it works. It reassures the community you serve and it removes the question a thoughtful donor would otherwise ask.

Say what the device does, not what the person overcomes

"A speech-generating device lets someone communicate at the speed of a conversation instead of a sentence at a time" describes the equipment and its effect. "Helps a brave young man find his voice" describes a person and invites exactly the criticism the sector makes of charity copy.

The first version is also more persuasive to a donor who wants to know what their money does.

Report the outcome without a person in it

"Four communication devices funded and in use this year" is aggregate, accurate and identifies nobody. Photograph the equipment, the fitting bench, the workshop — there is plenty to show.

General information, not legal or accessibility-compliance advice for your organization. Accessibility obligations, and the language conventions your own community prefers, differ — the people you serve and your own leadership decide how any of this applies.