New donations and loans guidance for political parties: Sponsorship

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Which payments don’t count as sponsorship?

The following payments do not count as sponsorship:1

  • admission charges for conferences, meetings or other events
  • the purchase price of, or any other charge to access, publications
  • commercial rate payments for adverts in publications
  • payments for conference stands within the maximum rate set by the Electoral Commission

While these payments do not count as sponsorship, they may instead be a different type of donation to the party. If a payment is not sponsorship, you should consider whether the payment is another type of donation, such as a gift of money or money spent paying costs incurred by the party.

The Commission considers that sales of party branded merchandise at events are not sponsorship.

Flowchart to determine whether a payment to a party is sponsorship, another type of donation, or not a donation.

Admission charges

Admission charges for your events will not count as sponsorship. For example, party conference entry passes or an admission fee to attend an event organised by or on behalf of the party.

However, if you charge or are paid more than the value of the service provided at the event, this extra amount will be a donation if this is more than £500.2  Please see common examples of sponsorship for more guidance and examples of this.

Adverts in party publications

Payments made to place adverts in your party publications at the commercial rate will not count as sponsorship. For example, publications will include conference handbooks, directories or other printed agendas, books or magazines.

This exemption only applies to advertising in party publications and does not include advertising elsewhere, such as conference banners, or on conferences passes and lanyards. 

To work out whether payments made to place adverts in a party publication are a donation, you must work out the commercial rate to charge for these adverts. The commercial rate will be the average rates for similar adverts offered by commercial providers.

If someone pays more than the commercial rate for an advert in a party publication, the full amount of the payment will be sponsorship.3  This is because the exemption would no longer apply.

Please see the next page for guidance on conference stands.

Last updated: 27 August 2026