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Sponsorship

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Sponsorship is when a senior, influential person uses their power, reputation and networks to actively advocate for someone else’s career advancement. A mentor talks with you. A sponsor talks about you, in the rooms where decisions get made.

How is sponsorship different from mentoring?

Mentoring offers guidance and support. Sponsorship goes further and puts someone’s credibility behind your next move. That’s why it changes careers in a way advice alone can’t. Many workplaces have mentoring but little sponsorship. In the 2026 national survey by Women’s Agenda and Cultivate Sponsorship, 63% of women said their employer doesn’t offer adequate mentoring or sponsorship for women.

What you’ll find here

Stories from sponsors and sponsees inside real programs, including at GHD and AECOM. Research on why sponsorship moves the needle on equity. Practical guides for sponsors, for people ready to be sponsored and for anyone designing a program. This includes Warra, the program Cultivate Indigenous runs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders.

All Sponsorship Articles

A complete list of articles on the topic of Sponsorship.

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    Acknowledgement of Country

    Cultivate Sponsorship spans the sacred, beautiful, and diverse lands of the Australian continent and its neighbouring islands. We acknowledge the past and present Traditional Owners of the lands on which we learn and work.

    We pay our deepest respects to the roles that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders continue to play as the oldest living generations of teachers, artists, engineers, and scientists. We cherish our youngest leaders, their voices and the change they are informing.