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What is the best word to use to describe the person who I am sponsoring? Or is there such a word?

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  • What organization do you sponsor them through? Perhaps they have a particular name for the sponsored person.
    – Zack T.
    Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 17:48
  • Don't they have names you can call them by?
    – Oldcat
    Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 20:04
  • @Oldcat - At least in the 12-step world (AA, NA, etc.), where the term sponsee originated, the anonymity of the person in question is sacrosanct, so names are out of the question, and longer phrases such as the person that I am sponsoring quickly become unwieldy in conversation. It is an ugly coinage, but in that world it's a necessary one. I wouldn't use it outside of that context, though.
    – bye
    Commented Nov 6, 2014 at 0:26
  • Don't you start all of those AA meetings by saying "I'm David and I'm an alchoholic"?
    – Oldcat
    Commented Nov 6, 2014 at 0:30

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Sponsee shows up as a word cited for its usage in a 2004 book regarding the language of addiction counselling, according to Wikitionary. However, I don't see use of it outside this context. Therefore, it is something left to your discretion. It is possibly acceptable jargon within the addiction counseling communities, or at least its meaning would likely be easily discerned. I would not personally advise its usage, though.

May I suggest alternatives? If so, check below:

sponsored party
the sponsored

I would personally advise the usage of sponsored party. It is a common and well-understood usage for the meaning that you seek.

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I would not use 'sponsee' as I cannot find it in any real dictionary. I would use 'sponsored,' 'sponsored party,' or 'beneficiary.'

Sponsee is an unnecessary neologism.

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    'Beneficiary' implies that the sponsored party is receiving some sort of boon or advantage. Although that is commonly the case with sponsorship, it is not exclusively the case.
    – kayleeFrye_onDeck
    Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 22:45
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One obvious term is protégé:

NOUN

A person who is guided and supported by an older and more experienced or influential person:

He was an aide and protégé of the former Tennessee senator

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

The maverick Svengali continues to gather followers and protégés.

Brezhnev, a protégé and supporter of Khrushchev, fainted in one of them and had to be revived in a nearby room.

Like any good manager he has handled his young protégé with kid gloves.

(Definition and examples from Oxforddictionaries.com)

Another possibility is sponsoree, though as far as I can see, that term hasn't yet been included in any mainstream dictionaries.

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