I’m not familiar with CW’s particular program. But from other programs I’ve either been involved with, or at least know something about, “sponsoring” or “mentoring” an animal in this fashion is something akin to sponsoring an impoverished child in a foreign country. The sponsor or mentor is motivated to protect and support either the specific life of that individual, and/or support/protect the infrastructure that is required by that individual. So in the context of sponsoring a child, the sponsor sends some kind of donation, either yearly or monthly, to help pay for the costs of that individual’s food, housing, education, clothing, etc. To put this into the context of DR, the sponsor is helping to provide for the individual’s four walls. For rare-breed livestock, that would mean helping to pay for feed, housing, veterinary care, breeding, etc. The analogy isn’t exact: some sponsorships help defray the cost of educational programs to teach others about why that particular breed is historically significant and/or of value for current genetic preservation reasons. The benefit to the sponsor is that while they can’t solve all the issues, or pay for all the support, for that entire non-profit entity or its mission, they can “pay a share” of the overall support in some affordable way. Sure, sending a yearly check to any particular non-profit will have the same overall result. But by attaching that donation to a specific child, or a specific animal, the sponsor feels a more individual, specific bond. The sponsor isn’t merely helping in some vague way. The sponsor is helping THAT individual, in some very specific ways. That gives the sponsor a sense that their donation is making a measurable difference in the grand scheme of things.
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