Donation or sponsorship? The difference and what it means for your club
Explained in plain language: why sponsorship is not a donation, when a donation receipt is possible and which tax questions to clarify with your tax adviser.
FinanzasBásico (gratis)Revisado el 01.11.2026
Este artículo solo está disponible por ahora en alemán e inglés; mostramos la versión en inglés.
Requisitos
- You are on the leadership team of a club and want to accept support from businesses.
- This article does not replace tax or legal advice. It offers a rough orientation (German law).
¿Quién puede hacerlo?
Anyone can read this article. Only people with “Manage sponsors” directly in the club decide on sponsorship requests; donation receipts are issued by the leadership with the club's finance right.
Paso a paso
Ask the basic question
Does the giver get something in return? A donation is voluntary and without consideration. As soon as the giver receives consideration, for example “Supported by” with a logo on the club page, it is sponsorship.
Donation: donation receipt
For a genuine donation, a club recognized as non-profit may issue a donation receipt (“Zuwendungsbestätigung”) in the official format. The donor can claim it in the tax return.
Sponsorship: no donation receipt
There is no donation receipt for sponsorship with consideration. The sponsor usually treats the amount as a business expense if it expects an advertising effect. How exactly is for the sponsor to clarify with its tax adviser.
Roughly classify the tax consequences for the club
Pure donations belong to the tax-free non-material sphere. Sponsorship is an exchange of performance. Depending on the design, the income may fall under asset management or an economic business operation. The sponsorship decree of the German Federal Ministry of Finance distinguishes whether the sponsor is merely named or the club actively advertises for it. An economic business operation can trigger corporate and trade tax, depending on income thresholds.
Check VAT
Because the club provides a service, VAT may apply (reduced or full rate, depending on classification). Whether it is actually owed also depends on whether the club counts as a small business. The club, not CLUP.life, issues the invoice to the sponsor.
Sponsorship with CLUP.life
CLUP.life offers only sponsorship with acknowledgment, no donation processing. The platform texts state expressly: no donation receipt is issued for sponsorship. The platform fee (10 percent of the amount paid, including statutory VAT) is a fee to CLUP.life, not a donation.
Involve your tax adviser
Before you accept your first sponsorship, briefly talk to your tax adviser or the tax office: How do we classify this income, and how do we handle VAT? This protects your non-profit status.
Encontrarás la función aquí: /organisation/<verein>/vereinsleben/sponsoren
Errores habituales y soluciones
- A sponsor asks for a donation receipt.
- That is not possible while the sponsor receives consideration. If you want to accept a genuine donation instead, waive the consideration. Then it is a donation, and the club issues the receipt outside of sponsorship.
- A donation receipt was already issued for a sponsorship.
- Contact your tax adviser immediately. Whoever issues an incorrect donation receipt is liable under Section 10b(4) EStG for the tax lost as a result (a flat 30 percent of the amount).
- Unclear whether VAT is due.
- Your tax adviser decides this case by case. CLUP.life gives no information on this.
Conviene saber
- This is not tax or legal advice. Thresholds and tax rates change; have them checked for the current position.
- Liability for an incorrect donation receipt lies with the club as issuer, not with the platform.
- The German version of the legal texts on sponsorship is binding; translations are a reading aid.