We are in a privileged position of regularly seeing the manifold guises that sponsorship proposals take, the ones that go out to the valuable, keenly sought sponsors that all sincere sponsorship seekers desire. There are five things that so often stand out and make us fear for the prospects of a sponsorship property to achieve funding. A quick look through a proposal usually gives us a fair idea in the first minute how likely of success it might be.

1. Short lead-times...