I've long tried to figure out how we can donate to projects. If we were to buy/license those tools it would cost thousands of dollars, but I don't know how to get any money for the free tools we use. When I ask half of management doesn't understand the question, and the rest don't know either.
Perhaps look to your marketing folks rather than engineering.
"Purchasing silver sponsership with [org] as a way to grow our brand awareness" is intrinsically understandable to pretty much any businesses manager.
"Giving away money for something we already have", which is what most technical managers will hear regardless of your actual pitch, is completely inexplicable to many.
It does require that sponsership is even possible, and recurring sponsership may be harder than recurring license fees of course, so its not a sure thing, just an option to try.
I mean, we kinda all know that anyway, but somehow it reinforced it enough that I know find it actively distasteful.
Even the classic sales approach of buying coffee or a meal feels creepy know, but I've had to relearn to accept it because it's just so hard to fight every time.
When I tell people, the normal response is encredulous "but it's free?". It's really really not, the costs just aren't immediately financial.
(Gifts outside corporate life are generally fine, an actual human wanting to "manipulate" me into liking them more is generally expressing some level of affection. A corporation cannot do that)
Every know and again I get something funny enough that it gets me anyway.. I'm very fond of my all blue Rubic's cube from ibm for example, and I've got a few unbranded water bottles around the place.
Anything else I can't politely refuse just gets binned as soon as I can do so without a fuss.