I think the idea and "wording" of "sponsoring" may be misleading.
From my perspective, it isn't so much that you are "buying" the feature as much as paying to hire someone to code it. In the sense of Open source, if you want (and are able) to develop/code a feature and add it back to the community, how is the cost for your time different from the cost of the time for the FO team to hire someone outside to do it? The FO development team seems relatively small to me, so for some options hiring outside coders might be the only option.
I think the FO team is pretty busy with v 2, but as the entire project is FOSS, you can code what you need, post it for the communities benefit, and feel good about your contribution.
On the other hand, if you don't have the coding ability, but have the $$ and absolutely NEED a feature now, how is "sponsoring" different from you hiring (and paying) a local php wizard to develop your solution and then giving it back to the community in true Open Source fashion?
thomasthegreek - Where can we all find and download the FOSS software that you have developed and provide for free?
Tim