'community-sponsored' originates from English as a compound of 'community' and 'sponsored'. 'community' ultimately comes from Latin 'communitas' (via Old French 'communité'), where 'communitas' derived from 'communis' meant 'common' or 'shared'. 'sponsored' comes from Latin 'spondere' and Medieval/Legal Latin 'sponsorem' meaning 'one who pledges' or 'guarantor', passing into Old French/Medieval Latin forms and then modern English 'sponsor' and its past participle 'sponsored'.

'community' changed from Latin 'communitas' to Old French 'communité' and entered Middle English as 'community', keeping the sense of a group sharing something in common. 'sponsored' evolved from Latin 'spondere'/'sponsorem' into terms for a guarantor or patron in Medieval Latin and Old French, then into English as 'sponsor' with 'sponsored' as its past/past participle form.

Initially the components referred separately to a 'group sharing in common' ('community') and to a 'one who pledges or supports' ('sponsor'). Over time the compound came to denote initiatives that are specifically supported, organized, or funded by the local community itself ('supported by the community').