A current NRA Life member sponsors you by recommending you to become a life member. The recommendation is in the form of the sponsor's NRA number. The normal fee for becoming a life member ia $1,000. During a limited time it is $300 with a sponsor.
I called also and got a different answer. The first time I chose option 3, it went to Andrew, who denied there was any program other than the Legacy Life for family members. I asked to speak to someone else and got Diane who reaffirmed that there is no official sponsorship program other than the Legacy Life which ends on March 31st.
According to her, they don't question someone sponsoring a friend under the program, but when I told her that I was trying to confirm the policy before posting to another forum, she didn't want me to. She was aware of the big sign up last year, which she said was also not an official policy.
She said that there was a website with this posted with some sort of code number for the discount and that code is definitely not being honored.
So you may have to call more than once to get this honored, but it's worth it.
I will also provide my NRA info to anyone who sends me a PM.
I got someone else the first try and they wouldn't do it. I happened to get Diane the second try and she didn't even ask any questions, just put it through.