About us

About The Sponsorship Collective

The Sponsorship Collective is your go to resource for best practice sponsorship strategy.

We work with a variety of sponsorship seekers, including:

Associations and membership orgs
Athletes
Charities
Conferences
Education institutions
Festivals
Influencers
Major events
Motorsports
Municipalities
Nonprofits
Podcasts
Sports teams

Our focus is on helping sponsorship seekers build capacity to do sponsorship the right way. We do this through a variety of tools and services including consulting, training, software and professional development.

Our Mission

At The Sponsorship Collective, our goal is simple: We are here to turn you into a magnet for sponsorship.

We accomplish this by helping you, the sponsorship seeker, find clarity, stand out from the crowd and build lasting partnerships in a repeatable and scalable way.

Our Story

Our story starts in 2007 when our founder, Chris Baylis, began working in the sponsorship industry after years in high tech and insurance sales.

Over the course of 10+ years, Chris sold sponsorship, managed teams and built activations…in a vacuum. There was virtually no information available online (or anywhere, for that matter) and really no way to learn sponsorship beyond trial and error.

It was in 2014 that Chris decided if he couldn’t find such a community, he would create one. And on that day, The Sponsorship Collective blog was born.

Over the course of a year and 100+ articles, something amazing happened:

The blog grew.

And as it grew, a community began to form. In January of 2015 The Sponsorship Collective moved from “just a blog” to “just a consulting agency” of one. And since then, The Sponsorship Collective has been at the forefront of best practice sponsorship with dozens of team members located all over the world.

Today, The Sponsorship Collective has…

Published hundreds of videos on our YouTube channel
Written hundreds of thousands of words on our blog
Spoken on stages all over North America
Founded a conference
Created the first ever Event Sponsorship certification program in partnership with Eventbrite
Built a cloud-based valuation calculator used by thousands of brands and properties all over the world
Published dozens of unique research papers about the state of the sponsorship industry
Been interviewed by too many podcasts to count
Worked with thousands of clients in from all over the world from every property type imaginable who have brought in millions of dollars in sponsorship revenue

Meet The Team

The Sponsorship Collective is a group of committed, world class sponsorship professionals determined to change the way sponsorship is practiced.

Chris Baylis

Founder

Chris Baylis is the Founder and Editor Editor-in-Chief of The Sponsorship Collective.

After spending several years in the field as a sponsorship professional and consultant, Chris now spends his time working with clients to help them understand their audiences, build activations that sponsors want, apply market values to their assets and build strategies that drive sales.

Baley

Director of Operations

Baley is our Operations Manager also known as our “Go To Girl” and there is nothing at The Sponsorship Collective that Baley is not involved with. She came to The Sponsorship Collective after collecting a wealth of experience in business, sales, administration and finance.

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She spends her work day improving the client experience, our programs, our systems and working with her team to make sure that our clients have everything they need to be successful. It’s the seemingly insignificant changes and decisions that have a massive impact on our success and Baley loves to see the impact of those changes in helping The Sponsorship Collective have a massive impact on the industry!

Ian

Director of Sales

Ian has over 20 years of experience leading sales teams and building partnerships across multiple industries, including education, travel, and tech. He’s passionate about driving growth and helping clients achieve their goals.

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Ian believes in the power of strategic planning and relationship-building. He joined The Sponsorship Collective because he shares the company’s mission of empowering organizations to unlock their full sponsorship potential.

Vanessa

Director of Client Success

With decades of experience in customer success leadership, Vanessa brings a wealth of expertise to our team. Having honed skills across the tech industry and thriving startups, she has a proven track record of driving exceptional customer experiences on a global scale.

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Vanessa is passionate about building strong relationships and ensuring that our clients achieve their goals.

Kevin

Sponsorship Consultant

Kevin Grothe has more than 35 years of sales, marketing and fund-raising experience in the event industry. Known for developing long-term business relationships, he has successfully increased department revenues for several event organizations and institutions of higher learning.

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Kevin has been with Memphis in May International Festival since 2006 and serves as the Vice President of Sponsorships. He has worked with several national accounts including Facebook, Amazon, FedEx, UPS, AutoZone, McCormick, YETI, and Kingsford. Through successfully negotiating and implementing a myriad of sponsorship strategies, revenue has increased from $1 million to more than $2.8 million during his tenure. Kevin also served on the The International Festivals & Events Association Foundation Board, including as the Board Chair in 2020 and 2021. He is a graduate from the University of Iowa and is married to Betty with whom he has three step-sons, Dean, Nick and Chase.

Chris

Sponsorship Consultant

In addition to his consulting responsibilities, Chris Norwood is a co-owner and Director of Marketing and Sponsorship Sales for DUSK Music Festival in Tucson Arizona.

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Chris’ main focus at The Sponsorship Collective is helping our clients understand their property, audience and activations as well as working with them to value their sponsorship opportunities. He most enjoys helping clients understand how valuable the opportunities that their properties represent and giving them the confidence to take their sponsorship opportunities to market.

Mark

Sponsorship Consultant

For more than 20 years, Mark was the editor and publisher of The Sponsorship Report, which reported on corporate sponsorship activity in Canada and elsewhere. He also hosted dozens of industry-leading workshops and seminars on corporate sponsorship, and launched Canada’s first national conference on sponsorship, Sponsorship Toronto.

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Mark brings a unique perspective to the coaching staff of The Sponsorship Collective, that of a sponsorship generalist who has picked the brains of some of the world’s most creative and successful sponsorship professionals, both from the property and the brand side. Over the course of his career, he has accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of sponsorship best practices, which he eagerly shares with colleagues and clients.

Lendel

Sales Executive

Lendel is responsible for sharing The Sponsorship Accelerator with hundreds of clients. He is passionate about helping people and equipping them with the tools to drastically change their circumstances, as The Sponsorship Collective has done for him.

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Lendel studied Computer Science at university and worked as a business analyst after completing his studies. Lendel has been with The Sponsorship Collective for 3 years as a member of our Sales team.

Jill

Sales Executive

At the Sponsorship Collective, Jill loves providing a solution to people. She is proud to work for a company that delivers results that she can personally see the effect of behind the scenes. She feels blessed to wake up and serve our clients daily

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Jill’s entire career has been sales focused. She has 15 years experience in Senior Living where she was the Regional Director of Sales and Marketing. She was responsible for millions in sales each month, managing a very large team across 6 states in the Northeast. She received her MBA from Pepperdine University.

Kade

Sales Specialist

Kade is currently one of our longest employees at The Sponsorship Collective. Upon completing his degree in finance, he has personally enrolled in The Sponsorship Accelerator and has learned how to engage in the sponsorship marketplace.

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With his first hand experience he has a vast understanding of the challenges our clients face in the sponsorship industry and how we can support them. His day consists of talking to amazing people doing amazing things in this world. When someone is introduced to our community and they win, Kade believes there is nothing better.

Ty

Sales Specialist

Ty has an extensive business and sales background and, after learning about sponsorship, developed a particular passion for marketing.

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He is proud to work for The Sponsorship Collective and work alongside industry leaders.

Lucas

Sales Executive

Lucas is an Advisor at The Sponsorship Collective, his background spans various industries with experience in sales & client management.

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He is passionate about helping both people and businesses to maximize their sponsorship value through our innovative approach and strategies.

Shabab

Client Success Manager

Shabab has double majors in Economics and Political Science for his undergrad. He’s developed a career in Customer Success within the Saas space.

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He loves working in Client Success because it combines his passion for helping others with the satisfaction of driving real results. Seeing clients succeed and knowing he has contributed to their growth is deeply rewarding.

Kanwal aka 'Kiki'

Executive Assistant

Kiki is a dedicated and seasoned executive assistant with over 17 years of experience in supporting top-level executives, managing complex schedules, and thriving in dynamic environments.

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Her decision to join Sponsorship Collective as an executive assistant to Chris was based on the company’s commitment to its core values and work ethics, making it a fantastic organization to grow and excel professionally.

Aditya

Sales Executive

Aditya is a marketing professional with a postgraduate degree in Sport and Event Marketing, where he studied various aspects of event promotion, including sponsorship strategies. With over five years of experience in B2B sales, Aditya has developed a strong understanding of client relationships, value proposition, and strategic negotiation.

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Driven by a passion for the intersection of sports, business, and marketing, Aditya chose to work with The Sponsorship Collective because of its reputation for innovation in the sponsorship space. Their mission to help organizations unlock the full potential of sponsorship aligns with Aditya’s belief in the power of partnerships to drive growth and elevate brands. The opportunity to apply his knowledge of sponsorships and business development in such a dynamic and collaborative environment was the perfect next step in his career journey.

Simona

Business Operations Coordinator

Simona is an Operations Co-ordinator at The Sponsorship Collective, with several years of experience helping businesses to run smoothly and efficiently.

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Abiram

Sales Development Representative

Abiram has been in sales for over 5 years, driven by a passion for connecting businesses/individuals with solutions. He got into sales by accident and hasn’t looked back ever since.

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The mission to provide world class sponsorship services to those in need is what drew him to The Sponsorship Collective. He is all about experiences and learning that includes traveling, listening to podcasts and reading.

Adam

Sales Development Representative

Adam studied psychology in university, and has worked in sales throughout his whole life with a passion for helping people. Working in sales allows him to meet and talk to many different people and work towards a solution to their problems together.

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He joined The Sponsorship Collective because of the impact he can create by helping people acquire sponsorship. He is proud and passionate to help people achieve their dreams with sponsorship.

Connect With Us

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In order to get in touch with The Sponsorship Collective team, please go to this page.

We’d Love to Help You!

We know what it takes to build a world class sponsorship opportunity and we would love to turn you into a magnet for sponsorship. If you want to learn more about how we can help, be sure to book a call with the team.

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