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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

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.

Read more about Chris Baylis.

Baley

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

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.

 

Erin

Erin

Director of Marketing

For more than 15 years, Erin connects with people through her global experience in marketing. Erin started her career in nonprofit (both as a professional and lay leader), then entered the startup world.

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She is passionate about helping people. As a member of the Sponsorship Collective team, that is what she gets to do, as the company’s mantra is to enable and empower as many people as possible in their sponsorship endeavors.
 

Kevin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.
 

Iris

Iris

Operations Coordinator

Iris plays a pivotal role at The Sponsorship Collective in supporting the team and various departments. A proud graduate of the University of Connecticut, Iris excels in problem-solving and ensuring that systems run smoothly.

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In addition to providing essential resources and support, Iris also works to streamline processes to enhance overall efficiency. With strong organizational skills and a forward-thinking mindset, Iris ensures that every team member has what they need to excel in their roles.
 

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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