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We hear this question a lot. “I keep getting sent to the online form…what should I do?” The question refers to those online forms that companies have on their website for you to complete to apply for sponsorship. The question is, should you fill it out. The answer is…yes! But not without a story first. We were working with two clients, both completed an online form for the same company, one got a big five figure sponsorship while the other didn’t. What was the difference between the two applications? Sponsorship Request Forms Gone Wrong Property A was a client of ours. They had an event planning and sponsorship committee helping them with their event. Somehow the committee got the impression that their role was that of giving advice. Naturally, not a single person on the committee had expertise in sponsorship yet they were sure they understood the space. Our client told us that this committee insisted that all they had to do was fill out the form on a major bank’s website and money would come pouring in. They asked me what to do and I told them that the existence of an online form has no impact on sales […]

  We all know what makes a rights holder ready for sponsorship in their own eyes- they need money! But we all know that the needs of the property are largely irrelevant in the eyes of sponsors. So what makes a property “sponsorship ready” in the eyes of a sponsor? These five things: Fully Developed Inventory of Sponsorship Assets There is nothing more disappointing to a sponsor than receiving a sponsorship package with only two or three types of assets. The inventory itself could have hundreds of assets…but they all fall into a few categories- namely “push marketing assets.” In other words, logo on this, logo on that, e-blasts and signage in hundreds of formats. Sponsorship is all about bringing together the needs of your audience and your sponsor to create something that your sponsors can’t find anywhere else. Build out an inventory that encompasses all types of sponsorship assets and work with your sponsors to determine their goals, using your assets to accomplish those goals. Knowing Your Sponsorship Value Guessing at the value of your assets is a bad idea. Selling sponsorship simply to cover costs (like in kind sponsorship) is a bad idea. Your sponsorship assets have a […]

  Last week we looked at the first head of the hydra that can be corporate sponsorship in our sector. This week, we’ll look at vanquishing those other two heads, and set you on course to be a hero in your organization of Herculean status.

  This two-part blog post series goes out to my warrior-friends in the non-profits and charities who identify as “small shops”. These organizations are typically under $500,000 in yearly revenue, and cringe at the thought of taking on additional tasks that will stretch their already scarce resources. Well, I’m here to help you succeed in obtaining corporate sponsorship for your next event, campaign or initiative…all while having to invest very little time or resources to make it happen….at least at first. How do I know this? Because I did it myself! I recently made the jump from a small shop, with a $0 sponsorship budget, but before I left over a year later I had raised over $130,000 in unrestricted revenues. All of these funds were also all renewable, and went right into funding work our organization was doing. All the while I only worked part time (15 hours/week or less) so believe me when I say I understand and sympathise with that under-resourced and over-worked struggle we all understand too well.