12 Steps to Non-Profit Sponsorship Success
1. Know your organizational assets and the value of what you are selling.
Before you approach your first sponsor, ask yourself some basic questions: Who is your audience? What benefits can you offer a sponsor? What are your objectives? Be sure that you are fully aware of what benefits you can offer and deliver on as an incentive for the sponsor to participate.
Determine the buying power of your donor and key constituencies; know their demographics and their influence; list all of your visibility properties such as, communications vehicles, signage, etc.
2. Develop Sponsorship Levels and Get the Big Gifts First
Approach sponsorships as a "campaign". Set your sights on the biggest gifts first and don't dilute or water down your effort by picking the low hanging fruit before you land the big one. Employ all your resources to land the big sponsors. And remember, the biggest gifts require the most effort and take the longest time.
3. Think Strategically. Target Sponsors with similar goals and audiences
Stay true to your mission when you target potential sponsors. Don't compromise your organization's value, ethics, or brand to obtain a sponsor. Your prospects will generally be much more receptive if you can demonstrate that your sponsorship opportunity offers exposure to the people they are trying to reach or for a cause that they support.
4. Offer more that the value of the sponsorship.
After you evaluate your assets, examine and quantify all of the opportunities for exposure that would be valuable to the sponsor. Assign a realistic value to each opportunity. For instance, if you are advertising your facility or event, offer your sponsor a logo or mention in your ad. Then, determine what it would have cost the sponsor to get its message to the people those ads are reaching. From those values, put together a package that reflects 150 to 200 percent of the value of the sponsorship. Remember that sponsorships are not money for nothing. All successful sponsorships are win/win situations. Your partnership with a sponsor should reflect a parallel in goals and audience as well as a strong potential for successfully reaching both of those conditions.
5. Pre-qualify your sponsors.
Don't rely on outdated lists or "hunches" to determine a company's sponsorship decision-maker. Make sure that you are not wasting your time with someone who is not the decision-maker. Since not all companies name specific sponsorships departments, responsibility for sponsorships may fall in the public relations department, advertising department, marketing department or within human resources, to mention just a few. Because each company is different, you need to pick up the phone and call your target companies and find out who handles sponsorship for that organization. Talk to that person before you send your proposal to make sure you have the right one.
6. Be Flexible.
Sponsors come in many forms at many levels. Consider the benefits of partial sponsorships or barter arrangements. For instance, a local restaurant may not be interested in paying for a title sponsorship, but may offer to provide catering services for a preview party or luncheon. Also, a sponsor may want to buy some of the promotional opportunities, but not all of them. Work with the sponsor as much as you can, but be sure that you are still achieving the goals that you established in the beginning.
Sell the sponsorship
7. Put together a package with the right information.
Your package should include a cover letter that concisely communicated key advantages of the sponsorship; a fact sheet with a range of sponsorship opportunities and target audiences audience information. Find creative commonalities. Don't overwhelm the sponsor; be sure to include enough information to interest the sponsor and generate a further dialogue. Your package should be typewritten or laser printed, neat and free of typographical errors.
8. Get started early a year in advance is about the right time.
When you speak to the decision-maker, try to find out what time of the year that the company allocates sponsorship funds and be sure to get there at least a few months before the budget is set. Call the decision-maker to ensure that the package was received. Continue to follow up on a regular basis including around the time that the budget is allocated. Your chances of being considered decrease dramatically if you send your proposal just before the new deadline many will have gotten there before you.
9. One of the primary rules of sales is to always ask for the sale at the end of your presentation. Once you have done your homework, found the sponsor and presented everything you have to offer, always ask for the sponsorship. Some salespeople use an assumptive approach such as, "I'll reserve the cocktail hour sponsorship for you." Others use an added value approach to create a sense of urgency, such as "If you reserve your sponsorship now, we can include you in the upcoming advertising campaign." There are many ways to close a sale and you will develop your own personal approach with which you are most comfortable and learn how to evaluate the right choice for each customer.
10. Wage a Campaign, Be a Squeaky Wheel. Don't Take No.
Don't expect great results if you simply send the package and drop out of sight. Send your target sponsor organization newsletters, newspaper clippings that appear about your group or event and updates on appropriate projects in progress. Include a handwritten note to the prospect. Invite your prospective sponsor to other events you may have to get a feel for your organization.
11. Put it in writing.
Once the sponsorship has been agreed upon, formalize it with a letter of agreement and contract. This contract should specifically document all of the activities that will take place, the responsibilities of the sponsor, the responsibilities of your organization and any agreements that were discussed as part of the sponsorship. Both parties should receive signed copies of the document.
12. Follow Through and Produce.
You have sold the sponsorship. That's just half the work. Now, you must make sure that you deliver on everything you promised the sponsor. On-site management of the sponsorship is critical to happy sponsors. Make sure banners are hung in the right location, logos appear in ads and all of the other pieces are in place. Do everything you can to help the sponsor reach its goal and, in turn, the sponsorship will help you reach your goals. Dropping the ball now could mean losing the sponsor forever.
Squeezing the Last Drop From Your Sponsors
Cross promote
Research your prospects well and be fully knowledgeable in what you have to offer. Be thorough, informed and flexible and you have the potential to make virtually anything happen.
Explore collateral sales
Will the sponsoring organization also consider any philanthropic dollars from a separate "bucket"?
Can you negotiate a multi-year relationship, where the sponsoring organization co-brands that event?
Can you offer something extra or added to involve the company's employees?
Use every opportunity to inform donors and constituents about your organization's mission and programs. Every speaker, advertisement, printed program and ancillary support of the event should promote the mission in a compelling way, so that a lasting impression is made that can have an impact on later development efforts.
Converting your sponsor to a long-term relationship
Manage your sponsors like a major donor. Make sure that your sponsoring organization's executives understand your programs and mission.
