How to get sponsorship

Imagine that your organisation holds an annual event which has become somewhat jaded. You want to revamp it because it offers an excellent opportunity to connect with people who are important to your cause. 

There is no extra money to make improvements so you have decided to see if you can raise sponsorship from the local business community. 

Where to start

You have one chance to make a good impression so before you approach anybody about sponsoring your event, it’s worth taking some time to think through what you want and what you are offering. You can do this by answering the following questions: 

• Why do you want to hold the event? 
• What are your aims and objectives?
• Who will be attracted to your event - the more specific you can be the better. 
• Are you aiming for one exclusive principal sponsor or several smaller ones?
• What do organisers of similar events include in their sponsorship packages and what do they charge?
• What benefits can you offer a sponsor eg increased social media presence, opportunity to reach a specific target audience, a chance to be associated with success, publicity etc. 
• What can you do to reassure a potential sponsor that you will deliver on your promises and the event will be a triumph? 
• How successful is your organisation at promoting itself? In other words, will the sponsoring organisation benefit from a higher profile because you can demonstrate that you have a loyal social media following, an enviable number of visits to your website and that your press releases get published? Proving you have a track record for achieving positive publicity can help to reassure a potential sponsor that they will get a good return on their investment.

Research potential sponsors

Identify sponsors that would be a good fit for your event and your organisation. 

Look at what is happening locally to find businesses that may be seeking opportunities to raise their profile eg a new business moving to the area or one that is growing - your local paper is a great source of information. 

Identify businesses that have a track record for sponsoring similar events.

Design your sponsorship package

Begin by creating a list of everything you could offer as part of a sponsorship package. Ideas include: 

• An advert in your event programme
• X mentions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc
• A mention or a quote in x press releases 
• Photo opportunity
• A banner in a highly visible place
• Sponsors’ launch
• Inclusion of logo on event publicity
• A link on your website
• Display space at the event
• Opportunity to speak at the event
• Announcements throughout the event to acknowledge the sponsor’s support  
• Article(s) in your newsletter

Once you have a list of opportunities, organise them into different levels of sponsorship and decide on a price. For example, a bronze level package may include 2-3 ideas from your list while platinum level sponsorship may include everything. 

Be prepared to be flexible on the content of the packages as a sponsor may want to design their own package and pick and mix the content. 

Finally, invest in having your sponsorship proposal professionally designed – this should not be expensive. Having a nice-looking leaflet or brochure to give to potential sponsors will leave a good impression and give them a glimpse of what they can expect for their investment. Here is an example of a sponsorship guide we produced for Farnham Town Council. 

Next steps

You now have the essentials for putting together your sponsorship package. Good luck and please do get in touch if you have any questions or need some help.