Sponsors of non-profit organizations and community groups are often good corporate citizens motivated by a sincere desire to contribute to their local community or meet the needs of a worthy cause. These wonderful sponsors are truly altruistic and act only to "give back to the community".
However, unless they prefer to remain anonymous, most sponsors consider their sponsorship to be a form of investment, not only in the greater community, but also financially, and so anticipate a return in the form of recognition, exposure, or publicity.
The City of Leduc, Alberta in 2009 developed a fully-subscribed sponsorship campaign for the construction of a new recreation center, and has successfully applied their model to subsequent events. Taylor Stiles, the city's Community Development Coordinator for Recreation and manager of later campaigns, advises that as part of a sponsorship campaign, the non-profit or community organization needs to be proactive in thinking about what they can offer to sponsors by way of thanks for their participation and investment.
Assets and Benefits
The forms of thanks that a non-profit can offer to sponsors may be considered among the assets of the organization, and these benefits or assets are what the sponsor will receive. The assets are linked to the properties – events, facilities, programs, events – that the organization has available.
The first step is to identify the specific benefits that are available to a sponsor for each property. Let's consider a local dance studio doing a student presentation to raise funds for new mirrors, exercise bars, and special training. The "property" is the event and its associated activities.
The "usual" assets are advertising space on the studio walls and in the printed program. But it's important to brainstorm additional potential assets to offer a sponsor.
Outside the Box
The ideal, according to Stiles, is to structure the sponsor program so that "each property should have unique opportunities" or benefits. Stiles advises non-profits to "Think outside the box. Creatively showcase your opportunity for investment."
This creativity may even require customizing the benefits to suit the needs and interests of a particular sponsor and negotiating to meet the sponsor's desires. Would the sponsor be delighted (and encouraged to raise their investment) if one of the dances were named for the company and all the dance students were dressed in corporate colors? Perhaps there is a song that reflects the company motto or mission statement to which the students might dance?
Obviously, these things require a good knowledge of the sponsors, their policies, their interests, who they are and what they do.
Marketing is More Than the Logo
It's important to remember that you have more to offer the sponsor than a space for the corporate logo. Certainly that's important for brand recognition, and the non-profit has to work with the sponsor to be sure that the logo is used appropriately and in accordance with whatever style guides the company has established.
But additional assets might include places and ways to publicize and promote the sponsor's:
- mission statement
- corporate motto
- history
- theme.
These benefits can also be worked back as additional properties. Low-level sponsorship might include only the logo or a business-card ad in the printed program, while a high-level sponsorship might involve a half-page in the program with all of the above benefits.
Sponsorship Benefits Both Ways
A good sponsorship program benefits both sponsor and organization. An example is hot-tub manufacturer Arctic Spas, which recently donated $10,000 a year for eight years to the Village of Thorsby in return for naming rights to the local recreation center, their logo at center ice in the rinks, and advertising on the arena walls. The village received a guaranteed source of funds for improvements and upgrades, and the sponsor received province-wide (or wider) recognition for corporate citizenship.
Thomas Alan Gray - Tom has been writing for over 30 years; curiosity leads him to dig into a wide variety of topics.
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