Dos and Don’ts Of Corporate Sponsorships For Events

Dos and Don’ts Of Corporate Sponsorships For Events

Nonprofits and cultural institutions rely on donors, a robust membership, ticket sales, and corporate sonsporships to make their events a reality. In this article, we’re going to focus on the Dos and Don’ts of working with corporate sponsors to help fund your events.

What Is a Corporate Sponsorship?

Corporate sponsorship allow corporations to enable the cause of a non-profit by funding projects or programs they see value in. Corporations gain recognition by associating themselves with the goals or ethos of the non-profit which can be reflected by having their logos and brand names displayed alongside the organization during different events, while non-profits gain valuable funds to actualize their events and reach their annual goalsthrough this. The sponsorship provides both parties a means to generate revenue and build relationships that might drive social change. 

How to Work With the Right Corporate Sponsors?

There are many ways in which a non-profit can take steps to find the right partner for the organization. can look to understand who the right sponsor for them is. 

• Starting locally: The best way to foster a long-lasting and community-oriented corporate relationship is by approaching local businesses. The chances of finding common ground in terms of audience and culture with local companies will serve as a much more valuable collaboration. 
• Sponsor’s aAudience: Starting locally helps make cross-marketing opportunities more viable. This capacity of reaching the right audience will prove provide to be valuable to both organizations. 
• Sponsor’s goals and values: The best sponors come from corporations that have similar goals and values to your organization. That way, both organizations are incentivized and aligned in their common mission for philanthropy, social change, and their unique mission statements. 
• Sponsor’s offer: It is also essential to assess the kind and type of capital sponsor organizations offer. These can come in the form of:
  • Monetary event sponsorships: This is usually the most common kind of looking at sponsorship where a business is funding an event, activity, or program. 
  • In-kind sponsorships: Instead of pure hard cash,  this type of sponsorship take the form of goods, experiences, and services—such as wine from a vineyard’s inventory, tickets from an amusement park, spa packages, gift certificates to restaurants or retailers.
  • Media sponsorships: This involves the corporate sponsor indirectly funding the event by covering the cost of promotion, which might include print advertising, social media posts and campaigns, or radio shout-outs.

Types of companies perfect for corporate sponsorship

These are typically the most common organizations to approach for corporate sponshorships:

• Banks
• Hotels 
• Grocery chains
• Insurance companies 
• Food brands 
• Beer brands 
• Major retailers 
• Airlines

Approaching a company for sponsorship

So once you’ve made a list of your ideal corporate sponsors, how do you approach them?Here is a checklist of things while approaching a sponsor:

• Research potential sponsors: What kind of supporters are you looking for? Rely on the organization’s past sponsorship history. See if their goal and interests align with your values and audience—or if they could help you find other new sponsors. 
• Tell your organization’s story: What is special about your organization? Define key pitch elements and weave them together to tell a story that will appeal to potential sponsors. 
• Provide sponsor incentives: What will they gain from the collaboration? Mark out various ways in which this new relationship might help the sponsor in their reach. 
• Reach out to established companies: What kind of exposure are you looking for? More established companies with well-knownwell known reputations and strong goals will put in more capital and effort that in turn can boost ana organization’s profile. 
• Use data to legitimize your pitch: Why should they invest in you? Putting up data to back the kind of impact the organizationorganizaiton has already had in the past will give sponsors confidence in their investment.
• Find the right contact: Is there a way to cut the queue? Like most things, it will get a bit easier if you have the right contact is. SSo shooting an email to the marketing department is a great way to start the process. 
• Follow up: How long should you wait? Sometimes, a sponsor may not have the capital to support your event owing to lack of funds the organization might send in a no. This does not mean that they will not consider another pitch in the future,. sSo keep them on your radar and do a followup later in the year.do follow up.

Cultivating corporate relationships for ongoing sponsorship

While approaching a potential sponsor is the foot inon the door, being able to build a sustainable connection over time makes the affair more fruitful. Some of the things in mind during this process:

• Start on a strong foundation of shared values and concerns.
• Take time to know the goals of the sponsor with respect to the relationship. 
• Communicate the kind of impact they are having . 
• Show that you care about their goals too by making opportunities available for their reach to your audience. 

One Step Further – Corporate Giving Programs 

Corporate giving programs is a particular kind of philanthropy wherein corporations voluntarily invest and participate in activities that account for their social impact. This includes money, donations of products, in-kind services and technical assistance, employee volunteerism, and other business transactions that push a social cause, issue, or the work of a nonprofit organization. 

From automating donor outreach to simplifying internal data management, technology can help to streamline various nonprofit operations — and corporate sponsorship programs are no exception. 

Many corporate giving platforms are created with the nonprofit-corporate matchmaking process in mind, helping both businesses and mission-driven organizations find their ideal partners. Technology can help in cutting through a swathe of multiple organizations across different criterias to help with starting a healthy partnership.  

How ACME Can Help

ACME can turn the vision of your sponsorship event into reality with our state-of-the-art ticket and membership management system. Contactless payment systems, time ticketing, offline ticketing, and cloud-based technology will allow you to manage your ticketing needs and make a seamless ticketing experience for keeping up to speed with your pitches. 

Try ACME ticketing today to see how you can turn guests to start your corporate partnership.