Are you Sponsorship Ready?
By: Vicki Bohlsen (President) with Guest Ken Ungar (Charge)
Many of the organizations Bohlsen Group works with are funded by donations from the general public, government and private foundations.
When it comes to increasing funds for a nonprofit, it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. From social media marketing to email campaigns and in-person (or Zoom events), your nonprofit has undoubtedly run the gamut to find what works and what doesn’t. But for many nonprofits, especially smaller ones with few volunteers or support staff, corporate sponsorships are an often overlooked or underestimated avenue for growth.
The majority of corporate sponsorships are workplace giving relationships, but companies can reap many other benefits from their nonprofit relationships when creating a more robust shared value mission:
• Brand enhancement
• Employee recruitment and retention
• Improved employee professional and leadership skills
When these sponsorships take place, it is not just a win-win; rather, it can be a win-win-win, enveloping the community they both serve as well. But the first step is for both to be poised to create, implement and fulfill a sponsorship.
A conversation between a sponsorship sales colleague of mine led to a great discussion where he told me that he had created a sponsorship readiness assessment. I asked him to share this with our readers (see below).
Many sponsorship sellers experience frustration over their inability to close deals. Sometimes, poor sales technique is to blame. However, it may be that the seller's property is not "sponsorship ready."
From a sponsor's point of view, a property is sponsorship ready if it has the marketing and sales tools to be a great partner. However, I look at sponsorship readiness in simpler terms. For example, if I wanted to plan a road trip, I'd make sure there was gas in the car, a map loaded on my iPhone, snacks for the journey and a hotel reservation when I arrived.If I just decided on a whim to get in the car and drive, the trip would likely end badly.
Over time, our agency assembled a list of considerations sponsors find most important in how they pick property partners. This list describes what it means to be sponsorship ready and includes the following:
· The property has a great marketing program that can carry the sponsor's message wherever it needs to go. The property can act as a marketing extension of the sponsor.
· The property understands its audience and how it meshes with the sponsor's customer base. It can present this data in a way that offers unquestioned value for the sponsor.
· Social media is one of the essential platforms for sponsorship programs. The property understands this marketing channel and can deliver strong audience engagement.
· The property has organized its sponsorship offering and done its homework to pick the most appropriate sponsorship partners.
· The property customized its proposal with unique solutions to specific sponsors. It also includes vital data, like descriptions of the shared target audience.
· The property's sponsorship assets highlight the unique benefits offered to its sponsors. These assets maximize value to the sponsor and are right-priced.
· The property understands the value of excellent sponsorship service and has planned it with strategy, staffing and reporting.
· Since sponsors increasingly emphasize their commitment to society, they expect the same of their property partners. Properties understand this and can help sponsors fulfill their corporate social responsibility, or CSR, goals.
To help our colleagues and clients know whether they are sponsorship ready, we've created a short sponsorship readiness assessment. Click here to check it out to find out where you stand in just a few minutes. This brief assessment will give you a sense of your readiness to attract and fulfill sponsorships.