What Your Fundraising Event Sponsors Really Want, and How to Give It to Them
9 Secrets to Getting More and Bigger Fundraising Event Sponsorships
Why do companies sponsor fundraising events? What do they get out of it?
Too many nonprofits approach event sponsorship the same flawed way they approach donors – presuming they will just give because it’s such a great cause. No one has to give to your nonprofit. And no company has to sponsor your event. And that doesn’t make them ‘bad’ or selfish or miserly. It just means you haven’t made the case well enough.
Yes, sponsorship is deeply connected to relationships. You will not likely win over many sponsors just by writing a great letter to a total stranger who has some influence at the business. But to really expand your event sponsorships, you need to think about this from their perspective.
Just like any donor, what does this business want out of sponsoring your event?
A donor wants to see impact – their money made a difference. A sponsor wants to see that too, but many also hope for some return on their investment.
7 Quick Reasons Businesses Sponsor Fundraising Events
1. More Leads and Prospects
Show your potential sponsors how they can generate more leads through your event. They look at your sponsorship offer as advertising. One goal of advertising is to get new prospects, to reach new people who might need what they sell.
2. More Sales
You can also create opportunities before, during, and after the event for your sponsors to make immediate sales. We’ll look at a few ways in a bit.
3. Increase Store Traffic
Brick and mortar stores want traffic. If you can show businesses how sponsoring your event will attract more people to their stores, you will have their attention.
4. Increase Word of Mouth and Referrals
People refer companies when they have a good experience. To have a good experience, you must do something memorable. Give your sponsors a chance to be memorable.
5. Position Themselves as a Company that Cares
Companies are learning that ‘cause marketing’ has an impact on their sales. Some customers do actually purchase from certain companies because of their charitable giving. Sometimes this can include tying a sales offer to a donation. But other times, just knowing the company gives to something the customer also cares about is enough.
My wife did this, insisting that we buy our mattress at Sleep Country USA, because they give to programs that help foster children.
6. Values Alignment
Some business owners really do just care, and will give simply because your nonprofit’s mission is something they care about. These are the easy sponsorships to win. When you get these, be nice to them, and make sure to get them year after year. But give them ROI too, and they’ll love you even more.
7. Product Alignment
Some companies sell a product or service that has a natural alignment to your nonprofit’s mission. For instance, a construction company and a homeless housing nonprofit. Or a hospital and a medical mission nonprofit. Look for companies who offer a product or service that aligns with your mission in some way.
Likewise, look at vendors you have paid for their services and products. They might return the favor.
The Worst Thing You Can Do for Event Sponsors
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
With those seven motivations in mind, imagine how excited and thrilled a company owner will be when they hear that you’ll flash their logo up on a screen – next to all the other sponsors – for ten seconds!
Woohoo!
Or not.
You need to think bigger and better. Much bigger. In fact, a better way to say this is, you need to think more respectfully.
A sponsor giving you $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000, or even more deserves more than a logo flash. Don’t you think? If it were your company, wouldn’t you want more than that?
They do care about your mission to some degree, or they wouldn’t sponsor your event. But they want to get something in return for it. Here are 9 ways to deliver ROI for your fundraising event sponsors.
9 Ways to Give ROI to Your Event Sponsors
The theme of all these is – give your sponsors a way to achieve return on investment they can both visualize and measure. Now, some of this will be up to them. If you give them the opportunity, but they squander it with poor and unmeasurable marketing, that’s their problem.
Here are nine ways you can offer ROI opportunities to fundraising event sponsors. You’ll notice how these align with some of the seven motivations listed above. Some of these come from Chris Baylis’ article in the July 2019 issue of Advancing Philanthropy. You can reach him at the Sponsorship Collective.
1. Product Giveaways, Samples, Drawings
One great way to do this is, let your sponsor donate the prize for the raffle, Heads/Tails, the Thin Green Line, or whatever other fundraising games you’ll be playing.
Let a company rep conduct the actual drawing.
You could also let them put product samples or coupons in the welcome packets you give to all your attendees.
2. Signage, Booth, Table
Let your sponsor have their own sign at your event. Even better, give them a booth or a table where they can directly engage with your attendees during the silent auction.
There, they can make offers and give away samples and coupons, and offer referral bonuses.
3. Naming Rights
Being memorable and getting noticed is a big part of marketing. So let your sponsors put their names on programs, events, and spaces at your event. Sometimes, you can have fun with this.
A plumbing company could sponsor the bathroom. An HVAC installer could sponsor the heating or air conditioning. People will remember that sort of thing because it’s unique and amusing.
Sponsors can also put their names on the bar, a particular giveaway, a portion of the event such as the fund-a-need or the silent auction, or even sponsor a particular speaker that maybe you had to pay for, like a celebrity.
Creativity is the name of this game. Just about anything can be sponsored. Just make sure their name is visibly recognized, and mentioned verbally as well.
4. Speaking Opportunity
Especially if you have values alignment, give your sponsor a chance to speak and tell all your attendees why your cause matters so much to them. This gives them the chance to make their case and bond with a like-minded audience.
5. Thank Them on Your Event Registration Page
When people register your event, they should see which companies are sponsoring the event. This positions the business at the same level as the nonprofit in the mind of the attendee – we all care about the same cause.
6. Write Blogs about Your Sponsors, and Link to Their Websites
SEO is ROI.
What does that mean? It means that linking to a business’ website gives value to them. In search engine optimization, this is called a backlink. More backlinks increase a website’s authority.
So write a blog or two with a brief promotion of your sponsors, and explain what their businesses do. You might even try to get a couple quotes from each business about why they’re sponsoring your event, and include them for your readers.
And don’t just link to the business’ home page. Ask them which page they want you to link to. They may want to use this chance to promote a specific offer or product. You could then link to the product page or the sales or landing page that sells their offer.
You are serving their business interests in this way.
7. Promote Them on Your Social Media – Repeatedly
Just as with the blogs, talk to your sponsors and ask them if they have specific offers or products they want to promote through their event sponsorship.
Commit to posting once per week on your social media accounts on behalf of your sponsors’ offers. Link to the specific pages on their site that relate to their offer.
Is that a lot of work? Will that take some of your valuable time? Yes, but think of how grateful your sponsors will be, and how much more likely they will be to sponsor your event again next year.
In other words, don’t look at sponsorships as free money. If you have to work a little bit for this money, that’s actually… kind of what makes the world go around, right?
8. Promote Them in Your Email and Print Newsletters
You can do the same thing here as on social media. Don’t just mention their names or paste their logos. Let them use your platforms to actually sell to your audience.
Your audience will not be offended by this. People like getting special deals. Smart event sponsors will take advantage of that, and make ‘event-only’ special offers and coupon deals.
Your attendees will not be bothered at all if they receive a 20% off coupon that is offered to no one else, or a buy one, get one offer at a restaurant, but only if you bring in the event-only coupon. That’s not offensive. That’s a sweet deal.
9. Offer Specific Services for the Sponsor to ‘Own’
Chris Baylis lists a few of these in his article, including:
- ✓ free valet parking
- ✓ breastfeeding stations
- ✓ cellphone charging stations
- ✓ local beer/wine tasting
The key is – make sure everyone at your event knows the sponsor is the only reason these services are being offered.
And again, a smart sponsor will use these sorts of opportunities to forge their own connections with your attendees. For instance, put coupon offers or free trial offers on the chairs at the breastfeeding station. Have the valet include a coupon or special offer when you get your car back.
This is pretty simple stuff. But it begins with you. You have to think about your sponsors, and how you can best serve their interests and give them opportunities to generate a return on their investment.
That is a far better way to thank them than just sending an email or a thank you card (though you should do that too!).
See 8 Ways to Earn Money through Auctions, and 3 Event Marketing Strategies
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