Event Sponsorships Planning

Event Sponsorships and Fundraising Efforts (PART ONE)

It has been suggested that your organization try an event to raise funds this year.  What to do?  Where do you start?  Here are some tips to help get your inaugural event off the ground with great success.

1.  Select your event and determine who would be most likely to be interested in attending...what audience would enjoy a golf tournament, a trivia night, a bowl-a-thon, a gala, etc.  The list of possible events is quite literally endless.

2.  Determine the financial goal of the event.  If you are hosting the first ever Trivia Night to benefit your child's school, you might set a goal of $15,000.  

3.  Find the location, determine total capacity crowd, set a reasonable price for individual tickets and then ponder sponsorship possibilities.

4.  Generally speaking, a place to start with sponsorship levels looks like this: "Gold Sponsor" $5,000; "Silver Sponsor" $2,500; "Bronze Sponsor" $1,000; Table Sponsor $500.  Individual tickets for this same event might be $25 per person for a total table cost of $200 to $250 depending on table size.

5.  Develop your sponsorship prospect list.  Who, corporately speaking, would be interested in sponsoring something with your intended audience?  If the event is for your child's school in your local community, your likely prospects would include local community businesses as well as businesses related to education and perhaps vendors to your school (those who sell their services to your school).

6.  Develop and send your first mailing with a personalized letter and a "sponsorship opportunities" page. Your "sponsorship opportunities" page also needs to include ways in which the company can and will be recognized for their gift.  Suggestions include:  a table of 10 with premier seating, logo recognition on website, printed publications, a placard in your school, etc.  Think outside the box for options that are free and inexpensive but will definitely give your funder bang for their buck.

7.  Be sure to do phone follow up a week to two weeks following your letter's drop date.  Get a "yes," a "no," or a "maybe," for each company to whom you mailed a solicitation letter.

8.  Depending on your event, you may want to also solicit auction items for a silent or live auction option to raise additional funds.  This is attractive to attendees of a trivia night, gala, and golf outing.

9.  You will be marketing your event as you progress toward your date so be sure to tout your fundraising success thus far.  For example, you might include in a press release announcing the event, "The Super School is hosting a Trivia Night sponsored by XYZ Corporation, ABC Company and others who have contributed to evening's events."  

10.  Be sure to follow up with your sponsors throughout the process and be sure to mix and mingle with them on the evening of the event so they can see how beneficial their gift was...to the school as well as to their own business.

Coming in part two of this post will be a breakdown of sponsorship levels with recognition as well as scripting for follow up calls...check back!

Researching Potential External Funders

You've been charged the task of raising money for your school.  Perhaps you are already a fundraiser, as I am, with a variety of experience.  Either way, whether you are experienced or not at all in fundraising, you will need to seek out the best fit in external funders for your organization or school. 

Your "constituents" seem pretty obvious, right?  School families, church families if it is a church-based school, local businesses perhaps, but what after that?  Where do you go next? 

A good old Google search will provide some information.

For example, "education grants in Illinois," "art education grants," and other similarly specific searches will give you direction. 

Target, http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819 offers grant funds to elementary schools for the purpose of education.

In the St. Louis area, Innovative Technology Education Fund, http://www.enhancinglearning.org/ offers funding to schools specifically for the purpose of upgrading technology.

You can also locate a listing of Foundations by state http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/mo.htm for Missouri listings and http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/il.htm for Illinois listings.
Sit down at your computer with a cup of coffee and peruse the listings.  You will be able to cross most off the list by definition; however one good lead is all you need.

Once you have that one good lead, research past grant recipients, find out all that you can about their grants, processes, what they like to fund, etc.

Another very important aspect of grant-writing is begin succint and making a very specific ask.  To write a grant and simply ask for $15,000 because you need $15,000 in your general operating fund will not fly.  Find a needed project and then write a grant requesting funding to meet that need.  Some things are easier to write for than others; however, the overall objective is to match your need to the funder's desire to donate. 

Let's take the Target art grant for example.  They do not typically fund "art supplies."  Ask your art teacher what they would really like.  A successfully written grant applcation will request, for example, the "John Smith" art series which highlights famous artists with books and videos which can be integrated into the current curriculum.  Another request might be funding for a specific guest artist to interact with the students.

As you are being specific with the ask, you must also be specific and reasonable with your anticipated costs.  Let's go back to the artists curriculum additional material.  The cost of the curriculum is $XXX, shipping is $XXX.

If you think about the guest artist, you might list their cost for the event, travel expenses if required, food, etc.  Think in terms of everything you would need to completely implement the event/project.

Next time we'll look at the typical parts of a grant application and how to complete them.

How to Set an Appointment with a Funder

So, you've done a little research and found a great grant opportunity!  Good for you!  Now, the work begins.  Funders state that they WANT potential grantees to contact them, to let them know what they are doing, and keeping them updated on their project(s). 

I think it's somewhat difficult for fundraisers to really believe that funders WANT to see you...they really do.  How better to get your great story about your very important project?  Before you make the call consider a couple of things:

1.  Check your information and get the most up-to-date contact name and phone number.  As an aside, this is NOT a place to email unless you've been instructed to do so.  An old-fashioned phone call is the ticket here.

2.  Write a script beforehand to be sure you cover all the points you need.  We all get a little nervous and sometimes we're prepared for the voicemail and when a real voice answers, we get a little shook up.

Here is a sample script I've used before:

Hi, this is Lisa Masters with XYZ.  Is Ms. ABC available?  Ms. ABC, I am working on a project for XYZ and I was hoping I could set down with you for 10-15 minutes to get your input on how best to proceed in the grant process. 

You will get an appointment or you will be pointed in the direction of the right person to contact.  Sometimes this is the Executive Director and sometimes it is a Program Director or similar titled person.

In any event, you've made the first, best, and most important step....keep going!

Next time we'll have some tips for getting fully prepared for this all-important meeting!