As a sponsorship-seeker, you can find lots of information about certain ‘points’ in the sponsorship journey, like creating a great proposal or asking the right questions in sponsorship meetings, but what more and more non-profits are asking for is an easy to follow, end-to-end process that leads them through the steps involved in REALLY being able to create and leverage awesome sponsorship relationships for their organisation or event.

If you’ve also been asking this question, then I’ve just recorded a video about best practice sponsorship for non-profits and charities that I wanted to share in the hope that more and more organisations and events see that there is a defined pathway to sponsorship success, and the process does not just start with a list of prospects and a generic proposal.

Get your Board on-board first.  That’s the key.

I don’t apologise that this is not a short video, but if you want to understand the process end-to-end of planning, finding, connecting with and keeping corporate partners, then perhaps you could make yourself a cuppa and put aside half an hour to really look at whether your organisation is following best practice sponsorship principles?

Enjoy!

For more information on best practice sponsorship for non-profits and charities, please visit www.sponsorship-university.com

The intentions behind my resources is always to support a more effective and nimble Third Sector. To provide templates, guides and free downloads that not only save time, but simultaneously educates and informs on best practice sponsorship techniques so you don’t have to waste time working out what you need to do to make a great approach to sponsors.

You see, once you download one of my books, you become part of my tribe. I keep in touch with you to see how you are going, whether you’ve had time to read it, absorb it and more importantly, whether the content was helpful to you in getting you closer to your desired outcome.

I heard back from a lovely woman just yesterday who responded to an email I had sent her saying that she had been swamped by work of late, hadn’t had a chance to get to my book but assured me it was on her ‘to do’ list.

It made me think about all the times over the years (and even now) where I have started a plan, project or new book with good intentions, but then somehow life swamps me and I have easily lost focus on the goals I originally set myself.

Whilst it may seem a bit harsh to say that the ‘road to failure is paved with good intentions’ I’m betting that those of you in the non-profit sector can absolutely relate to what I’m alluding to. That wave of overwhelm that can completely engulf you and send you sinking into a bog of inactivity, rather than being able to continue to chip away at your goals each day, slowly getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sometimes nothing I do seems like it will ever be enough to get me closer to my goals.

But then, after I’ve stopped sulking, hindsight always reveals the truth and I come to realise that when I have a plan, share it with those that I love and allow myself to be gently held accountable by others, it’s enough to set me back on course and re-calibrate my focus on where I need to be putting my energy to get the most out of what I’m doing.

Short and sweet – those are my humble thoughts for today. I’m hoping that if you can relate you find your way out of the overwhelm and realise that doing your best every day is all anyone can ever ask of you (even if your best today is less than your best tomorrow). If you ever need it, I’m happy to be that person you share with, who will gently remind you of the goals you set and where you want to go.

Have you got your 2015 (and beyond) sponsorship plan down on paper, buzzing among the team in the office, on the next Board meeting agenda papers?

If not, here’s a FREE CHECKLIST to help you work out the things you will need to gather, research and address to help you get your approach refined and ready for your new potential sponsors!

DOWNLOAD IT NOW.

Two great articles have slid across my desk in the last couple of days and they are inextricably linked! Combined with one other report that I’ve been using with alot of success with sponsors and well… sharing is caring!

As a sponsorship seeker for Not-For-Profits these articles hold brilliant content in further arming me with relevant information to make a compelling approach to highly aligned companies and brands that would make wonderful partners to the organisations that I work with. And they can help you too.

You may be aware that I have written often enough about the fact that a sponsorship proposal should NOT be your first contact with a potential sponsor. Of course, if you persist in building strong relationships, the time will come when you are ready to send out a proposal. The key when you do is to make sure that you pepper your proposal and approach with relevant research and facts about why aligning with your charity or cause can help them sell more products and services! Read on below for some great statistics about why partnering with you should be on their priority list.

Gen X and Y Switch for a Cause – Report here.

There are some compelling statistics about the level of trust that the Australian Not-For-Profit and Charity sector has gained in some brand new research just released! This information is invaluable at helping sponsors to see why aligning with your impeccable brand can only do THEIR BRAND good.

Nine in 10 Aussies Give to Charity as Trust Soars – Report here.

Now, you will have noticed, by the end of that article that there was some sad news about the level of perception that stills exists about ‘wastefulness’ in the Sector. Wasteful expenditure on admin costs, salaries, fundraising and so on. What the?

Of course, we all know that the more strategic, stable and sustainable our organisations are, the MORE people we can help, the MORE lives we can save, the MORE good we can do by building more awareness, creating a greater following and reaching bigger audiences. Of course, we are speaking about the Charity Overhead Myth.

Why The Charity Overhead Myth Stunts Nonprofit Growth – Report here.

So, as you can see, as a fundraiser in this amazingly rich and diverse Sector, whilst your role is definitely to successfully diversify your organisation’s income streams, there is a larger overarching role, and that is one of education.

The better you at disseminating the most relevant research, statistics, facts and figures to the right stakeholders, the more successful you will be as a fundraiser. You begin to move into a position where you can let the great research you have amassed to do some of the legwork for you. It’s a bit like a testimonial – it’s much better to have someone else say how great you are, than trying to tell people yourself!

The great thing is, you are no longer a charity needing handouts, you are a valuable marketing partner to the right company. The bigger picture is saying (that is consumers everywhere – just like you and I) that you can help companies and brands reach more people and entwine your amazing story into theirs in such a way that more people might be willing to switch brands for your cause.

The facts don’t lie – it’s time to use them to your advantage!

Speaking of sharing and caring – are we connected yet?

If you enjoyed this article, please share it. Imagine a world where the not-for-profit and corporate sectors banded together in partnership and causes, charities, associations, events and not-for-profits just like yours became benevolent powerhouses! I want to live in THAT world!

Follow Infinity Sponsorship on Facebook (/InfinitySponsorship) and have my regular tips and articles on sponsorship land right into your newsfeed!

We’re also on Twitter (@infinitysponsor) and YouTube if that’s how you roll!

Keep up the fantastic work!

Juanita Wheeler, Managing Director of Full & Frank, a strategic consultant to non-profit organisations & social enterprises talks about the ‘overhead’ myth.

Have you heard of it?

This myth dictates that when donors (people like you and I) choose to give to a charity, then the best choices are always those organisations that don’t spend your precious donations on vital infrastructure, supporting passionate staff, engaging expert support or attracting strategic leaders.

Of course, this ‘metric’ or ‘mindset’ would never be accepted in the for-profit world – we all know that THEY need strategic leaders at the helm, competent staff, the ability to market and promote themselves.

Enough about what I have to say though, watch it for yourself and make up your own mind.

I do have one condition though… or perhaps a plea…

Please share this article far and wide throughout your networks using the hashtag #bustthecharityoverheadmyth to help ensure everyone understands the ‘unintended consequences’ associated with not challenging the imbalances that exist between the for-profit and non-profit world!

It’s time to empower non-profits GLOBALLY to be the best they can be, from the inside out!

WATCH IT NOW!

Having more funds available to pour back into your organisation means that your research can deepen, development initiatives flourish, programs and events thrive and the community you represent enjoys the benefits of your success.

There are a few important things about the dynamics of your organisation that you need to be sure of (things that potential corporate partners will be keen to explore) before you are ready to seek committed and aligned sponsors.

Knowing who you represent; how many people you can reach and the channels you use to communicate with them are all essential chapters of the story you will use to tell potential sponsors about your organisation or event. By answering these and a few other important questions, you are well on your way to defining your value (and the benefits of being associated with you) to potential sponsors.

Being prepared to seek and secure corporate partners for your organisation can be a daunting (and exciting) process, but it need not be a futile waste of time spend making contact with companies, only to realise that you were under prepared.

If you would like some tips to help you become sponsorship-ready, please email me at [email protected] and I will send you a FREE checklist to help you discover just how close you are to being able to greatly increase your sponsorship revenue!

Fearing the next round of cold calls that you know you need to make this year to try and secure more sponsorship? FEAR NO MORE!

Making the connections and developing the relationships that can help your organisation or event is crucial to supporting your long term growth and success.

Download our free book and walk through the 8 easy steps to turn cold calls into hot prospects. Filled with scripts and templates to help make picking up the phone and getting your message heard more easily is what it’s all about!

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of watching Simon Sinek, then I highly recommend you look up some of his Ted Talks and other videos on the importance of being connected to your ‘why’.

Knowing why you do what you do, why you are the way you are allows others to connect to you and your organisation on a much deeper level.

Do you know your why? We do!

Let me save you some precious time and effort.

Companies are becoming spoilt for choice. There are nearly 700,000 non-profits and charities in Australia and New Zealand alone and every one of them is looking to diversify their income streams.

I too work as a sponsorship seeker on behalf of several Australian non-profits and am constantly asking for feedback from companies as to their preferences, like:

• What information do they want from the people seeking sponsorship?
• How could we make it easier for companies to engage with us?
• If there was one message that you could send the non-profit sector as a whole, what might it be?

The answers?

If you are seeking a partnership, then treat the companies you approach like a partner from the outset. Not a cash cow. Take the time to get to know what they want and what it might look like if you were to work together. Give them the big picture of who you are and what you do, so they can easily find where the alignment might lie.

So… without further ado, here are 6 questions that will stand you in good stead when you research or next pick up the phone to make an initial connection with a potential sponsor:

1. What is your potential sponsor hoping to achieve this year for their brand/company?
2. When do they allocate their marketing budget? Do they run on a calendar or financial year cycle?
3. What are their objectives and desired outcomes from sponsorship investment and relationships?
4. Have they ever partnered with a non-profit organisation, charity of event before?
5. Who is their ideal customer?
6. What kind of ROI do they expect? And how do they measure that?

Not sure if your organisation or event is quite ready to speak the language that sponsors are looking for? We’ve got you covered!

Download our free ‘Sponsorship Readiness Checklist’ and make the most of EVERY sponsorship approach that you make.

Not so confident with the thought of cold calling?

Well, we’ve created a free book, just for you, filled with scripts and templates as well as tips on what sponsors are looking for from their interactions with you.

Check it out here!

1. Is a company that has products and services that fill a need, desire or resolve a problem that your supporters have.
2. Is a company or brand that isalready selling (or wanting to) to your supporters.
3. Understands that a major benefit of partnering with your organisation is that you can give them GREATER access to their target market.
4. Will defer to you as a thought leader or ‘go-to’ source in your field, community or profession.
5. Will be looking for a deeper connection than just ‘advertising’.

Do you know whether your organisation, charity or event is truly ready to engage your ideal sponsors?

Every non-profit organisation and charity wants to build a financially viable and culturally sustainable enterprise that serves their community and works collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders.  Whether these stakeholders are your supporters, the government, donors, sponsors or thought leaders, it is vital to understand the role each stakeholder plays in the growth and evolution of your organisation.

Generally speaking, sponsorship will come out of a company’s marketing budget.  That means their investment (just like every other marketing spend on advertising and promotion of their brand) will need to be given the chance to recoup some return on investment by presenting opportunities to sell more products and services as a result of their alignment with you.

The challenge that prevents many potentially successful sponsorship relationships from flourishing is the language that non-profit sponsorship seekers tend to use when asking for money.  For example, as a charity you may ask a company to sponsor your upcoming event.  Will that be a marketing expense or a donation for the company?  It depends very much on what you are seeking and the language that you use.

Sponsorship and philanthropy are NOT the same thing.

You should always be clear about why the money is being invested.

For example, if you are truly asking for sponsorship, that means you are willing to promote a company’s brand, products and services and most importantly you understand that the sponsorship relationship has expectations attached to it that the company will have opportunities to make sales and connect with their target market.  That means it will be a marketing expense.

Just like other marketing expenses, your sponsorship proposal is competing against their television advertising campaign for the coming year, as well as any advertising, promotion and social media marketing they will be undertaking.  So be sure to give your sponsor clear options for how you will place their marketing messages in front of your supporters by including all the ways you can leverage access to the people you serve.

If however, if you are asking for investment that is intended to support your non-profit because you are offering a company an opportunity to want to do good in the community, then it’s a gift, a donation.

Unfortunately, time and again companies tend to assume, as soon as you introduce yourself as being from a non-profit that you are only seeking a handout.  People tend to close down and it can be difficult to get them to hear what you have to say.

Seeking sponsorship means that you need to ensure that you make it clear from the outset that you are offering them an opportunity to promote their business and brand and detail the ways you can help them access a target market that they are not yet doing business with.

Many corporate marketing managers have become jaded with non-profit sponsorship seekers, fundraisers and event co-ordinators and the perceived ‘lack of professionalism‘ and ‘entitled’ behaviour in the non-profit sector.  Whether this perception is truth or not, is not actually the point.  Every time you connect with a company it is an opportunity to showcase the diversity and incredible richness of our sector.  Make it more about creating a relationship (as you do so beautifully with your supporters), and less about why your programs need funding and so on and give your organisation and the sector as a whole the opportunity to thrive.

We’ve just released our brand new free eBook – ‘5 Myths of Non-Profit Sponsorship’ which explores the major myths we’ve come up against in our time working at the coal-face of sponsorship in the non-profit sector.  Some, you might know about, others might take you by surprise!  Either way, it’s time to ensure that your organisation, team, Board and CEO are all fully equipped for the long term success and sustainability that a successful sponsorship strategy can bring.