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  • Volunteers
  • Working with the media
  • Taking good photographs
  • Photo Gallery
  • Sponsorship
  • Risk Management
  • Promoting your event
  • Australia Day Logo Style Guide
  • Evaluation and reporting
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Sponsorship

This tool concentrates on a key support for Australia Day celebrations: sponsorship.

Securing sponsorship for events can sometimes be difficult and as each event and sponsor are different, there’s not really a single formula that can be used to find and keep sponsors.

However, this sponsorship tool provides you with guidelines for seeking sponsorship and includes a list of general Dos and Don’ts. It also includes examples of successful approaches to obtaining sponsorship for events of different scales and in different sized communities.

This tool includes:

• Resource one—Path to sponsorship chart

• Resource two—Guidelines for sponsorship

• Resource three—Sponsorship dos and don’ts.

Sponsorship is not identical to funding, although it can entail provision of money/funding for programs, events, publicity and promotion, competitions, construction of props or stages, performers, training. Sponsorship can also be ‘in kind’ through provision of goods, skills, services, prizes or facilities free of charge.

Sponsorship is an agreement which benefits both parties.

Why use this tool?

• Australia Day events are funded mainly through local councils. Some states provide Australia Day organisers with financial support. However local Australia Day organisers need to use initiative and work at attracting funds and other forms of support.

• Sponsorship is a key resource for enabling the development and enhancement of many events.

• Sponsorship can help you secure extra resources and is a great way of involving the business community in your event.

• Using the suggestions and guidelines in this tool will enhance the quality and effectiveness of your invitation for sponsorship, minimise mistakes, give you confidence that you are going about things in an informed way, provide intelligent and appropriate strategies to acknowledge sponsors, which should enhance the possibility of securing ongoing sponsorship.

What is sponsorship?
A good rule of thumb is to treat sponsorship as a business partnership, with firm outcomes required by both sides.

You must have a clear idea of the nature of the event you are hoping to find sponsorship for. You’ll need to do some careful thinking, decision making and preparation so that you are appropriately prepared for the invitation to consider or propose sponsorship (more details about possible events are in the Events ideas tool.)

Businesses are reluctant to provide cash, goods or services unless they see a benefit for themselves. Fortunately, these benefits aren’t always tangible and that is why many organisations are willing to sponsor events that they see as worthwhile for the community.

It’s also important to remember that once you get a sponsor, you need to work hard to keep them. A happy sponsor can be a useful ambassador for your event and can help you attract other supporters from your community.

Sponsor recognition through signage at Katherine (NT) Australia Day celebrations	Commonwealth Bank recognised on 'bum boxes' at the annual Australian of the Year Award presentation in Canberra

RESOURCE ONE - Path to attracting sponsorship

The following chart in resource one traces a path for you to consider in preparing for seeking and (hopefully) securing sponsorship. The other resources in this tool build on many of the components identified in this chart.

RESOURCE TWO—Guidelines for sponsorship

Preparation before approaching a potential sponsor

• Outline your event particulars—who you want to attend, how long it will run etc. (related suggestions are in the event ideas tool).

• Develop a budget and outline areas where you may need help—remember that goods and services are a form of sponsorship too, and some sponsors may find it easier to provide goods and services than a monetary contribution.

• Brainstorm with organisers/committee members what you may be able to offer the sponsor in return for their contributions—you will need to think creatively (using a white board is a good way to get less inhibited ideas from a group).

• Assess community resources and what various local groups, bodies, businesses, individuals may be able to provide (see Knowing Your Community tool).

• Discuss the target markets of your potential sponsors and how you can help them to achieve their goals/reach their target markets through their engagement with Australia Day celebrations.

• Actively establish and make known your need for sponsorship—this will mean networking, attending community functions, engaging in, even initiating discussions of Australia Day events and issues, suggesting synergies. This active role may yield some unexpected expressions of interest in sponsorship (e.g. the sponsor may ask: How can we help? Is there any thing we can do? We are very interested in keeping the elderly active).

Approaching a potential sponsor

• Your initial objective is to make an opportunity to speak with the potential sponsor.

• You must have done the preparation.

• Two-way communication (e.g. face-to-face meeting or phone conversation) at the outset is definitely the best way of beginning communication.

• A meeting will have a much bigger impact than a letter.

• It is important in the first meeting that you don’t go in with a full proposal, but that you provide a clear and brief account of the opportunity.

• In the first meeting, ask potential sponsors what they are looking for with sponsorship. One of your goals is to get information about what might be of interest to them. This information may help tailor your ideas on mutual benefits and will help to develop a sponsorship agreement of  relevance to the sponsor’s business or image.

• You need to have specific ideas of where sponsors’ money or services will go. Sponsors will ask for this information.

• ‘Fit’ is essential for a company considering a sponsorship. You need to identify possible link/s between the work and focus of the company and your planned Australia Day events. For example, links could be: health; wellbeing; quality; local produce; community welfare; supporting youth; serving a specific section of the community for years.

• Check potential sponsors web sites or corporate publications for the criteria by which they consider sponsorship, any existing sponsorships and partnerships they have, any community involvement they already undertake and what their brand ‘values’ are.

• If the first contact is by phone, you could send a follow up ‘teaser’ to the sponsor to elicit interest. This could be a simple but effective brochure or one page outline explaining why you would like to meet or, even better, what’s in it for them. Ideally the potential sponsor will be curious to know more. This is not a formal proposal but will provide the potential sponsor with an idea of the event and some possibilities.

RESOURCE THREE—Sponsorship dos and don’ts

Sponsorship dos

Only make a promise that you know you can keep. Make your agreement binding by writing it down and having the sponsor and the committee chair sign it (with approval from the committee). Be specific and clear about who is agreeing to deliver what. Remember that sponsorship is a partnership and that both parties have to benefit. Consider what a sponsor can get out of your Australia Day program, for example new/increased product sales or a profile as a community supporter. Be creative. Consider benefits such as the chance to present awards or for the staff to run an activity. Think about a business that may want exposure in the other towns in your local government area and consider ways to help them with that promotion. Make it a win-win partnership. Develop clear levels of sponsorship so that what each sponsor gives and gets is seen as fair. Consider the dollar value of the goods or services they are providing to determine the appropriate type of acknowledgment (e.g. signage or name in the event program). Ensure there is good communication among the members of your committee. Make sure you know who is approaching who and for what. You may want to nominate a small team or one person to be responsible for seeking sponsorship. Remember to personally and publicly thank sponsors for their support. This can be as simple as a letter, during a speech, an ad in the local paper, or posters on bulletin boards and in shopfronts. Send photos to your sponsors showing how you acknowledged them at the event (see Taking Good Photographs tool). Ask your sponsors for feedback during planning and after the event so you can work together to improve next year (see Evaluation and reporting tool). Ensure category exclusivity for your sponsors. If you have a bank as a sponsor, it would be a clash to bring on home loan company as another sponsor. If you’re unsure whether a potential sponsor would clash with an existing sponsor, talk to the existing sponsor about it—it’s better to talk it through and be sure than to upset them and lose their support. It is crucial to provide a proposal that is a quality product—written and presented to make reading as easy as possible, addressed to the intended reader (business, community group, community benefactor etc.), graphically strong, clearly structured and proof read. Make time for regular contact with your sponsors. This can be challenging as you prepare for the event and things are busy, but it’s essential to talk regularly, meet regularly and provide regular reports to your sponsor. Consider involving them in a brainstorm session about how to grow or promote your event and share your plans with them. Happy sponsors are invariably sponsors who enjoy a great two-way communication relationship with their rights holder. After all, sponsors are part of the event team.

Sponsorship don’ts

Don’t sign up organisations in competing businesses (e.g. Shell and Caltex) unless they are both happy with this arrangement. Don’t approach a sponsor cold—learn as much as you can about their needs and goals before you approach a business or individual for help. Access their web site, read their annual reports, brochures and catalogues or chat to the manager about their plans before asking for help. Maybe one of your committee members knows the manager socially and can make the first approach. Don’t under-value your event and offer more benefits than the sponsorship is worth. Make sure you enter into a partnership where both parties benefit. The sponsorship needs to pay for the activities and benefits you are offering otherwise it costs you money.

Related tools
Knowing your community
Evaluation and reporting
Promoting your event
Working with the media
Taking good photographs

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URLs 

NSW Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Office of Protocol and Special Events
NSW http://www.events.nsw.gov.au/event-starter-guide/15-sponsorship