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The amount of publicity and recognition also helps answer the question of whether a funder is an underwriter or a sponsor. The word sponsor connotes a higher level of participation and consequently higher visibility than does underwriter. If one of the benefits a funder is seeking in exchange for support is publicity and recognition, then that funder is best identified as a sponsor. In very low visibility situations such as the funding of a position -an executive director, for instance—we would probably refer to the donor as an underwriter, even if the donor was a corporation.
Do what seems natural, what is usual within your community, and always do what the funder wants. For the purposes of this discussion, I will use the labels sponsor and sponsorship in instances where we could be talking about either a corporation or foundation. Only when I wish to restrict the application of what I am saying to a foundation will I use the labels underwriter and underwriting.
Sponsorship, especially corporate sponsorship, is a relatively recent fund-raising strategy compared to other fund-raising endeavors. A sponsorship campaign is like a capital campaign, for example, in that it raises money for a specific purpose.
Unlike a capital campaign, however, the money raised is not used to purchase an asset, but rather to cover an expense. Neighborhood Improvement Program, for instance. These sponsorships permit an organization to package a need, in effect, as a means of boosting its annual support. The idea is to give greater credit and visibility to a sponsor in exchange for an increased contribution. A corporation will look to a sponsorship with a non-profit organization as the means for the corporation to:.
It makes sense to give these donors as much recognition and credit as possible. If their gifts are of a size to warrant, you can even specify that certain programs, efforts, or activities have been made possible because of their support. Once an organization has made a practice of linking gifts from certain donors to certain of its activities, the next step is to offer those donors sponsorships.
Ideally, a single donor becomes the sole sponsor of an activity. The activity may be new, or already in existence. The sponsor gets the exclusive benefit of associating its name with the event or program. In a survey some years back, 97 percent of the participants made that association.
The beauty of funding something in this way is that you can ask for more money for a sponsorship than the donor was contributing to your annual fund-raising campaign. At the other end of the sponsorship spectrum are the companies and individuals who have shown no interest in your organization in the past. They may even have turned down earlier solicitations. A named sponsorship opportunity that provides high visibility can be just the ticket to drawing in a prospect who has previously been reluctant to give.
The first step in seeking sponsorships is to identify likely projects, programs, events, initiatives, and activities. Remember, creating a sponsorship often requires nothing more than a rethinking of the means by which you fund something. Nearly any discrete endeavor can be pulled from a general budget and packaged, such as underwriting six months of a scoutmaster? Fund-raisers should meet regularly with other staff to keep abreast of developments and to solicit their opinions about which activities might be viable for sponsorship.
Once a sponsorship opportunity has been identified, a full-fledged proposal needs to be developed. This should include a budget, a case for giving which shows how the community and the organization will benefit, and a complete explanation of how the sponsor will benefit from the relationship.
Next comes the rating and evaluating of prospects. The goal is to narrow the field to the single best candidate and a handful of backups. A standing sponsorship committee of the board of trustees can be a great aid here and provide better leadership of this task than a committee formed separately for each sponsorship project. Committee members, other fund-raisers, and organization management should keep well informed about both the kinds of endeavors that area foundations are willing to underwrite and which corporations are likely to be attracted to a sponsorship opportunity.
That means staying on top of local and national business news. A firm that may have shown no past interest in supporting your organization or any other, for that matter can suddenly find itself needing the recognition and publicity a sponsorship opportunity can deliver.
A marketing or public relations agency can be a useful advisor for identifying potential sponsors, and an organization should try to involve such a firm on a volunteer basis or perhaps even hire such services.
Once a sponsorship opportunity has been identified, a general proposal has been developed, and a candidate or candidates have been identified, the proposal must be tailored to fit each prospective donor. In this age of desktop publishing it is easy to produce a professional-looking prospectus targeted to each sponsorship candidate. In general, sponsorship solicitations should be sequential. Only rarely, if ever, would you offer a sponsorship opportunity to two or more prospects at the same time.
The danger is that more than one will accept. However, if the sponsorship is one of a number of similar opportunities, then one prospective sponsor may be able to be moved.
If the organization is offering a unique named opportunity, then having to go back to a prospect who is in the process of accepting the offer and say you gave it to someone else has the potential for permanently damaging that relationship.
However, each sponsorship opportunity is its own campaign, and you can undertake several sponsorship campaigns simultaneously with other fund-raising campaigns. You would do well to allow as much time as possible for a sponsorship campaign. Fund-raisers need to plan backward from the drop-dead date in order to allow time to solicit more than one potential sponsor if that becomes necessary. Sponsorship campaigns have no ideal length, and because they are conducted behind the scenes, they can go on for as long as it takes to elicit a positive response, or until the drop-dead date has passed.
The invisibility of this kind of campaign means that failure causes little real damage, other than the missing funding. Sponsorships need to be pursued with the same vigor as annual, endowment, and capital campaigns. Perhaps the most common mistake made in a sponsorship campaign is to let ancillary expenses rise by making overly generous commitments to the sponsor. Items which the sponsor may ask for as part of its benefit package can include, but are not restricted to:.
There is a tendency on the part of fund-raisers to promise special considerations to sponsors. That inclination must be resisted, but with as much tact as possible. Out-of-pocket expenses can destroy the value of a sponsorship donation if they are allowed to get out of hand.
Neither foundations, nor corporations, nor individuals want to have their names attached to negative publicity. Controversial endeavors do not make good sponsorship opportunities. Be sure there is no hidden potential for controversy in those activities for which you seek sponsorship. In my experience, the biggest problem fund-raisers are likely to encounter with sponsorships is that there is always somebody back at the shop—a staff member or trustee—who objects strenuously and, to my mind, often unreasonably to some of the benefits given in exchange for sponsorship.
The impact of these objections can be diminished by having the key players clearly define in advance what courtesies and considerations will be extended to a sponsor. The plan sponsor can work with various entities to provide a comprehensive benefits plan. Plan sponsor benefits can include a wide range of offerings for employees including retirement savings plans, pension plans, financial wellness plans, and more.
Examples of a plan that can be sponsored include a pension or k retirement plan. As the plan sponsor, employers take responsibility for the benefit plans offered. The plan sponsor does the research, selects the appropriate service providers, deals with legal and administrative elements, and is sometimes a legal fiduciary. Those benefit programs are then offered to employees, who can join as participants.
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I Accept Show Purposes. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Applicable Law, Jurisdiction, and Special Damages. These Terms and Conditions will be governed by the laws of the state of Georgia. The state and federal courts located in Fulton County, Georgia will have exclusive jurisdiction over all claims brought under this Agreement.
Neither party will be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions of Sponsorship are held invalid or unenforceable in any circumstances by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of these Terms and Conditions, and the application of such provision in any other circumstances, will not be affected thereby. The remedies specified herein are cumulative and in addition to any remedies available at law or in equity.
Waiver of a breach of any provision of these Terms and Conditions does not constitute a waiver of any other breach of the same provision or any other provision of these Terms and Conditions All Sections of these Terms and Conditions that by their nature are intended to survive expiration or termination will so survive. These Terms and Conditions, together with the Sponsorship Commitment, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter and supersedes all other communications between the parties with respect to such subject matter.
In the event of a conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the Sponsorship Commitment, these Terms and Conditions will control.
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