Building better nonprofit sponsorship packages
Building better nonprofit sponsorship packages is an art that can be developed by your organization.
Whether or not your nonprofit budget is built on sponsorships, grants or donations, you can build better nonprofit sponsorship packages that can increase the likelihood of having a business become involved in your organization. The most important part of this, and often the most difficult, is targeting correctly.
Finding a corporate sponsor.
Given time and money, everything is possible, but sending out mass emails with your sponsorship levels won’t necessarily give you the high-income sponsors that you would love to have. In order to build better nonprofit sponsorship packages, you’ll need to identify those sponsors whose ideas, mission or that “something” ties your mission to their identity. For example, Reach Out and Read received sponsorship from Boise Paper. Make sense? YES! How do you find that corporate sponsor? First, let’s identify the types of potential businesses there are:
Types of sponsors.
- Local businesses
- Regional businesses
- National businesses
Research similar nonprofits in your sector.
For example, focus on ed-tech? Check out Digital Harbor. Many of the companies listed on this page are Fortune 500s with dollars to spread among many NP’s. Focus on Homelessness? Check out Warren Village.
Use Google to research.
Here are links to several websites that show large companies that donate to non-profits. I found them by Googling for this article.
List 1: Double the Donation
List 2: Fundly Blog Retailers
List 3: Fortune’s Most Charitable Companies
Use Shareway’s Cool Tool
Check out this list on Shareway – see if any of those companies can help you!
Identify how your organization and sponsors’ needs overlap.
The motivation for a business to become involved with your nonprofit varies based on their size (are they local, regional or national.) You need to focus on each sponsor to build the best possible nonprofit sponsorship packages. Each sponsor wants their potential customers to feel good that they are doing good. The concept of mission-based marketing has been around for a long time. The new buzz word is “Purpose Led Marketing“. But no matter how philanthropic you would like to believe sponsors are, money earmarked for non-profit sponsorships are frequently tied back to a bigger marketing goal.
Similar to your mission, sponsors have marketing goals that align with sales goals. I.E. $X spent on advertising need to tie back to Y% increase in sales, or awareness of their brand. The point is to figure out the intersection that works for both your organization and the sponsor. Only after will you get the best nonprofit sponsorship packages.
Designing nonprofit sponsorship packages
Powerful nonprofit sponsorship packages are NOT about offering a logo on a tee shirt or a table of 10 to your gala. They come about by understanding why the sponsor may support you. They want to be able to explain and advertise to their target audience why they are a proud supporter of your mission. Getting truly impactful sponsorship dollars requires investigation into who their target is, what their marketing message is, and understanding how your worlds overlap. Listen to what they are looking for from your organization. It may not be what you expect.
Investigation and conversations are what will help you identify the best way your partnership can align. I’ve gone into corporations and found sometimes the reason they want to sponsor an event is internal marketing. They want something their employees can be proud of and get involved in. Maybe they don’t want to be called on stage and speak about their corporation’s participation at your event. It could be that they want you to come in for an employee meeting and give an award to staff or to the company there. Always bear in mind the human side of business and you’ll find you’re building better nonprofit sponsorship packages.
Finding the person to contact
Marketing is the first place to start, but not always the place to end. After spending the first part of my career advertising sales, and raising over $150 million in sponsorship dollars, finding the right person is the biggest challenge. Now, for this new type of marketing, there are new titles to research above and beyond marketing director such as:
- VP of CSR and Sustainability
- VP of corporate responsibility (Manager, Director of)
- Director of Sustainability
- Manager of Culture and Charitable Giving
You can use Google or LinkedIn Sales Navigator to track down people with those job titles. No one said this was going to be easy, but in the end, finding the right sponsor is the key to achieving your goals of building the best possible nonprofit sponsorship packages. We Are Immediate offers expert consulting for finding the right sponsors for your organization and creating sponsorship packages. Please contact me directly to get more information: lori@weareimmediate.com
I am hopeful that this article on building better nonprofit sponsorship packages helps you in your fund-raising goals. We’d love to hear your opinion!
More Articles on Sponsorships and Fundraising
- Increase Your Non-profit sponsorship dollars
- Writing a fabulous ask letter
- Proposals for Sponsorships
- 10 Ways your non-profit website can increase sponsorship dollars
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