Soliciting Corporate Sponsorships
Soliciting corporate sponsorships most closely mirrors major gift fundraising with a little bit of the grant process mixed in. As such, most of the lessons learned about major gift funding apply here.
First, you need to identify your prospects. Look at companies who have an interest in your mission (e.g., grocery stores if your organization feeds people), your clientele (e.g., senior communities if you work with older adults) or engaging with your audience (e.g., money managers for your affluent gala attendees). Look too at companies in your community who frequently sponsor community events, especially for organizations with similar missions. Finally, look at your vendors. Where do you spend your money? Think about your bank, investment managers, insurance agents. They have a vested interest in your success!
One word of caution: Beware of companies whose brand or reputation you do not want associated with yours (e.g., tobacco company for a cancer organizations). On the flip side, some companies will invest to overcome or mitigate any impact they or their products may have on the community or the society.
Second, you need to qualify your prospects. Research the company to learn about their corporate giving guidelines, strategies, and timeline and to identify a contact person. The amount of information that companies share publicly about their corporate giving differs widely, but check their website to see what you can find. Look hard; you might have to dig. Seek out people in your organization (staff, board members, volunteers) with a relationship to the organization and ask them for information or an introduction. If you have trouble finding what you need, you might need to ask around or call the company to ask who manages corporate giving.
Third, reach out to the organization to educate and engage them in your mission. Preferably, you can reach them by phone to introduce yourself and invite a meeting; however, many corporate giving officers wear many other hats and get TONS of calls asking for money so you may have trouble reaching them by phone. In that case, try a brief email or letter of introduction and tell them that you will call them. However, DO NOT SOLICIT them via email or letter. Wait until you can reach them by phone to talk to them in person and ask them personally. (If you have already developed a relationship with a corporate giving representative, you can ask them how they prefer future contacts.)
You need persistence at this stage. One corporate giving person once told me that she can get a hundred sponsorship requests for money each week; even full-time, she could not read and respond to them all. Instead, she would wait and see who really wanted funded based on their persistence leaving messages.
Fourth, ask them for a sponsorship. Again, ideally you can meet with them in person or at least talk to them by phone. When asking them to sponsor your event or organization, describe what is in it for them; most corporate sponsorships meet a company goal. Figure out their goals and structure your pitch around how you can help them meet that goal. Like any solicitation, you want to ask for a specific dollar amount for a specific project or purpose. Finally, know your marketing benefits at different levels but be flexible to meet their needs (within reason). I like to ask companies how we can help them meet their goals through this sponsorship. Not everyone wants their name on a t-shirt or a table at yet another gala.
Fifth and finally, steward the gift and the company. Again, like any gift, send them an immediate thank you after receiving the commitment. You also want to share your timeline with them that includes materials you will need from them like logos, list of table participants, etc. Learn the names of contacts within the company from whom you can receive this information and any time constraints or expectations they have from you. Be sure to stick to your timeline and deadlines and communicate frequently, especially if things change! And this should go without saying, but honor your commitments to them. Not every organization does! That might mean communicating internally what you – or volunteers – promised to each sponsor so you can deliver.
Finally, after the event, send them a formal thank you that shares the outcome of their sponsorship (e.g., “Because of you, our event raised enough money to provide 1,000 meals to seniors in our community”). Few organizations take this step and yours will stand out – for doing something good! Follow up a few months later with another thank you that tells them how their generosity has impacted the people you serve, perhaps with a story of someone who benefitted from their generosity. You don’t want to wait until you need to solicit them again for them to hear from you.
And remember, everyone has a boss and organizational goals to meet. Help them communicate how their sponsorship of your organization helps them feed their bottom-line goals.
But that said, solicit them again next year. Many companies will build previous sponsorships into subsequent budgets, but you only get that sponsorships if you ask – and you continue to offer a quality event or program with which they want their name associated.
