Get a Policy Before You Chase Sponsor Dollars

How many times have I heard "We'll get a sponsor for that!" Often there seems to be a common belief that sponsors are like apples falling off a tree, just waiting to be thrown in a basket and taken home. We all know the pie is shrinking as people and organizations realize less from their investments. Now is a good time to be as intentional as possible about your sponsor program. Bob Crawshaw of Mainstreet Marketing (Australia) provides some global thinking on things an organization should do before going after sponsors.

Bob wrote me an email to tell me I could take the liberty of "americanizing" his spelling of certain words, but I prefer to leave it just as is because Nonprofit Conversation is now read in 65 countries and I am hoping we will have more international contributors to this blog! Bunnie

Get a Policy Before You Chase Sponsorship Dollars

by Bob Crawshaw, Maine Street Marketing

It’s tough times for not for profits and community groups everywhere are looking for revenue to keep the doors open and the lights on.

Australian groups are no exception. Many are facing increasingly tough times as people have second thoughts about where to spend their charity dollar – if in fact they have a spare dollar for a worthy cause.

Our PR agency in Australia’s national capital, Canberra, has provided free marketing support to 183 not for profits in the past five years. And we find a common reaction of groups with shrinking budgets is to say “let’s get a sponsor”. Across the not for profit sector the search is on for a large corporate to help fund something significant down to a small business to provide valuable in-kind support.

Since 2004 we have noticed very few medium sized not for profits and certainly most smaller ones lack a sponsorship policy. It seems the cupboard is bare when it comes to clear intent about their sponsorship ambitions.

Our workshops have always encouraged charities and community service organizations to set out a simple sponsorship policy to guide their efforts. Now the competition for the corporate cheque book is so fierce it is mandatory to have a sponsorship policy. It could be the one thing that separates fund raising success from failure.

The first step really belongs to your CEO and Board. They must set clear policy guidelines. They must also be right behind all sponsorship efforts and personally willing to devote their energies to the business of winning donors.

A sponsorship policy begins by clearly stating why your organisation wants outside funding and should explicitly state:

The types of large and small organisations to approach?

Which organisations to avoid, such as those associated with tobacco, alcohol, adult services, the arms trade and of course the environmental polluters.

What is the sponsorship property you are selling? Be crystal clear about what you’re offering.

How and where you will use the funds or services sponsorship brings in.

What benefits you plan to offer in return for sponsorship and are you willing to negotiate these?

Is there a budget to attract sponsorship, for example to travel to other cities to woo likely suitors?

Who in your organisation approves sponsorship arrangements?

Time limits on any sponsorship.

Who is responsible for servicing the sponsor and doing all the detailed work once the cheques are handed over?

I know that is a big list. But it’s better to think of these key issues now before your sponsorship marketing is in full swing.

Bob Crawshaw runs Maine Street Marketing.He began his communications career as the Australian Army's first Director of Public Affairs. He helps organizations with limited time and budgets get maximum community impact. Bob blogs PR at http://mainestreet1.blogspot.com/

Live Blogging for Nonprofits

Ah, social media! It's everywhere, all the time and frankly, loads of fun! Erik Evans joins us again with an article on live blogging during events. Haven't you noticed that at practically every conference you attend people are multi-tasking with their devices even as workshops are being conducted. Live blogging can help you keep your attendees focused on your organization and what's happening in real time. Thanks again Erik! Bunnie

Live Blogging for Nonprofits

by Erik Evans
Public Relations and Web Information, Sons of Norway

If last year’s election cycle taught non-profits nothing else, we learned that live blogging from an event is of great interest to the public at large. Whether it was on the campaign trail, at the RNC/DNC or even from the inauguration ceremony, people loved reading real-time accounts of an event they were unable to attend. The same can be said of an association or non-profit’s members.

For many of these two groups we often hear member comments about their regret in not being able to attend large events because they lived too far away, the cost of attendance were too high, etc. A good way to overcome this challenge is by taking a note from what we saw from the campaign trail and began blogging live from the events you host or sponsor.

For example, if you are hosting or sponsoring a big event, turn your blog into THE resource for up-to-date information about the event, which helps build excitement amongst your members/audience who were already planning to attend. Then, during the event, make live posts with real-time updates about what's happening at the event, issues being discussed, interviews of VIP's and post photos from social events.

It's an exciting challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. You'll learn quickly that if you are going to do this, you're often expected to be in more than one place at a time. For that reason alone, it’s best to try and plan out your days ahead of time and learn as much as you can about what’s going on when. Also, trying to carry a camera, laptop, assorted cables, etc. proved to be difficult and sometimes a hindrance as well.

In the end, though, it can be well worth the effort because of three important results you may see. First, it keeps non-attending members engaged in the event by making them feel like they were part of the experience. Second, by showing them all the fun and excitement they missed, you are showing that attendance is worth the travel and cost of attendance. Essentially, you are increasing the chances that these folks will attend in the future. Last of all, you have probably exposed a whole new group of people, those who read the blog but aren't members, to your organization in action. This kind of exposure can be very helpful in recruiting new members.This is especially true when you work with the event planners to get into places/meet VIP's that most attendees can’t, then blog about it. It’s like giving your readers a proverbial backstage pass, which engages and entices them to participate in the future.

Also, I've learned that blogging live from events can stretch your current sponsorship budget even further. You see, blogging about an event you sponsor can be just as valuable to the planners as a cash contribution because it can lend weight and added credibility. The best part is that the cost is minimal on your part and it’s something you should probably be doing anyhow.

In the end blogs can serve a lot of purposes, all of which help strengthen a non-profit and increase interaction with its members.

To learn more about live-blogging, or using other forms of social media as a resource, contact Erik Evans at eevans@sofn.com.

Weathering the Economic Storm

Nonprofit income lags some twelve to eighteen months behind the economy. When a downturn starts, nonprofits don't always feel it immediately. There is some "trickle down" time. So along with everything else if you manage a nonprofit you need to pay attention to economic news, what happens "out there" will eventually happen at your organization. Angela Newman joins us again to talk about the changing expectations and creative thinking that is required in slow times. Bunnie


Weathering the Economic Storm

By Angela Newman
Board Chair, Nashville RBI

Nashville RBI is Nashville’s chapter of Reviving Baseball in the Inner cities, an MLB sponsored organization. 2008, was one of the best in the 12 years of Nashville RBI’s history. The best in many ways; active board member participation, numerous media articles printed, large financial donations, a golf tournament with the most participants and sponsors, and a well attended wine tasting event with incredible auction items. By comparison, with the first quarter of 2009 and our 13th annual golf tournament just ahead of us, we are seeing fewer volunteers on the golf committee, fewer sponsors for the event, and fewer teams signing up to play.

We were hoping 2009 would bring the funds to lease a building near a ballpark to provide a place for inner city kids to not only play baseball when in season, but to do their homework after school and keep them off the streets and out of trouble. We hoped to have speakers from the Nashville community come in on a monthly basis and share their knowledge, their careers and speak on topics such as being successful in life. The goal is to have these prominent leaders encourage kids to not only focus on a career but develop as responsible and respectable citizens.

Fortunately our individual donors have been very generous this year and it is still too early too tell if we will be affected later in the year if the economy does not improve. Where we are seeing an impact on our donations is in the largest fundraiser we have each year, the RBI Golf Classic. Our corporate sponsor contributions for the event are 25% of last year’s and attendance to date is substantially less although we are still several weeks away from the event so I am hopeful.

Clearly the state of the current economy is impacting our non-profit. We have had to make some changes in running the organization as well as to the golf classic due to the downturn of the economy. We continue to keep an eye on things very closely to ensure our purpose of existence is not affected. As with any non-profit right now, cutting back on some expenses, putting lower priority projects on hold temporarily and looking at creative ways to accomplish our needs including thinking outside of the box are ways in which we hope to weather the economic storm.

Some simple but needed changes we have made for 2009 are:

 The dinner following the golf classic will be scaled down from years past.

 More emphasis is being placed on getting $1000 sponsors for the event and filling up golf teams and less emphasis placed on large corporate sponsors.

 Creative selling tactics to place teams; phone a thon’s to successful businesses in the area asking for their support by registering a team in the event and/or asking for auction item donations.

 The desire to lease a building to house children after school will not take place this year. Instead the board came up with an alternate way to still work toward achieving our goal of educating kids. We will look at partnering with the City of Nashville to use the community centers around the city free of charge for our monthly educational programs.

 We are looking at a program that would provide RBI with additional and different funds in addition to the traditional fundraisers and local businesses to support the organization.

 Emphasis on grassroots efforts and quantity of donors with smaller contributions as opposed to larger donations by fewer people and organizations.

If your non-profit organization is facing similar changes to your revenue due to the economic downturn, brainstorm at your next board meeting to find creative ways to weather the economic storm.

Angela Newman, CEO of Pink Ladders (www.pinkladders.com) currently holds a leadership position in the healthcare industry where she has over 20 years experience. She also volunteers for Nashville RBI (www.NashvilleRBI.com) as Board Chair. She is an avid baseball fan (NY Yankees) and makes her charitable organization a priority in her life. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Angela can be contacted at angela@pinkladders.com