With budget constraints being one of the key challenges fundraisers face, many charities are expanding their revenue streams to sustain their missions. Chief among those are corporate sponsorships, which empower charities to attain additional funds and foster long-term relationships with businesses and corporations.
Whether you’re seeking additional funds to power a 5K fundraiser or gauging support for your upcoming capital campaign, corporate sponsorships are a great way to attain that support. Let’s take a quick look at the steps and best practices for securing a sponsorship for your charity.
When fundraisers think of corporate sponsorships, they often think of businesses providing financial support to help charities execute a fundraising event idea. While event sponsorships are a key example, they are just one of many ways businesses can collaborate with charities.
Here are a few other common types of sponsorships:
Now that you understand the different types of sponsorships, you can request the ones that make the most sense for your charity and potential partners. For example, if you plan on hosting a gala, request a product sponsorship from your local winery if you know they have overstocked vintages.
Finding businesses to request sponsorships from can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, charities don’t need to contact every local business or big corporation they can think of to acquire partnerships. Start by narrowing your sponsorship prospects to the organisations most likely to support your charity.
Look for businesses that:
Especially if you are a small charity leader, reaching out to your network can prove invaluable in the search for sponsorship prospects. Connect with other fundraisers to discuss businesses they’ve successfully partnered with. Or, ask them to refer you to business owners or executives interested in working with charities.
To establish yourself as a reliable sponsorship candidate, you must first understand what businesses get from these partnerships. Generally, their benefits include:
Based on these benefits, make the necessary operational changes that position your charity as a great candidate for sponsorship. For example, you should:
It’s good to do a baseline preparation that generally sets up your charity to secure sponsorships. However, you’ll likely come across a sponsor who may have different needs unmet by the activities above. In that case, you’ll need to do additional work to demonstrate your value as a partner.
Just as you would personalise event experiences to your target audience, you must also personalise your sponsorship proposals to individual businesses. Thoroughly research each business, honing in on its needs and target audience.
Then, in your proposal, highlight:
Incorporate compelling visuals, stories, data, and other relevant information that might pique the sponsor’s interest. For example, if the sponsor is interested in working with charities that aid students in need, bring up the results of your recent program aimed at delivering school supplies to underprivileged students.
Additionally, include your contact information and follow-up communication plan in your proposal. This makes it easy for sponsors to reach out to you and gives them an idea of what messages to expect from your charity in the upcoming days.
After a business indicates its interest in the sponsorship you’re offering, it’s time to negotiate the specifics of the partnership and execute the plan. Don’t forget that your relationship doesn’t end after you’ve received the business’s support. With the right approach to stewardship and engagement, you can build a mutually beneficial relationship that lasts for years.
If you’re after more top content like this to power-up your partnerships, check out our Corporate Partnerships Conference 2025 coming up on March 20th.
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