Seeking sponsorship
Many ideas for Science & Technology promotion require sponsorship investment to get off the ground.
To approach any corporate sponsor for investment, you need to demonstrate business acumen and a professional approach. Completing the steps outlined in the Bright Ideas Checklist is vital for this. Although sponsors do not usually have a form to fill in when you apply for support, the information you need to have available is very similar. Finish the steps before approaching sponsors.
Corporate or commercial sponsors often can not give a quick answer to your request for support. Two months is not an uncommon time period to wait for an initial response and negotiations can take longer.
Sponsorship Strategy Development
Just like any other project, sponsorship requires a carefully-planned strategy. Some fundamental questions to help prepare your strategy are:
- what value does the project have?
- what benefits could it bring sponsors?
- are the target audiences and objectives compatible?
- how much total funding will be needed to support the delivery of the project?
- is this total a realistic target for the fund-raising?
- what partnerships — both public and private — might provide this funding?
- what is the timeframe for raising funds?
- when will the funding need to be on-stream?
- what is the latest date by which this can be achieved?
- who from your project is undertaking the sponsorship selling, and do they have the essential skills and networks?
Sponsorship can be about much more than money and sponsors are sometimes quick to offer in-kind support rather than cash. Many projects, however, can't be delivered without some cash investment. Achieving and balancing cash funding with the in-kind support offered can be challenging.
Download our Sponsorship Checklist to ensure you complete all the steps for making commercial sponsorship approaches. During 2003/2004, MoRST commissioned The New Zealand Sponsorship Agency to raise the profile of science and technology sponsorship opportunities and to stimulate private sector interest in these opportunities. They also produced four newletters which can be selected and downloaded from here.
Top six tricks to getting your proposal read
There is never any guarantee that a proposal will be read, much less accepted. But there are a few tricks that can offer that will increase the likelihood of at least getting the right people’s attention.
6. Get used to the fact that it’s not about you – Keep the stuff about your event or organisation to a minimum. Concentrate on how this sponsorship is going to help the sponsor connect with their target markets and build their brand. The worthiness of your organisation is not what is going to make them say “yes”
5. Target the brand, not the company – Very few sponsorships are going to be relevant across every brand and all of the target markets they reach. Be specific about the brand you target and concentrate on how well-matched you are and how you can benefit the brand
4. Concentrate on substance, not flash – There is no DVD or presentation folder or stack of clippings that will make up for a weak proposal. Go ahead and dress up your proposal with some photos and such, but your effort into getting the offer right, not looking flashy
3. Do your homework – Find out everything you can about the brand, their positioning, their target market, and their priorities. A lot of this you can find out just by paying attention to their advertising and looking through their website, but you will still need to talk to them for some of the finer details
2. Get creative – Get creative with the benefits you offer. Give them great ideas for how they can leverage those benefits to achieve their goals.
1. Your contact will often be be the Brand/Marketing Manager, not the Sponsorship Manager – They are more accessible, often have entire teams that can answer your preliminary questions, usually have more flexible budgets, and as caretakers of brand health, they would have to sign off on any substantial brand sponsorship anyway.