corporate sponsorships are one of many
ways that nonprofit organizations can
raise money but why does it seem like
some nonprofits managed to get corporate
funding and sponsorships where it's such
a struggle for others in this video I'm
going to talk through some of the basic
strategies that nonprofits use to
successfully get corporate sponsorships
welcome back my name is Amber Melanie
Smith and I make these videos here on
YouTube to help aspiring changemakers
with tips and strategies to help you
change the world and live in life
impact and purpose so I've been running
the nonprofit organization that I
started a while ago for some time now
and I can tell you that figuring out how
to get corporate funding and corporate
sponsorships with something that took me
a while once I finally figured it out
though a lot of strategy started to make
sense
I learned that getting corporate
sponsorships is a lot like any other
kind of fundraising it's all about
relationships it's all about figuring
out how you can solve the sponsors
problem as well as meet your own needs
and it's all about being clear about
what you are asking for in fact it's a
lot like sales in that way so without
further ado here are the steps that
nonprofits can go through to get
corporate sponsorships step one lay the
groundwork you want to be building a
foundation to fuel your asks for
sponsorships by building lots of
relationships so you can try
cold-calling a company to see if they'd
be willing to sponsor your charitable
effort but it's a lot harder fundraising
across the board gets easier the more
well-known you become in the community
the more relationships you build and the
bigger your network and that makes sense
because people are more likely to invest
their dollars and give you donations if
they know who you are trust you and that
you have a good reputation so you want
to start by building your relationships
and your reputation by getting out there
in the community raising awareness about
who you are and what cause you represent
you can do this in a variety of ways
from public speaking to attending
networking events you can write articles
guest blogs on other popular websites
you can share your cause with the media
and hope that they pick up on and do a
news story
about you you can attend other
charitable that's going on in your
community the people who are there
already care about some causes in the
community so they might be likely to
care about yours too if you can get to
know them
generally it's all about becoming a
known entity and getting a good
reputation step 2 is to research your
corporate sponsorship prospects it's
very unlikely that a random company is
going to sponsor your cause you have to
figure out which companies are most
likely to believe in what you're doing
and align well with your cause and your
brand there are a couple of ways of
figuring out if a particular company
would be a good fit for your cause you
can go on their website look at their
corporate social responsibility pages
and they often will list the causes they
care about right there from environment
or poverty or whatever it may be they'll
list them on their site you can also
check out the websites and events
fundraising events other types of events
of other charities who are working a
similar space as you so let's say you
are working on a hunger related issue
check out what other hunger related
nonprofits are doing with their
corporate sponsors who those sponsors
are those companies are already proven
to be aligned with that cause in this
case hunger so they might be potential
sponsors for your cause to ultimately
just keep remembering that a company
sponsorships have to align with their
own brand and their own business goals
so be thinking to yourself what mission
does my nonprofit have that aligns with
specific companies if you are a farming
or hunger related nonprofit maybe a
company that deals in agricultural
products would be a good fit for you if
you are a non-profit that deals in
helping animals maybe a pet supply
company could be a good fit for you
because then they're gonna be able to
put their name on the cause that aligns
with what they're already doing to
attract customers as well the third step
is to understand how each individual
company funds
their charitable giving and sponsorships
what motivates them in other words
what's a goal that the company has that
your cause can help them meet so that
it's a mutually beneficial partnership a
company motivated by getting some good
public relations for example might be
interested in partnering with a cause
that aligns with their brand but also
that has a really big audience since
they're trying to get their name out
there a company who is interested in
getting their employees out there in the
community building relationships might
be interested in a partnership or
sponsorship in which they can also
volunteer with your organization so
there are lots of different things to
consider in terms of what the company is
looking for when they are doing their
charitable giving and how your cause can
help them meet that need so step four
once you think you've identified a
couple of potential corporate sponsors
you really want to figure out who the
correct person is within each of those
companies to talk to about a sponsorship
the first thing I would do is take a
look at my list of potential corporate
sponsorship targets and think to myself
do I know anybody who works at any of
these companies or do I have any
personal connections there because a
personal connection can go a long way to
getting your foot in the door if you
have a personal connection there
great you can ask that person who the
correct person in the company would be
to talk to about their charitable giving
their social responsibility and their
sponsorship efforts consider that every
company does this a little bit
differently one company might have their
Human Resources person in charge of
their charitable giving another company
might have the CEO in charge of their
philanthropy and charitable giving and
yet another company might have a whole
committee of employees they've nominated
to take in applications for sponsorships
and make a decision every company is
different so if you ask the wrong person
you might not get a response and it
might be a dead end for you so figuring
out who the correct person to ask is
really important if you're not sure
where to start and you don't have a
personal connection at a company one
strategy you might consider is
contacting an administrator there and
just asking them very simply hey I'm
and learning more about your company's
charitable sponsorship efforts where can
I find more information about that who
is the correct contact for questions
then that person will hopefully respond
to you and you will have a lead there
that you can start the conversation with
about partnering and sponsoring in the
future step 5
now before you actually ask for a
sponsorship you've got to decide on what
you are asking for in your sponsorship
you're going to have better odds of
securing a sponsorship if you make your
sponsorship ask very specific you want
to create a brief ideally visual
one-pager or brochure that outlines what
you are looking for from the company in
terms of sponsorship now this document
needs to include a little bit about your
cause of course your website it needs to
include what you're asking for that
could be either a specific dollar amount
or an in-kind ask which means something
that's not monetary but something of
value to you like media exposure or an
item you want to include what the
benefits are for the sponsor and then
how those dollars will help you further
your cause when you're thinking through
what kinds of benefits to offer a
sponsor you just have to be a little bit
careful because there's something called
the unrelated business income that means
that if you are generating funds for
your nonprofit in a way that has nothing
to do with your mission as a non-profit
the IRS can actually penalize you by
charging you taxes because in their
perspective you strayed from your
mission of your nonprofit and you're
just generating income in some random
way so you need to be treated more like
a business in that case now what this
has to do with sponsorships is that
there are certain rules you have to
follow in sponsorships to avoid getting
penalized through this unrelated
business income tax just be sure to look
up what those rules are before you
proceed with offering a potential
sponsor some of those perks I can tell
you right now certain kinds of
advertisements violate this IRS policy
you are unable to for example include
coop
that offers 50% off for the company that
is sponsoring your cause because that
from the IRS his perspective is like you
are becoming a marketing arm of the
private company and that is unrelated
business to your mission so just be sure
you review those rules and make sure you
are on the up-and-up there are plenty of
ways you can acknowledge your sponsor
however that are totally fine things
that are pretty common include logos on
websites logos on t-shirts social media
shoutouts and acknowledgments doing a
video together in which the sponsor has
an opportunity to share what the company
does or have a speaking opportunity at
your event again this is where you want
to think through what problem you're
solving for the company and making sure
that the benefits can help them meet
their goals then they're gonna be more
likely to want to partner with you once
you have that document together you want
to go ahead and make your ask you want
to talk to the contact you found at the
company you want to introduce yourself
and let them know what you're hoping for
and invite them to have a discussion
with you you want to always end your
email or your correspondence with a
question that prompts them to respond
something like would you have an
opportunity to chat with me about this
or what other information would be
valuable for you in considering
partnering with our costs step 6 is to
follow up a lot of companies get a ton
of requests for charitable donations or
sponsorships throughout the year and
they can get quite busy with these
requests so don't be shy about following
up on a request that you previously made
politely follow up ask if they have any
additional questions or if there's any
other information that they need that
would be helpful for them and then if
there are any updates or if any
decisions have been made about
partnering with your cause of course if
they do have questions answer them
thoroughly and transparently step 7 and
this is a hard one you've got to learn
from rejections also keep in mind you're
gonna hear no a lot just keep on moving
it's okay you're gonna get that yes at
some point and that's what's gonna carry
you forward so if someone tells you no
they will not sponsor your cause the
is actually a great opportunity to learn
and grow and make your next sponsorship
request whether it's to that company or
some other company more successful if
they say no it's really important that
you respond politely that you thank them
for their time and that you ask them if
they'd be willing to share any feedback
with you about their decision you would
be really surprised what you can learn
from this exercise maybe for example
they told you that they actually did
like your cause but your timing wasn't
very good because they make all of their
budgeting decisions in one month of the
year and it's not that month this gives
you a lot of information this means that
you can go back to them when it is that
month and try again or maybe they liked
what you were trying to do but felt that
you were a little bit too new or
unproven as a nonprofit that means that
maybe after a couple of years of getting
some more experience under your belt and
showing some more impacts you might be
able to go back and try to re-establish
that relationship or maybe someone at
their company had a bad experience with
your nonprofit it sucks to hear this but
it's really important to know that it
happens that you can try to get to the
root of it and fix it sometimes you
might also learn that they're just not a
good fit for what you're trying to do
that's okay that means that you don't
have to spend time pursuing that
relationship any further and they don't
have to pursue a relationship with you
any further and you can part ways and
it'll be fine and you can go off and
spend your time finding a better fit for
your work step eight if you get a
sponsorship follow through on the
promises that you made through the
partnership acknowledge the company and
the sponsor how you promised you would
in the very beginning this is going to
build credibility and Trust and believe
me companies talk to each other if one
company has a great experience
supporting your cause they're gonna tell
their friends and other companies I've
had this happen to me so I know for sure
that it's a thing
finally step 9 and this is really
important for your future success say
thank you and keep building that
relationship throughout the year many
businesses will return year after year
to keep sponsoring your cause if you
maintain that trust and keep that
relationship going you want to be
talking to that company throughout the
year inviting them to other things that
you're doing
sharing blog articles you've written
about your cause just generally keeping
up communication so that the only time
that they hear from you isn't when you
need money so those are the basic steps
I would love to hear from you if you
have tried to get corporate sponsorships
in the past what kind of success have
you seen what strategies did you try to
be successful or if a company said no
what kind of feedback did you get share
in the comments below let us know I've
met an amazing amount of folks on this
channel and I just know that we will
have a great conversation about it
before we wrap up one final thought and
that is that if you are in Facebook
don't forget to check out my group
change the world or bust where myself
and other change makers are having great
conversations around making an impact
nonprofit social enterprise work and so
much more once again my name is Amber
Melanie Smith thank you for checking out
this video please like subscribe to ring
that Bell and I hope to see you again
soon
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