Event planning can be one of the most engaging and exciting parts of your nonprofit’s year, or it can be a source of worry and stress. There’s an element of unpredictability and uncertainty to events. Will you have enough attendees? Will it improve member retention? Will it inspire people to donate, or will it raise the awareness your cause needs?

Your nonprofit can take steps to mitigate some of this stress and maximize your event’s potential return on investment (ROI) through pursuing sponsorships. A strategic sponsorship can be one of the most rewarding and supportive partnerships that your nonprofit has. These guidelines will help you make the most of your connection with your sponsor and strengthen the impact of your event.

Identify and clarify your event plans and the value proposition

Corporate sponsorships are a valuable addition to any nonprofit’s toolbox because they offer wide-ranging benefits for your organization, your sponsor’s business goals, and your community. In order to make the most of this opportunity, it’s important to identify your event’s needs and the value proposition for the sponsor ahead of time.

Your Event Plans

You don’t need to finalize every detail of your event before you start reaching out to sponsors, but your team should aim to have a broad outline in place. Sketching out a general plan will help you identify the right sponsors to approach and ensure you ask for the specific support or resources you need.

Some questions that you should answer before you start talking to potential sponsors are:

What is our timeline for this event?
What are the largest expenses we anticipate during this process?
What role will volunteers play in our event?
What in-kind donations would be most helpful for this event?
Do we have the right event management tools in place?
What is the focus of this event, and what businesses would be most interested in our cause?

Having a basic idea of the event as a whole will allow you to target your outreach to the right potential sponsors with a clear ask.

Your Value Proposition

Before you reach out to a potential sponsor, you need to put yourself in their shoes and understand what partnering with you will mean for them. Though more and more businesses are interested in doing good work for the sake of doing good, they still need to consider the costs and benefits of their decisions before making any commitments.

Build a compelling case for supporting your nonprofit by thinking through how their sponsorship of your event will help their business thrive. Selling points may include advertising opportunities on any merchandise or swag, the opportunity for face-to-face time with potential customers at the event, or even the tax benefits of a donation.

Sponsors will appreciate that you’ve done your homework about their business and that you’re considerate of their needs.

Keep everything in writing

The process of acquiring corporate sponsorships can and should include face-to-face, personalized meetings. However, your team should also track every touchpoint with the sponsor in a centralized location, like your CRM, and follow up in writing after each interaction.

This attention to detail has two important benefits:

Everyone on your team knows where the relationship with the sponsor is. If someone is on vacation or takes a sick day, another team member can make sure that you don’t miss any follow-ups or accidentally make a repeat ask of the sponsor. This will help keep the relationship stress-free and make sure the sponsor feels like their efforts are important to your nonprofit.
By completing all follow-ups in writing, your nonprofit and the sponsor are always on the same page regarding expectations and agreements. While it may feel overly formal, it’s vital to your long-term relationship to manage expectations on both sides so that the event goes off without a hitch and no one feels as though promises were broken or results were not delivered.

When you know exactly what forms of support your sponsors are willing and able to provide, you can direct your nonprofit’s existing resources to other areas.

Apply donor stewardship best practices to your sponsors

Your strategic sponsors are a critical part of ensuring that your event provides as much value for your nonprofit as possible. By repurposing your donor stewardship practices for your sponsors, you’ll ensure they feel appreciated and included through the event planning process.

The following tips can help you keep your sponsors engaged and potentially deepen their involvement with your event:

Start with a positive first impression by showing sponsors you’ve done your background research and making them feel welcome at your organization’s offices or headquarters.
Maintain a structured communication cadence, with regular check-in calls and emails.
Prove that you’re using their support as promised by delivering ongoing updates before, during, and after your event.
Use software to keep track of touchpoints and responses to maintain continuity in sponsor interactions.
Ask for feedback and incorporate your partners’ insights into your next event planning process.
Create personalized moments for sponsors, such as special shout-outs during your event or a handwritten letter from a beneficiary after your event wraps up.

Bloomerang’s donor stewardship guide also recommends incorporating corporate partners into your nonprofit’s overarching community. Show them that you value their partnership long after your event wraps up by sharing ongoing mission updates or reaching out during special times of the year, like the anniversary of their business’s founding.

By integrating stewardship through the event planning process rather than leaving it for the end, you can deepen sponsors’ engagement and keep the relationship healthy.

Plan for a long-term partnership

Corporate sponsorships are amazing for improving event ROI because they take some of the burden of planning and funding off of your nonprofit, but their impact can be much farther-reaching than just one day. When you create a relationship with a sponsor, consider how you can turn that relationship into a long-term partnership that benefits you both.

Though your nonprofit’s immediate need is support with the event, include your sponsor in discussions about the future and see if you can find other common areas for collaboration. They could become a recurring donor in exchange for visibility on your website or other public outlets. Their staff could become part of your nonprofit’s volunteer strategy. Their CEO might even consider joining your board, if you have an opening!

This is an opportunity for your nonprofit to ask for feedback from the sponsor as well. How would they like to remain involved? How do they envision the future of the relationship with your nonprofit? Keeping open lines of communication will help you maintain the relationship and drive value for you both in the future.

With corporate sponsorships, your nonprofit can maximize the ROI of your events and focus more on what matters: your mission. Use Bloomerang’s free ROI calculator to keep tabs on your event results and find new ways to adjust your approach for better outcomes. Stay curious and creative, and you might find new avenues of support in the most unlikely of places.