Sponsorship assistance to an individual or budgetary institution. Open Access Blog: How to Find a Sponsor

Your team is ready to invest time and maximum effort into preparing for the event, but you will still have to buy or order some part of the work and goods externally. For example, if you are organizing a charity race, you will need: registration of the start and finish, printing of race participants’ numbers, commemorative badges, prizes, and so on. Sponsors may provide you with services, goods, premises or funds.

How to look for sponsors if you have not yet become famous like the Gift of Life Foundation and have not gained a strong reputation?

Start searching for sponsors in parallel with the development of the event. It is very good if you enlist the support of sponsors at the planning stage. It’s good if at this stage you have at least a preliminary agreement with them. At a minimum, you should have an idea of specific sponsors who could support your project and have worked with you before.

Try to immediately gain consent, or better yet, official support from the local administration and the support of public organizations. “Administrative resource” is often the deciding factor for sponsors.

Your potential sponsors are companies and organizations that may be interested in the target audience of your event. So start by defining your target audience. What social status most of the event participants? Their age? Their interests, habits, passions? What groups of goods and services do they use in everyday life? What about during the event? The clearer and more voluminous you are about your participants, the easier it will be for you to decide on sponsors.

Don't stop searching if you have already found sponsors. The more you have, the better. There is always a chance that a sponsor will refuse to help you at the very last moment.

If you are seeking business support, remember that companies link their giving programs to corporate strategy; highlight their priority areas of charitable activity, regions, target audiences. If your project does not align with corporate priorities, you are less likely to receive sponsorship. But it increases exponentially if your project is located at the intersection of several areas of interest of a potential sponsor!

If you plan to contact a business: it is better to address requests for sponsorship directly to the divisions of companies that are responsible for charitable and social programs, public relations departments, press services.

Contact local media with a request or offer to provide information support for the event. Contact advertising agencies who could plan for you advertising campaign, place advertisements, make booklets, invitations.

Prepare a concise and clear presentation of your event and a media plan for sponsors. Describe the goals of your project and specific event. Tell us where you will use the funds you raise. If possible, show how you used the help of sponsors last time, who you helped, what exactly you did, how many people attended your events. Indicate why you are contacting this particular organization and what you would like to receive from it.

Offer sponsors several different options support. They can vary in volume (gold/silver sponsor), type (general/official/information sponsor), additional options (invitation to the award ceremony at the city hall, memorial sign). Create “affiliate” packages.

When contacting sponsors, write: “with your help we want to do...”, “we invite you to participate...”. As a rule, you should not shout “help...”.

Large companies receive dozens of requests for financial assistance or sponsorship every day, you need to stand out from this background. And for this it is important not only good idea events, but also a thorough design of the project and a memorable presentation. Elena Chernina, partner relations manager at D-Group.Social, advises sending the presentation to two or three addresses in the company at once. Then you need to call the company representatives to find out that they have viewed your presentation and establish feedback with them.

Depending on the scale of your event, the search for sponsors can take up to 6 months.

Remember that sponsoring companies plan their budgets in advance, including charitable ones, so start negotiations early and try to get your event included in the corporate plan. If not for the next year, then at least for the next one.

If a company decides to sponsor you, it will definitely check all possible information about you. This includes information about whether you have permits to hold the event from the local administration and how many participants/spectators are stated in these documents. Provide sponsors only with reliable information.

The reputation and constant activity of your NPO is very important factors success in negotiations with sponsors.

Whatever event you plan, view it as an opportunity to make and strengthen social connections. Remember that your sponsors will view it the same way.

Nobody canceled the status. It is important for the sponsor to know who will be among the expected participants and guests of your event.

Be sure to invite your sponsors to take part in the event, if possible, allocate seats for employees of sponsoring companies. This is also important for companies. Joint participation in events consolidates the team; in the future, employees interact better within the company.

The NPO's transparency will be paramount to maintaining a good relationship with the funder. Support agreements with sponsors with written agreements and contracts.

Thank the sponsors at your event, letting them know that without their help it might not have happened or it would have been very difficult to do.

Send sponsors a report of the event with photos and videos. Prepare a second report for them telling them where the money you raised went, what was done, how many participants and who specifically you helped. Tell us everything in detail - it's yours general history. It is important for sponsors to know that their money is going towards the stated goals, and the employees of the sponsoring company with whom you communicated will also need to report on the work done.

Don't forget to collect sponsor reviews in your turn! If you interact with authorities in your projects, make sure to receive a letter of gratitude, which states your joint and successful activities. These letters will help you in your future work.

If you can't attract a sponsor

A separate question: what to do if, having already agreed with sponsors, you understand that you cannot ensure the success of the event? The reasons may vary. You are not sure that you will be able to coordinate the event with the authorities (if necessary). You doubt that you will get the required number of participants. You have been refused by status guests.

In short, what to do if you understand that the event will take place, but will not give the effect that you and your sponsors expected? Most likely, no one will demand your money back, although further relations with these sponsors may be damaged.

But your risks would be much higher if you went looking for sponsors after doing all the organizational work.

In case you are unable to gather sponsors for the event, you can still mobilize own strength and try to finish the job. Try to explain the situation to your employees and partners, and agree with them on lower pay for a while.

Finally, if it is obvious that you cannot cope on your own, the event will have to be canceled, and this will create a very serious reputational risk for you and your team.

Weigh everything and decide what is more important. But most importantly, remember that you are not starting all your events for the support of sponsors and partners. You do them for the sake of those who need it yours support.

The article uses photographs of the Great Council of Non-Profit Organizations of the Voronezh Region.

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How to look for sponsors if you have not yet become famous like the Gift of Life Foundation and have not gained a strong reputation?

Your potential sponsors are companies and organizations that may be interested in the target audience of your event. So start by defining your target audience. What is the social status of most of the event participants? Their age? Their interests, habits, passions? What groups of goods and services do they use in everyday life? What about during the event? The clearer and more voluminous you are about your participants, the easier it will be for you to decide on sponsors.

Don't stop searching if you have already found sponsors. The more you have, the better. There is always a chance that a sponsor will refuse to help you at the very last moment.

If you are seeking business support, remember that companies link their giving programs to corporate strategy; highlight their priority areas of charitable activity, regions, and target audiences. If your project does not align with corporate priorities, you are less likely to receive sponsorship. But it increases exponentially if your project is located at the intersection of several areas of interest of a potential sponsor!

Contact local media with a request or offer to provide information support for the event. Contact advertising agencies that could plan an advertising campaign for you, place advertisements, produce booklets and invitations.

Offer donors several different support options. They can vary in volume (gold/silver sponsor), type (general/official/information sponsor), additional options (invitation to the award ceremony at the city hall, memorial sign). Create “affiliate” packages.

When contacting sponsors, write: “with your help we want to do...”, “we invite you to participate...”. As a rule, you should not shout “help...”.

Large companies receive dozens of requests for financial assistance or sponsorship every day, you need to stand out from this background. And for this, not only a good idea for the event is important, but also a thorough design of the project and a memorable presentation. Elena Chernina, partner relations manager at D-Group.Social, advises sending the presentation to two or three addresses in the company at once. Then you need to call the company representatives to find out that they have viewed your presentation and establish feedback with them.

Depending on the scale of your event, the search for sponsors can take up to 6 months.

The reputation and constant activity of your NPO are very important factors for success in negotiations with sponsors.

Whatever event you plan, view it as an opportunity to make and strengthen social connections. Remember that your sponsors will view it the same way.

Nobody canceled the status. It is important for the sponsor to know who will be among the expected participants and guests of your event.

Be sure to invite your sponsors to take part in the event, if possible, allocate seats for employees of sponsoring companies. This is also important for companies. Joint participation in events consolidates the team; in the future, employees interact better within the company.

The NPO's transparency will be paramount to maintaining a good relationship with the funder. Support agreements with sponsors with written agreements and contracts.

Thank the sponsors at your event, letting them know that without their help it might not have happened or it would have been very difficult to do.

Send sponsors a report of the event with photos and videos. Prepare a second report for them telling them where the money you raised went, what was done, how many participants and who specifically you helped. Tell us everything in detail - this is your common story. It is important for sponsors to know that their money is going towards the stated goals, and the employees of the sponsoring company with whom you communicated will also need to report on the work done.

If you can't attract a sponsor

But your risks would be much higher if you went looking for sponsors after doing all the organizational work.

If you are unable to gather sponsors for the event, you can still mobilize your own strength and try to bring the matter to an end. Try to explain the situation to your employees and partners, and agree with them on lower pay for a while.

Finally, if it is obvious that you cannot cope on your own, the event will have to be canceled, and this will create a very serious reputational risk for you and your team.

The article uses photographs of the Great Council of Non-Profit Organizations of the Voronezh Region.

Where sponsors are found, how to hook your interlocutor from the first word and present your project so that an investor wants to invest in it immediately, an economist and business owner told the site portal Denis Kharlamov.

- Where are the sponsors?

Anyone can find a philanthropist or sponsor, as they are also called in business, financial guardian angels, regardless of their occupation. An athlete, an artist, a lawyer or an entrepreneur - financial patronage today is available to anyone, the main thing here is to interest the sponsor. One of the common ways is to seek help from organizations that search for investors for small and medium-sized businesses on a professional level. These are investment funds, technology parks or business incubators.

To carry out successful interactions with an investor, first of all, it is necessary to obtain information about him. Experienced businessmen believe: if you know where to turn for financial support, then 50% of business success is already guaranteed. It is better to look for a sponsor directly at the place where you are implementing your own business ideas. In this case, the choice of sponsor will be entirely up to the applicant for financial support.

How to start communication? If it’s a conversation, then how to grab attention from the first word, if it’s a letter, how to attract attention from the first line?

At first glance, the process of interacting with sponsors is quite simple. To get started, make a written request and draw up a commercial offer that can be of interest. A concise letter should reflect the main points of the business plan. It’s good if it takes up no more than one sheet of printed text.

You can’t know for sure how to “hook” a sponsor from the first word, so it’s enough to follow business ethics. Address yourself by first name and patronymic, don’t be over-familiar, don’t use informal language, emoticons, well, it’s even unnecessary to say that the letter should be written correctly. Technology has advanced so much that most activities can be done via the Internet. But it’s still better to meet a potential sponsor in person. Before the meeting, it is necessary to prepare a competent and interesting presentation. It is better for business owners to take with them all the documents proving that this is exactly the business in which it is worth investing. The outcome of the entire process often depends on a personal meeting.

- How to convince someone to become a sponsor? What arguments work?

For the person you want to attract as a sponsor, your project is an investment, unless we are talking about patronage. Therefore, it is possible to convince him that this investment will bring profit only with the help of numbers and specific examples. It is better if you show a certain set of cases that you have successfully implemented with sponsorship money. This way you clearly demonstrate the seriousness of your intentions and prove that you already have experience working with raised capital. Of course, it all depends on the amount of funds in which you are interested. If it is small (by the standards business people) amount, then a business plan is enough, where you describe in detail what a person will spend and what he will ultimately receive.

The sponsor must see that you clearly understand what you are talking about and are determined. Make his task as easy as possible by calculating in advance possible risks and putting it down on paper. This will make you look like a professional, plus in the eyes of an investor you will look like a person who knows how to count money and respects sponsorship finances.

- How much time to give« to think about it» how to remind yourself?

It is not you who give time, but the person who takes a break to weigh and think about everything. You can start reminding yourself the next day, but obsessiveness has never benefited anyone. It would be more correct to set deadlines directly at the meeting and ask the direct question “when can I contact you?” If you managed to interest a potential sponsor, he will not ignore your calls or avoid meeting.

I am of the opinion that actions speak louder than words. If your dialogue has turned into an endless “tomorrow” or “this week” or “a little later” - leave the idea of cooperating with this person; there is no need to waste time on empty expectations.

- And how to respond to the answer« No» ?

Don't take it to heart. Refusal can be taken with dignity and in no case should you try to persuade the sponsor to change his mind. Perhaps you made a mistake somewhere, were too persistent, or, on the contrary, were not convincing enough. Or maybe this is just not your person, and nothing would have worked out for you anyway. As they say, if one door closed somewhere, another opened somewhere. The word “no” should be an incentive for you to move on, and not a reason to give up. If you were rejected by several people one after another, then you should rethink the very idea of your project; perhaps it is not relevant, not in time, and has no potential. In any case, do not despair and continue to move towards your goal.

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There are many people with disabilities and people in dire need not so much of material assistance, but of vital medical and rehabilitation equipment. Of course, count on real and sufficient financial assistance from social services these people with disabilities due to health reasons they cannot. Sponsorship is the only tool that can really help disabled people and people who have lost their health and the ability to work.

Sponsors can help people with disabilities, but for these purposes it is necessary to competently convey to the sponsor information about the needs of the person in need. It is at this stage that a problem arises - it is necessary to talk with a potential partner and benefactor in a language that he understands. What language is this? This is the language of a business approach, pragmatism and cooperation.

It's about O possible benefits in need for a potential partner providing sponsorship. No matter how cynical it sounds, “thanks can’t be poured into your pocket.” This should be the leitmotif in a sponsorship letter about help for a disabled person. Let's give an example of a request that is most often found in letters to our website and the recommendations of our specialists.

Text of the question letter: « I studied all your theoretical recommendations. I compiled, as best I could, the text of an appeal to a potential benefactor. There is no experience or practice in this kind of thing - but life dictates and forces. A difficulty arose with the third point - in terms of CURTS AND COMPLIMENTS TO THE SPONSOR also IN A DIPLOMATIC FORM. It’s impossible to cope further than DEAR EGOR EGOROVICH. Everything turns out somehow ridiculous and ugly. Here I earnestly ask for your support. Explain. If you don't mind, here are a couple of examples. Or key terms. The essence of the question is that I am a wheelchair user. The help of a benefactor is needed to purchase specialized wheelchair ZP-E2. Best regards... Nikolay»

In this appeal, it is respectful that the person in need of help has taken important steps towards establishing contact with the sponsor. Written contact. Here are our experts' recommendations and answers to this letter. We assume with a high degree of confidence that the vast majority of disabled people who responsibly and actively seek financial assistance from a sponsor will find these recommendations useful.

COMPRED.COM expert answer: « Dear Nikolay! Use in the text of the request such verbs and phrases as: I need, I count on, I hope, I am sure that you will not refuse help (assistance). Complete the letter with the words: according to reviews from colleagues and partners, you are a responsive, fair and honest person. Perhaps you can refer to someone who recommended contacting this particular person.

Next, it is important to indicate the following: “For my part, I can offer...” What can you offer? For example, distributing information about the benefactor on the Internet, articles, grateful reviews, etc. What else? Perhaps you sing well, draw, write literate texts. A philanthropist may have a website that requires content managers. You can teach someone, provide leisure activities and much more.

You can also offer to purchase equipment into the ownership of the Benefactor-sponsor, and he can lease it to you for a long term. As a rule, disabled people in your category are in one way or another connected with guardianship authorities and social services. From them, as an attachment to the sponsorship letter, ask for an application for the purchase of a stroller on company letterhead. Also find out if the donor will receive any tax benefits and also inform him about this in a letter.

We hope that you have associates and close people who will help you collect necessary information for the letter, assist in responding to the sponsor.

Someone will say: they have combined the incompatible charity and marketing, a noble movement of the soul and commercial calculation... But the fact of the matter is that thoughtful marketing charitable organization vital. Associate Professor talks about the peculiarities of marketing charitable organizations and choosing the right marketing strategy High school management of St. Petersburg state university Ekaterina SHEKOVA.

Charities abroad public organizations and some charities are commonly called charities. In the United States, for example, these organizations receive special tax status “501 (c)”, which gives them exemption from paying income taxes, and donors have the right to tax deduction. In Russia, unfortunately, in 2002 Tax code The Russian Federation abolished income tax benefits for everyone non-profit organizations and tax benefits for legal entities providing charitable support. Today, only individuals are entitled to a tax deduction if they transfer funds to cultural, scientific, and educational organizations that are fully or partially financed from the relevant budgets.

Marketing of charitable organizations (BOs). The variety of goals of BO activities allows us to highlight different directions their marketing strategy. Such organizations focus not only on beneficiaries, but also on those who finance the organization, and sometimes on performers charity projects. Thus, a foundation established on the basis of voluntary property contributions for non-profit purposes often acts as a kind of intermediary between the financier and beneficiaries. The main directions of its activities are raising funds and their further distribution on a competitive basis for charitable purposes.

Work with beneficiaries, performers of work, interested parties, as well as with funds mass media(media) is necessary to justify the mission of the BO and build its reputation (see figure). Relations with trustees, sponsors, various kinds foundations, state and local authorities are sent to a charitable organization to receive monetary, material, organizational support and are allocated separate directions marketing.

It should be noted that the areas of marketing are closely interrelated. The attention of the press, the creation of a unique image and a strong reputation make it possible to attract private, corporate and state support. That is, the marketing of charitable organizations is a set of interrelated measures aimed at creating a reputation and obtaining external support.

One of the important directions is to attract independent support, so philanthropists, trustees, sponsors and volunteers occupy a special place in the external microenvironment.

Philanthropists individuals and legal entities providing voluntary, selfless support (transfer of property, including cash, performance of work, provision of services) to the organization. Volunteers play an important role among philanthropists.

Volunteers (volunteers) citizens who carry out charitable activities in the form of unpaid labor.

Trustees individuals who provide regular organizational and material support on a voluntary, free and long-term basis for generally beneficial purposes (in most cases they form a board of trustees).

Sponsors, unlike philanthropists who act free of charge, are guided solely by commercial interests. They offer support on terms of distributing advertising, organizing commercial exhibitions, press conferences, selling their products, using the sponsored premises, etc.

As a rule, large BOs have services that develop and implement marketing programs separately for recipients of charitable assistance and separately for sponsors and trustees. IN charitable foundation marketing can be carried out either by a specially created department or by the board of trustees - a mandatory body in the management structure of the fund. The functions of the board of trustees include attracting funding, monitoring the expenditure of funds, developing and promoting fund programs in society.

Effective marketing strategy. An effective marketing strategy involves the use of tools that allow BOs to operate effectively in the market. In the field of charity, the following tools are used: sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations and advertising.

Traditional advertising plays a smaller role than in the commercial sector. First of all, because BOs cannot afford the high costs of buying space and time in the media. As an alternative, it is actively used social advertising or propaganda.

Propaganda, unlike traditional advertising, is based on the use of editorial rather than commercial space and time, so its costs are significantly lower. In addition, society trusts propaganda more than advertising, due to more detailed information about the activities of BO. The methods are varied: posting articles in print media, disseminating information through radio and television programs, participating in exhibitions, organizing events.

As important fundraising tools, direct marketing and sales promotion solve the problem of attracting resources. Direct marketing in charitable sphere takes the form of personal selling, telemarketing (marketing by telephone and fax), mailing list(direct mail), etc.

An example of a successful marketing strategy in Russia is the activities of the charitable organization the Hermitage Friends Club. Over ten years of work, he was able to attract charitable support from more than 400 companies and 300 citizens. The reasons for the club's success are: clear segmentation of the donor market and identification of donation motives. Charity is fundamentally selfless, but BOs can offer donors a number of privileges and contribute to the formation of their positive image in the market. The club, in particular, offers individual membership for individuals and corporate membership for legal entities. There are several categories of membership for individuals: everyone who contributed 100, 150, 300, 500 US dollars and above has the right to be considered a simple or privileged member of the club. Companies and organizations can become simple and honorary corporate members, ordinary and official patrons of the Hermitage.

The museum provides club members with a number of privileges. Legal entities receive an Honorary Diploma of “Collective Member of the Hermitage Friends Club”, company executives personal club cards entitling them to free visits to the museum and participation in museum events. The names of organizations that have contributed significant funds are included in the list of “Patrons and Sponsors of the State Hermitage”, published in the annual report, exhibition catalogs of the museum and the media, and are also included on the Board of Honorary Patrons of the Hermitage. Official patrons of the museum are given priority rights to hold corporate events within the Hermitage and participation of company executives in the Council of the Friends Club. The privileges of individual members include receiving a club card, which gives the right to free entry to the Hermitage for a year, a 20% discount on souvenirs and books from the museum, as well as regular receipt of information about exhibitions, concerts and invitations to club events.