How to Obtain Event Sponsors (or Donations)

Identify Potential Sponsors

Sponsors can be individuals or businesses. Not sure who to ask for assistance and support? Start with these ideas.

• Ask Your Customers for Suggestions: Your customers are part of your community. Therefore, they each have their own connections to people and businesses. Ask for their recommendations and let them help you identify prospects. Heck, they might volunteer themselves or their company.
• Talk to Your Partners: If you have an ongoing relationship with a school, business, local archery club, state wildlife agency or nongovernmental organization, ask them for their help. That’s what partners are for, right?
• Find Relatable Brands: Look to other noncompetitive sporting goods brands or businesses that focus on the outdoors to go in on your event. Having a common interest in outdoor activities and the environment makes sponsorships an easy sell.
• Use Outside-the-Box Brands

Consider connecting with nonarchery businesses like banks, bakeries, restaurants, workout facilities or auto repair centers in your town. They might want to get more involved in community events or to introduce their employees and customers to archery.

• Work with Your Sales Representatives: If you sell products from big-name brands, talk to your sales representatives to explore your options. They can provide tips and connect you to their marketing or sponsorship department. Some organizations have a sponsorship link on their website where you can request a donation or sponsorship.
• Connect with Sponsors from Nearby Events: Scout other community events to see which businesses get involved in helping. Chances are, if they sponsored someone else’s event, they’d probably sponsor yours.

Match Your Sponsors to Your Needs

Strive to make your sponsorships make sense by matching people and businesses with things that fit their brand. For example, if you want coffee at your event, ask a local coffee shop to donate the drink. If you plan to have participants shoot paint-filled balloons during the event, ask an arts and crafts store to provide the supplies. For snacks, ask a local bakery. Perhaps you need a podium or stage for your winners; ask a construction company or lumberyard for their assistance. Try to pick sponsors strategically. That increases the likelihood they’ll commit and makes it easier for customers to remember their business.

Create a Proposal

After you determine whom to ask for what, create a proposal to win them over. The proposal should include how the sponsorship benefits their business and what they’ll receive in return. Let’s break that down.

1. Establish a Hook

Show potential sponsors what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re serving the community with your event. Share what your business is doing and outline what you need from your sponsors to create a top-notch event. Showing them your cards helps them see how dedicated and committed you are toward achieving your end goal.

2. How the Sponsorship Will Benefit Their Business

Explain how event sponsors will receive brand recognition and awareness with your participants because you’ll tag their business in social media event posts and hang flyers and banners with their business logo and name at your event. Share the expected number of attendees and their demographics to show them what type of people and audiences they’ll reach. Do everything you can to help them understand the publicity your event will give them.

3. What They’ll Receive in Return

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, you can also offer sponsors some of the following things: logo placement on event materials and T-shirts, space for a flyer or item in a swag bag, an opportunity to speak at the event, a free table or booth at the event, a shared attendee list with participant contact information (for marketing to folks for their own events), and free range coupons for use at a later date.