Corporate Sponsorship: 6 Tips for Landing Sponsorships in 2021

Jan 25

In 2020, our communities openly embraced connecting virtually when DC public charter schools were forced to postpone in-person events due to the impact of COVID on group gatherings. Most schools found longtime and new supporters stepped up with support proving that virtual events could deliver tremendous value. Events are key to engaging parents, cultivating donors, and connecting in our community. Most charter schools rely on them as a significant source of revenue – from ticket sales, auctions, donations, and corporate sponsorships.

January kicks off planning for Spring and Fall 2021 events. Now is the time to start conversations with supporters about corporate sponsorships and consider how we can up our game to deliver fun, engaging events in 2021.

1. Be Creative with How You Deliver Value.

It is certainly a year to be creative with how we deliver value to corporate sponsors. Start by looking at:

What events did we have in 2019 and 2020? What translates well to virtual events?
How are other charter schools making virtual events fun and engaging?
How are they delivering value and recognition to corporate sponsors?
What kinds of virtual events do they have planned in 2021?

On public charter school leader shared how their virtual event successfully raised $300K last year. A large committee was key where each host committed to selling 10 tickets and help with outreach. “We had a great turnout with 300 people who tuned in. We implemented a text-to-give system, which brought in donations during the event. With lower expenses than in-person events, we were able to net more revenue than usual. We replicated nearly everything – from virtual tickets to online auctions and donations to corporate sponsorships. We didn’t have the pre-program networking but heard many parents enjoyed that their kids could finally attend.”

Here are some ideas on how to translate events virtually:

Virtual networking: Offer small group chats or pre-receptions for attendees to get to know each other.
Virtual tickets: Supporters seem willing to pay for virtual tickets when there’s an intriguing speaker, program, or music. It always works well to host a free event with suggested donations in the invite or during the event. Consider premium-level tickets to host a Zoom room or bundle 10+ tickets at a discount.
Online raffles: Let attendees purchase raffle tickets as they register and consider unique gifts, such as a virtual coffee with a community leader or virtual wine tasting.
Online auction: Engage a virtual auctioneer (like WeDo Charity Auctions), set up on your website, or use silent auction software to accept bids, notify supporters being out bid, and accept payments.
Live donations: Virtual paddle raises or text-to-donate tools (like MobileCause) can drive more donations.
Virtual giveaways: Consider dropping off dinner, dessert, or mocktails. Let corporate supporters share online offers, demos, or special messages. Let your students share a video or musical performance. Mail your attendees a small but meaningful gift, like popcorn, cocktail recipes with non-alcoholic ingredients, or something meaningful to your mission.
Online recognition: Shout out to supporters via email, social media, event apps, and your website. Donor walls and real-time texts are a great way to thank supporters live. Ask supporters to record a welcome video, lead a discussion or moderate a Zoom room. Email interviews or thoughtful profiles of supporters.

2. Do Your Homework on Potential Sponsors.

Next, it is helpful to conduct a little research so you can expand your universe of potential sponsors.

Review past sponsors: Who sponsored in 2018, 2019 & 2020? How do we offer similar benefits & value?
Look at other schools: Which companies are sponsors? At what level? What benefits do they offer?
Consider partners: Who are your facility, bank, food service, operations, HR, and virtual learning providers?
Look around your community: Which companies are nearby? Who is in the ward (construction firms, etc.)?
Engage your board: Where do they work? Who are they connected to? Who are their partners & vendors?

From this legwork, create a master list of potential sponsors. Show it to your board, staff, and parents to see who has a connection. Review your relationship maps and encourage a board member to reach out to the people they know. Charter school development teams have been effective in securing past supporters at past levels but recommend keeping an open mind on how you may deliver the value differently in 2021.

DC Prep shifted its Back-to-School Bash virtually this fall and surpassed funds raised by $30,000 over the year prior. It came from their usual sponsors plus donor, vendor, and colleague connections to land new supporters. Heather Nadolny shares, “we added lower level sponsorships and donation levels and found small giving made up 5% of our total, which is encouraging looking ahead to future events. My advice is to look at which vendors you work with, who your connections know, and who else is in your surrounding community. Start there and start as early as possible.”

3. Conduct Brainstorming Calls with Past Sponsors.

It is optimal to start talking to potential sponsors 90 days before your event, and even earlier for larger companies, building in time for brainstorming with past top-tier supporters. We suggest checking in on the impact of COVID on their business and personally since 2020 was far from business as usual. You’ll want a collaborative dialogue where you walk through your initial ideas on benefits you can offer and ask for their thoughts and ideas.

Here are some questions to get the ball rolling:

Goals: What do you want to accomplish from your sponsorship? (e.g. brand visibility, social responsibility goals, new prospect relationships, opt-in demo leads)
Benefits: Are there specific benefits before or after the event that would be valuable to you? (e.g. video on social media, share best practices article, profile your community work, meet a board member)
Value: What value are you looking for? What audience do you want to reach? How do you define success?

You’ll want to carefully listen to what is valued, new ideas, and any concerns. In the spirit of brainstorming, it is always best to resist the urge to initially rule out ideas and take time after the call to consider what is doable. Close your call with how much you appreciate their ideas and you’ll circle back after you finalize the packages.

The DC Charter Conference had a local business that had supported them for multiple years. During an initial call, they mentioned this year may be tougher to continue at the same level. After discussing their goals, they proposed continuing at the $5K level with $1K as a school grant. “We thanked them for the idea and promised to think through how it could work. It became a creative way to reward engagement where attendees gained points towards the grant for attending sessions, informal chats, liking booths, discussion posts, and more. We tracked the schools’ progress on a leaderboard and the top school won the grant. In the end, it was a win-win for both of us.”

4. Create Your Packages to Reflect What Sponsors Value.

After your brainstorming, create sponsorship packages to reflect what you heard. For new ideas, consider, how could we make this work? Is there another way to accomplish what they care about? Huddle with your event committee, staff, and board to customize packages to deliver the value they’re seeking. By tailoring packages, you may find some sponsors interested in yearlong support or willing to help with peer outreach to their networks.

Set a plan for your first 10 calls – prioritizing your strongest past supporters and most promising prospects – and circle back to the ones you brainstormed with. Plan an email, with the packages attached, as your first touch to the rest. It is always best to personalize it with their first name and tailor the intro to your top-tier prospects. Most CRM systems make this easy or consider free mail merge tools, like GMass. Close your email with how you’d love to get on the phone to discuss your sponsorship goals and circle back with follow up calls and emails in priority order. The general rule of thumb is to follow up at least three times before discontinuing outreach.

5. Plan Conversations to Co-create and Customize.

We recommend approaching calls with sponsors as collaborations. There’s no reason to hide that we want a mutually beneficial relationship. Start by asking, how is your business doing? Our supporters may have had a financial impact during COVID that may change their level of support. Plan to share how this event will support your work, such as this free event for families will help raise funds for this virtual learning tool. Probe into what they want to accomplish, who they want to reach, and open it up to any ideas or concerns they have.

It is worth the time to co-create packages that sponsors actually want. It strengthens your relationship and opens up discussions for support at other times during the year. By listening to what they value and their ideas, we know how to customize a package that matches what they want to accomplish. We start with the level of sponsorship we’re looking for and see if sponsors want to come up from there. It is not uncommon to find ways to deliver more value and receive higher sponsorship amounts in exchange.

“We embraced co-creating packages for the Charter School Conference. We held “listening sessions” with past sponsors, which gave us a lot of new ways to deliver value coming out of those calls. When one sponsor expressed concern about missing networking between sessions, it led to us creating “Coffee Chats” to talk about a topic for 30-minutes and “Ed Talks” for deeper dive topics that partners led. Our partners were thrilled. These sessions gave them meaningful conversations with the right people interested in these topics.”

6. Do What You Promised.

We always hear from sponsors how much they appreciate it when we deliver what we promised and it can be a quick way to lose a supporter when we don’t.

Here are a few details to stay on top of:

Names: Always ask how to list names as a company, family, couple, or individual? formal name or nickname?
Logo: Ensure you have the right company logo and show them a proof to confirm.
Benefits: Fulfill all the benefits you promised. If things change, let them know we can no longer do this, but here’s what we can offer. The same goes for sponsors confirmed late, you can offer a benefit after the event.
Thank you: Ask your head of school to send thank you notes to all sponsors. Sponsors find it meaningful as they want to be connected with your decision-maker.
Follow up: Share a post-event summary on total dollars raised, attendance numbers, and highlights on what the funds raised will help your school do.
Survey: Ask sponsors: Was the event fun & engaging? Did you receive the value expected? Did it meet your goals? Are you likely to participate again? How do you want to be involved with our work moving forward?

Corporate sponsorship drives significant revenue for charter schools. Now, is the time to be reaching out to past supporters and prospective sponsors to land sponsorships for our Spring and Fall 2021 events.

John Campbell