How to Ask for Event Sponsorship

October 4, 2022

If you’re planning or hosting an event, have you considered looking for sponsorship? Whether it’s a private, public or commercial event, sponsorship can grow demand, visibility or attendance to support your efforts and make the occasion one to remember.

This guide gives you all the information you need to learn how to: get event sponsorship, identify opportunities for sponsorship and find the right sponsorship for your event.

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What is event sponsorship?

Event sponsorship is when an organisation or individual provides financial assistance in return for promotion. Sponsorship comes in several different ways, which can be a direct payment or the supply of goods or services with the aim of enhancing the event’s success.

The sponsor should receive a benefit in return for their support. This could be visibility through signage or branding, free tickets for staff members, access to participants’ data or the opportunity to speak at the event. Whatever the perk for the sponsor, the objective will always be to receive exposure and grow their own business simultaneously.

Why is sponsorship important for events?

Gaining event sponsorship is a brilliant way of attracting investment, visibility and participants to your event, as you will:

– Create partnerships with new companies or business owners

– Receive a healthy contribution towards the budget, so that you can plan and execute the best occasion possible by providing better catering, hiring more staff or marketing your occasion to a wider audience

– Add credibility to your event which would take years to build organically (sponsorship can show that a company believes your occasion is going to be a success)

Through their additional contacts and resources, your sponsor can also use their resources to increase the quality of your event. Your sponsor may be able to deliver professional services or provide their expertise to supply quality goods that can enhance participants’ experience throughout the day.

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How to find event sponsorship

One of the key aspects of gaining event sponsorship is finding the right brands to sponsor your event and ones that will provide the right type of sponsorship.

Firstly, you must understand the objective and background of your own event. If you’re planning a small gathering, you’re unlikely to receive sponsorship from a global, well-known company. Instead, you should be realistic and target the right size of sponsor, it will also be beneficial to target sponsors who will have a vested interest in your event. This may be for geographical reasons if it’s a local company, or a businessman who wants to grow their reputation in your community.

You’re also more likely to receive sponsorship from brands that share the same values as the event you’re hosting. For instance, if the aim of your gathering is to promote health and fitness, a local fast-food takeaway is not the best brand to work with to share your message.

A good place to start is to target brands who are open to sponsoring an event. It’ll take a lot less convincing to get them on board as they’re already accustomed to sponsorship, and you may be able to charge more if they have a pre-existing sponsorship budget. As a result, we recommend using dedicated sponsorship websites such as sponsorseeker.co.uk to find your perfect partner before reaching out to businesses.

A great organiser is always able to attract the best sponsorship deals from brands that will have the most benefit to the event. You can find out more about developing your event management skills here.

How to get event sponsorship

The first step of asking for sponsorship is having a clear idea of what you want from your prospective sponsor. The sponsorship package should be a win-win for both sides, so the package should clearly set out what the perks will be for both the organiser and the sponsor.

You should consider incorporating varying price brackets, so that your potential sponsor can choose the level of input they want to commit to. The more expensive the package, the more benefit for the sponsor and while you may have to concede more control over your event the more money they will add to your budget.

To maximise the sponsorship, the package could cover part of the event (for example, one day of a weekend event), or cover multiple days at an increased cost. By having a package that covers a part of the event, this will give you the option to have multiple sponsors across different days. Ensure that you alter the targeting of your sponsorship package for each brand that you are approaching to sponsor you, so that they get more focused and relevant experiences.

If you have a target brand in mind, attempt to identify a specific person from the company such as the sponsorship or marketing manager, or someone higher up if possible. This will allow you to contact the decision-makers who will have more influence over whether they want to sponsor your event or not. Using generic email addresses or contact forms risks your approach reaching the wrong person or being lost amongst spam folders.

Sponsorship examples

If you need some event sponsorship ideas, then branded items can help you activate the marketing spend of your sponsors. These items can help you ensure that your package is unique and innovative and entice brands to choose your occasion to sponsor. Examples of items that can be branded include:

– Photo frames

– Unique Wi-Fi name or password

– Giveaway items

– Charging stations

– Sponsored live stream

– Ticketing or wristbands