Business Sponsors for Charities

antioola

So I want to approach some businesses to be sponsors, for a music events charity.

can anyone give generic ideas that might be useful please

We need a bit of money for engineers and poster promo.

steve1980

Aim for local business and be honest! Don't bother with the big boys.

Annisele

Also be creative about what it is you actually need.

For example, would you rather have money from your local radio station, or an advertising slot? Can you find any student sound engineers to help you out?

Savvy_Sue

When approaching businesses for charity sponsorship, the question you always have to ask yourself and have an answer for is "What's in it for this business?"

I was at a charity auction the other day, and one of the offers was free tea and coffee for a month at a cafe near where I work. Quite a few people had never heard of this place before, but the fact that three of us who knew it well were bidding quite hard should have told everyone something!

antioola

Annisele wrote: »

Also be creative about what it is you actually need.

For example, would you rather have money from your local radio station, or an advertising slot? Can you find any student sound engineers to help you out?

I'd rather have both!

You have given me an idea tho, what if I was to ask various advertising placard maintainers in my local area to put our posters up at no charge?

DARE I, TO DREAM?

It's not a bad idea.

Student sound engineer on the other hand. I've done that, but i won't again.

They are annoying and have no commitment, even when offered free drinks etc. They tend to be flaky. i avoid unpaid help wherever possible as the only person who often has the dedication to the job is myself and my colleague who run it day to day.

Savvy_Sue

antioola wrote: »

i avoid unpaid help wherever possible as the only person who often has the dedication to the job is myself and my colleague who run it day to day.

I'd be wondering why that was: I know it's not always easy to find good volunteers, but we have run a number of events for our charity which would not have been possible without a lot of volunteers. We are fortunate to have people who are committed to the charity, and will give their services freely for particular events: do you think it's the charity or the event which isn't getting the commitment you need?

easyhost

antioola wrote: »

I'd rather have both!

You have given me an idea tho, what if I was to ask various advertising placard maintainers in my local area to put our posters up at no charge?

DARE I, TO DREAM?

It's not a bad idea.

Student sound engineer on the other hand. I've done that, but i won't again.

They are annoying and have no commitment, even when offered free drinks etc. They tend to be flaky. i avoid unpaid help wherever possible as the only person who often has the dedication to the job is myself and my colleague who run it day to day.

after many years in the volunteer sector, i can tell you that a majority of charity events rely heavily on volunteers, just like the retail shops charities run are all operated with a core of volunteers.

a good place to look is a local college, i was involved organising 1 event and asked the local college if they want to bring along their information van which they accepted but then i got a call from their hairdressing dept asking if their 3rd yr hairdressing students coould set up a marquee to offer hair and beauty treatments and give the profits to the charity this worked great. so dont knock volunteers

Pennywise

You really do have to ask yourself what will the business get out of your event in terms of additional business or goodwill.

Most businesses will already have "adopted" their preferred charity so you're going to get a lot of knock-backs. Businesses are always being targetted by one charity or another so you have to come up with a good proposition rather than just "give us the dosh mate!".

How about starting with businesses that know you, i.e. where you're already an existing, known customer, and you can demonstrate that the people seeing their adverts etc at the event are their target customer. I never give donations to anyone I don't know, but always donate when a client asks. I know a fair few shop-keepers who get really angry when "local" people they've never seen in the shop before come in asking for raffle prizes or donations or sponsorship and then take offence when they are refused. Same with adverts in programmes etc - so little response, if any, usually, so not worth it. You really will have an uphill struggle if you go cold-calling to businesses that have never heard with you or dealt with you.

If it's a music event, surely the way to get money is to charge those coming to watch it enough to cover the costs and something to charity. On top of entry fees, you can charge businesses to have stands, i.e. for food & drink, souvenirs, etc. You can organise other fund raising, such as raffles, competitions, etc. All with the aim of extracting the cash from the people attending. After all, if it's for charity, surely the audience will be willing to spend their cash - that way the "charity money" is spread over a large number of people, the ones who are actually enjoying the event.

vka1

Quick questions - How much do you need to raise?

And, apart from considering benefits to a business sponsor can you easily answer the question 'what difference will my donation/sponsorship make to the beneficiaries?'

Is the event a fundraiser or is the event itself the charitable activity?

Fundraising from companies can be tough, but there are lots of ways to improve your chances. A wee more bit more info would be hugely helpful for giving you some concrete ideas,

V