A sponsorship package is essentially a brochure meant to entice sponsors into working with your organization. It shows what sponsors get from you (branding opportunities, speaker slots, etc.) and what you get from them (monetary support, in kind donations, etc.) in return.
When organizations look into sponsoring you, their choice largely comes down to return on investment (ROI) . Creating a package that has real value for sponsors is the key to hooking them!
There are two primary models of sponsorship packages:
The model you go with really depends on the needs and capabilities of your organization, along with what kinds of sponsors you’re trying to attract.
If you’re looking for the perfect opportunity to connect with sponsors and tap into an alternate revenue stream , look no further than your events!
Creating sponsorship packages for events will help you:
Event planning starts with ideating and dreaming, and then adjusting to fit the container of your budget. With 65% of an event organizer’s budget typically going towards marketing and paying staff, it can be tough to find the funds for leveling up your event.
That’s where sponsorship changes the game!
Imagine you’re a literary organization that’s running a book festival, and you want to have special programming for science fiction authors. A solid event sponsorship package might convince a local science center to fund the entire stage! Plus, then you can use the money you “saved” for other creative ideas.
If you’re an up-and-coming nonprofit, showing off those shiny sponsor logos is a great way to build credibility in your industry.
Receiving event sponsorships is a quick way to show that:
Building sponsorship packages for events is where the process starts! Approaching a prospective sponsor with a thorough and valuable package shows that you’re a professional.
The money you earn from event sponsorship packages ultimately goes back into your audience experience. After all, without the audience, there is no event!
Event sponsorships can go towards things like:
Once your basic expenses are covered, consider what it would mean to go above and beyond for your specific event. For example, you might not need a yoga session for your weekend conference—but your attendees would certainly appreciate the stretch break between sessions!
Sponsorship should never be a one-off thing! If your package is valuable enough and your event experience is positive, sponsors should be happy to reconnect every year.
Your relationship with sponsors has a whole life cycle:
It’s not a fun statistic, but 30% of nonprofits fail to exist after ten years . Event sponsorships are an opportunity for your organization to make the connections that promote longevity.
Brand awareness goes both ways—and thorough event sponsorship packages should make that loud and clear for sponsors!
For example, if you are running a charitable organization for animal welfare, receiving a sponsorship from a local vegan cupcake shop:
Ultimately, you want to work with sponsors who align with your brand enough that there is valuable audience crossover.
Looking for a place to get started on your sponsorship packages? Check out our free sponsorship package template !
This template includes a structure for your organization’s information, sponsorship levels, contact information and more! All you have to do is make adjustments to suit your organization and fill in the blanks.
A key part of getting sponsorships is knowing what to offer and what to ask for.
Here are 8 essential elements of sponsorship packages for events and beyond:
At the heart of all charitable organizations is a cause. Sponsorship packages for nonprofit organizations should highlight your mission loud and clear!
Did you know that businesses are actively seeking out corporate sponsorship packages? In fact, according to a study from Nonprofits Source , “over $50 million has been invested in the last two years into new CSR startups to help expand matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other corporate giving offerings.”
If you connect with aligned businesses and make your mission shine, securing those sponsorships should be a breeze!
Get clear with the numbers in your sponsorship packages.
When they read through your package, sponsors should understand:
The more specific you make your goals, the better idea sponsors have of what they can provide. Saying “we want to raise money for a playground with a charity marathon” sounds nice, but it doesn’t create a sense of urgency or impact!
Instead, you could say: “Our goal is to raise $15,000 during our Run to Play, which will be held on August 5th. This money will go towards raising a playground that will be a safe outdoors space for children in our community.”
With this information in mind, your sponsors will see the real impact they could make by sponsoring something like water stations—or proudly donating a couple thousand dollars!
Whether you’re going with the tiered or a la carte model, make your sponsorship options as clear as possible.
For a tiered package, you should include:
For an a la carte package, you should include:
By giving prospective sponsors as much information as possible, they can feel empowered early on to choose what works for them. Let them know that if they’re uncertain, they can always contact you for more information!
There will be some sponsors who like the idea of working with you, exceept they’d like a couple of changes… and that’s a good thing!
This might seem inconvenient, but it means that your sponsors really would like to work with you. Ask your prospects what would make sponsorship more valuable to them, and if certain perks aren’t quite cutting it, replace them with something that makes sponsors excited.
Working with an a la carte model makes this easy, but don’t be afraid to stay flexible with your tiered sponsorship packages as well. Not only will this secure you more sponsorships, but it’ll also help build those crucial long-term relationships.
According to a survey from Nonprofits Source , “90% of companies indicated that partnering with reputable nonprofit organizations enhances their brand.” When you’re setting up your nonprofit sponsorship packages, highlight the opportunities partnering brings to get sponsors’ brands front and center.
This could include:
Brand visibility is a huge point of what makes sponsorship valuable to businesses. Make sure your sponsorship packages highlight where and how your audience will get to know them.
Whether event sponsorship is given through monetary or in-kind donations, media events or partner promotions, it’s essential that sponsors see a return on investment. They want to know that the time, labor or money they provide is ultimately worth it on their end!
Along with highlighting the impact sponsorship will have on your nonprofit, be clear on what the sponsors will get out of it.
Include details on opportunities for:
When businesses read through corporate sponsorship packages, one of the most essential pieces of information they look for is your audience.
Give readers information about:
Having audience overlap is the key to a valuable sponsor relationship. For example, if your primary audience is Gen Z, a life insurance company might not have much to gain from collaboration!
Don’t underestimate the value of making things pretty! Structuring your sponsorship packages in a way that’s visually attractive is more likely to keep your readers’ attention.
Include design and visual elements such as:
If design isn’t your strong suit, don’t panic! Tools like Google Docs and Canva have visuals you can pull from, and templates you can adapt for sponsorship packages.
The information is the most important thing, but a solid visual presentation will make it translate even more nicely.
So let’s say you go with the tiered model for sponsorship packages. How do you decide how to actually price each tier?
Here are a few helpful tips:
93% of nonprofits believe they can grow the amount of money they raise from corporate giving programs. If you work from a solid foundation, you’ll be more likely to see results!
The moment of truth! Here are 6 tips for creating effective nonprofit sponsorship packages.
One of the keys to securing corporate sponsorships is choosing the right businesses to reach out to. Research is your friend here, and will guide you towards finding those connections!
As you search through different sponsors, keep an eye out for:
Connecting with sponsors takes time and energy on your part—don’t waste it on people that likely won’t be interested in partnering!
Once you have an idea of the goals, needs and values of prospective sponsors, create a benefits package that hits some of their pain points.
For example, if a company’s website proudly shares their recent expansion to a Canadian audience, and your nonprofit is based in Toronto, including a VIP booth at a live event is a fast way to make a community introduction.
A tiered model for sponsorship packages can help you meet the needs of similar sponsors of multiple sizes. An a la carte package, on the other hand, will make it easier to have a little more variety of sponsors. Choose whichever one fits your target sponsor list best!
What is it that makes your organization the one a business should sponsor?
In your sponsorship letter , highlight the niche that you’re filling, especially if you haven’t found any other organizations quite like yours. And if your nonprofit is serving a cause within a larger industry or community, draw special attention to the unique initiatives that make you necessary and worth supporting.
This might include:
Part of what makes your organization special is the value it offers your sponsors when it comes to collaboration. A good portion of sponsorship packages should be dedicated to what makes partnering valuable to businesses themselves.
Emphasize the value of each level and type of sponsorship opportunity with:
If sponsorships are monetary, ask yourself: are they getting what they’re paying for? A large part of sponsorship comes from a charitable place, but it’s not the same as a donation.
Even if you’re mostly building in person event sponsorship packages, sponsors can still benefit from the virtual realm!
Since your audience visits your website, reads your newsletters and follows you on social media, sponsors can benefit from perks like:
And if your event if virtual, you can ask businesses to sponsor experiences like:
Whether your sponsors are trying to make fresh connections in the community or bring in potential customers, interaction is essential. Think of yourself as the host of the party—it’s your job to make those introductions!
Opportunities for sponsors to connect with attendees could include:
If you’re building event sponsorship packages, don’t just note who your attendees are—tell sponsors exactly how you’ll help them connect.
Your event sponsorship packages will look a little different depending on if you’re holding an in-person, hybrid or virtual event. It’s still possible to use either a tiered or a la carte model, but both the sponsorship perks and opportunities should be tailored to the structure of the event.
For in-person or hybrid events, sponsors can cover the cost of:
In exchange for these sponsorships, their logo should be featured on all of your major signage. Plus, be sure to give public thank you’s throughout the event! There are plenty of other perks you can also include, but these are a great start.
You might be surprised by how many virtual sponsorship opportunities there are!
Your sponsorship packages can include:
While virtual sponsorship might feel very different from in person sponsorship at first, there’s actually a bunch of overlap! Sponsoring livestreams is quite similar to sponsoring stages, and placing a logo on a website isn’t so different from including it on signage.
Looking for some sponsorship packages examples? Check out these 3 different options for nonprofits, golf tournaments and virtual events!
The Clubhouse Network is a nonprofit that helps young people from underserved communities develop new skills and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology.
Its sponsorship package is very basic on the website, and encourages interested parties to reach out to the Executive Director. This creates a guaranteed opportunity to connect on a personal level with a member of the leadership!
The Travis Roy Foundation , which was created to support survivors of spinal cord injuries with adaptive equipment grants and scientific research funding, has sponsorship opportunities for its Cougar Nation Golf Tournament.
Sustainability Live is a hybrid event that’s all about—you guessed it!—sustainability. This event uses virtual event software so that attendees from afar still get lots of value out of attending. Better yet, it even has a guide to using the software!
Nonprofit sponsorship packages are where your sponsor relationships begin! With the help of this simple brochure, you can expand your event budget, build credibility and create bigger and better experiences for your audience.
We hope our tips (and our template!) have been useful for you. You know your organization is valuable to work with—so get out there and snag those sponsors!
