A funny thing happens when organizations evolve their corporate sponsorship program from transactional to being a true partner.
Leaders and their teams:
- Have a-ha moments about how much more valuable their corporate sponsorship potential actually is.
- See more clearly how this new approach fosters better relationships with their corporate peers.
- Experience a surge of creativity that builds confidence and enthusiasm so that they can truly connect with their corporate counterparts.
- Have the ability to create longer lasting corporate sponsors.
These are great signs and lead to top performance from your staff as well as high quality partnerships with your sponsors.
Converting Your Corporate Sponsorship Operation
As positive as that may sound, of course there is a learning process. Like with any good transition, your team may experience a couple hurdles before reaching the other side. Knowing what to expect when you make this sort of transition allows you to anticipate issues and respond appropriately.
Here’s what you can expect and suggestions on how to avoid getting stuck.
- Resistance. It’s a heck of a lot easier to email a PDF with generic “sponsorship” options than actually co-creating meaningful opportunities with your corporate partner. Naturally your team may resist the extra effort.
>>> We overcome this hurdle by focusing on effectiveness. The transactional approach fails to focus on the corporate partner’s needs, build a relationship, or create any grounds for longevity. While emailing a PDF may be easier, it’s actually working against your interests.
- Confusion. Without the right framing and context, we can struggle with confusion—why are we doing this differently? What makes this new approach better? How will I talk to the sponsor about this?
>>> We overcome this hurdle by being clear about the vision and what’s in it not just for the organization but also for the sponsorship seller and leader. If you have better partners, willing to pay higher fees, who commit for a longer period, isn’t that worth adopting a better approach?
- Rebellion. Occasionally staff members resist and refuse to implement or revert to the old ways of doing things.
>>> We overcome this hurdle by focusing on short- and long-term results. Eventually transactional approaches to sponsorship hit a plateau. Financial results diminish. Sponsors stop renewing. Few new sponsors join in. These, of course, can be signs of bigger problems that can grow to damaging staff morale. But now you know what to look out for if you have a renegade staff member.
- Frustration. Learning takes time and patience, especially when professionals initially learn to do something the wrong way. Remember when you learned to drive? In the beginning, it was overwhelming. All your senses were stimulated. The list of things to know and look out for was overwhelming. Now, you probably don’t even remember your drive home from the office because you’re on auto-pilot.
>>> We overcome this hurdle through practice, coaching, support, and continuing to learn. The more personalized that learning, the better and the faster we build competency. Then it becomes second nature.
Marketing-driven corporate sponsorship is one of the best revenue sources your nonprofit or association can have. Structured and delivered properly—moving away from transactional and towards value and asset-based sponsorship—you create better relationships, unrestricted or non-dues surplus revenue, a big marketing boost, and a never-ending resource for your organization. That’s corporate sponsorship made to last.
Need assistance converting your corporate sponsorship program from transactional to true partnership? Let’s talk. Send Gail a message here. You’ll receive a response within 24 hours.
Bower & Co. works with nonprofits, associations, and corporations to realize results, improve staff capacity, and create a long-lasting, meaningful corporate sponsorship strategy and operation within your organization.
