Corporate Sponsorships

Q. Is there a good guide for designing and building corporate-sponsorship packages for nonprofit groups?

A. An effective corporate-sponsorship package is all about bottom-line results, says Colette Phillips, a communications consultant in Needham, Mass., who assists charities with corporate sponsorships and partnerships. Ms. Phillips says that corporations are looking for “long-term partnerships with a high return-on-investment.”

A company views a sponsorship as an investment in either its brand image, its relationship with consumers, or both, and so it makes sense to do your homework to find out which consumers a business wants to attract, and how your charity and its donors match up with this market profile. For example, Ms. Phillips points to Reebok’s partnership with the American Heart Association this year. “To help fight heart disease and combat obesity, Reebok launched a campaign which my company named ‘Wear Your Heart on Your Feet, ‘” she says. In May, she says, anyone who visited Reebok’s Web site and donated at least $25 to the American Heart Association received a pair of DMX Walking Shoes from the shoe company. Reebok committed up to $1-million worth of shoes to the project, says Ms. Phillips. The American Heart Association’s mission of battling heart disease through reducing obesity, she says, is a good fit for the fitness-shoe manufacturer.

Also keep in mind that corporations are focused on results, and will want to be able to show that their sponsorship dollars are creating a measurable benefit for the charity, says Ms. Phillips. For example, can you show that the sponsorship brought in more volunteers, improved your group’s reach to vulnerable populations, or lessened the stigma associated with a particular disease?

For this reason, it might make sense to go after a multiple-year commitment from a corporation as opposed to a one-year sponsorship, says Kae Moore, vice president for advancement at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, in Interlochen, Mich., which works frequently with corporate donors. “Corporate sponsorships should take a long-term approach, [so that all parties] can really understand the impact their giving is making on the company and the nonprofit institution,” says Mr. Moore. It can often take time for the results of sponsorship dollars to bear fruit, and multiple-year commitments lessen the pressure to produce quickly. Of course, he adds, you should still provide the corporate sponsor with annual assessments and reports.

To learn more about corporate sponsorship design, Ms. Phillips recommends these books: Made Possible By: Succeeding With Sponsorship, by Patricia Martin (Jossey Bass, 2003, $30) and Cause Related Marketing: Who Cares Wins, by Sue Adkins (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999, $39.95). As for online resources, see this previous Philanthropy Careers article about ethical dilemmas that sponsorships can create for charities. You might also find this step-by-step guide for finding corporate sponsors helpful.