Imagine you just hosted your most successful year-end event yet, an exciting gala complete with an auction. Pulling off this success took lots of work and plenty of help—some sponsors made general donations, while others donated auction items.
Now that the event is over, your nonprofit needs a plan to reinforce these valuable sponsor relationships.
Because event sponsors are vital partners in your nonprofit’s success, they support your organization’s impact by contributing towards overhead in exchange for valuable recognition. While these impactful donor relationships benefit all parties involved, they still take work to maintain.
In this guide, we’ll provide tips for cultivating and stewarding your organization’s relationships with sponsors to retain their long-term support.
1. Personally thank your sponsors and plan to stay in touch.
You likely thanked your sponsors multiple times leading up to your fundraising event, but it’s crucial to reaffirm that appreciation afterward. Just like with individual donors, send your immediate thanks for each sponsor’s generous contribution. Don’t assume that public recognition is enough—send a personalized thank-you email or letter.
Then, make a communications plan for maintaining the relationship. This often starts with brainstorming how you’d like to involve them next. Could you seek another event sponsorship in the future? Would they be interested in co-hosting a fundraising event?
With a clear goal in mind, plot out steps for stewarding each relationship before making another ask. Start with a general stewardship plan that includes the strategies we’ll discuss below, then make adjustments so every plan is tailored to that specific sponsor. Consider their communication preferences, contribution history, and unique business or charitable interests.
For example, say you want to strengthen your organization’s relationship with the catering business that sponsored your fundraising gala. You know the point of contact likes to meet in person and that the business is expanding. You might plan to invite this sponsor to lunch with a board member to congratulate them on their success and discuss how you can support each other in the future.
2. Provide personalized impact reports.
Clear communication and measurable results are key to retaining supporters, whether they’re first-time donors or major sponsors. Demonstrate your event’s results to sponsors by creating and sharing impact reports.
These documents should include information about the sponsor’s role in the event, the impact they’ve helped drive for your mission, and the specific key performance indicators (KPIs) you used to measure success. Along with sharing photos and quotes from happy event guests or volunteers, you might report on metrics like:
- Total fundraising revenue earned
- Number of in-person guests in attendance
- Number of livestream views
- Audience demographics from your event
- Guest satisfaction scores from feedback surveys
- Social media impressions
- Total event return on investment (ROI)
- Number of new donors acquired
- Bidding revenue from the sponsor’s items (if relevant)
Your nonprofit’s fundraising software is critical for tracking these KPIs and analyzing the event’s impact and digital reach. Before sharing results, make sure the data in your event management and constituent relationship management (CRM) platforms is clean and up-to-date. Remove duplicate data points and standardize formatting, so your metrics are as accurate as possible.
In addition to these big-picture KPIs, don’t be afraid to share any other exciting developments that prove the sponsor’s support was worthwhile. For example, maybe 20 guests signed up to be new monthly donors, or you made a connection with a high-profile community leader.
3. Ask for feedback from sponsors.
Feedback requests are essential to include in your outreach plans. Asking for their thoughts shows sponsors you not only care about their experience but also signals your desire to work with them again in the future. Plus, quality feedback gives your nonprofit insight into ways you can improve your sponsorship offerings and maximize ROI next time.
Depending on sponsors’ communication preferences, you might email them a brief survey or ask for feedback over the phone. Ask questions about their satisfaction with their investment, the positive impacts on their brand, and their likelihood of working with your organization again.
Then, analyze all the feedback you received and use it to improve future event planning efforts. If multiple sponsors cited your social media content as the best lead generator for their business, for example, you might expand your sponsorship package to include more cross-promotional social media posts.
4. Get creative to collaborate on new initiatives.
The OneCause corporate sponsorship guide explains how your corporate partners can also support your nonprofit year-round. In addition to sponsoring events, they might fund programs, give grants, provide pro-bono services, and more.
However, these traditional sponsorships are only the beginning of the partnership opportunities you can offer businesses and might not be the right fit for your relationships. To boost retention and meet your sponsors where they are, consider other creative ways to collaborate, such as:
- Matching gift drives: Many companies already have matching gift programs, in which they double their employees’ donations to nonprofits. To turn this into a collaboration, ask if a sponsor is interested in hosting a special matching gift drive to match contributions to your nonprofit at a higher rate (such as 3:1 instead of 2:1).
- Volunteer days: Invite businesses to go beyond monetary support by planning a volunteer day for their employees. Small teams or a large group of workers can donate their time to your organization and gain valuable volunteer experience in the process.
- Co-hosted events: Plan an event that’s relevant to your mission, the sponsor’s business, and your community’s interests. Then, work together to host it while promoting both your organization and the company.
Remember to work up to additional asks rather than suggesting them immediately. Think of these initiatives as an end goal for your stewardship efforts, and move toward them gradually. You can plant the seeds for future collaboration while still keeping relationship-building at the forefront of your plans.
5. Create a dedicated sponsor playbook for next time.
A sponsorship playbook or deck is the plan you present to potential sponsors when proposing a collaboration. To create one, take everything you’ve learned from working with sponsors so far and tighten up your process to make stronger impressions each time. This way, you’ll boost both retention and acquisition in the long term.
Your playbook should include all the information sponsors need to make an informed decision, including:
- Your nonprofit’s mission statement
- An overview of the event and its purpose
- Testimonials and social proof from past sponsors
- A general profile of your audience’s demographics
- The benefits of sponsoring your event for businesses
- Your different sponsorship packages and what each includes
- Contact information for your organization
While it mainly functions as a sales tool for securing future partnerships, a thorough playbook can also help you better understand sponsors and how to retain them. Once you’ve presented this playbook a few times, you’ll learn which aspects appeal to sponsors most and how to build on them. Ultimately, this document should help you make a stellar impression from the get-go and continually improve based on what works best.
Working toward long-term sponsorship retention
Your organization’s sponsors help you host more profitable events and raise more for your mission, but that’s not all they can do. Use these tips to build strong, lasting relationships so that your partners can support your nonprofit’s work for years to come. Focus on the most effective strategies until you find stewardship plans that drive long-term sponsor retention. You’ll be building stronger relationships in no time!
