With the holidays approaching, the question of how much your business should give to sponsor worthy causes comes to the forefront – and may provide a basis to create a sponsorship budget for 2015. Maura Raffensperger, founder of Your Chief Simplicity Officer, and a proud Elite Member Sponsor of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Ventura County (NAWBO-VC) knows this dilemma well after 17 years in business. “Like many business owners, I am frequently asked to sponsor non-profits;” says Maura, “It used to be hard to say ‘No’, but I have found answering five key questions makes the decision easy, and creates a ‘win-win’ for both of us.”
Maura offers these 5 tips to help simplify your business sponsorship decisions:
- The organization aligns with your values.
NAWBO, for example, is ‘a cohesive community of women business owners sharing best practices and support for each other’ which is a great fit for my mission statement and business and personal values. - The organization has a written sponsorship policy.
What do they expect of you? Are there multiple types of sponsorship? Pick the best fit. - There is a responsive contact within the organization for sponsors.
In a non-profit, this person may change every year. Do you know how to contact them? Do they get back to you? Ideally, you would like to build a relationship with this person. - You will take advantage of most, if not all, of the sponsorship benefits.
You may think they just want your money, but they want your participation, too. If your sponsorship includes seats at a banquet, for instance, they want to see those seats filled. You can be creative, and offer the tickets to clients, employees, or a student who might benefit, but it is your responsibility to make sure there is not a lonely empty table with your company name on it. - They want to recognize you – make it easy for them.
Respond promptly with their initial requests for your logo and company description, so they can add you to their promo materials and website.
You are free to publish and repost this content as long as long as you attribute to Maura Raffensperger and link back to this post.
As part of my sponsorship of NAWBO-VC, I am the title sponsor for their November 20th meeting and I would love to see you there. Click here for more information and to register. Use Promo Code MAURA to receive a 10% discount on your (non-member) registration – if you register by Monday, November 17!
