Pursuing Partnerships

“We host the events at member facilities,” Rammer says. “The host is the main sponsor, and then we seek out two additional sponsors. Each of these three has an opportunity to address the group. The host gives a little five- or ten-minute presentation at the beginning on a topic of their choice. Each sponsor says a few words about their company and what their expertise is, invite people to come over and talk with them, collect business cards in a fishbowl, and give away a prize at the end of the evening.”

For many companies, it’s important that sponsorship agreements include enriching opportunities for their workforce. “I know at the Bakken [Library & Museum], if you sponsor an event, your employees can come to the museum for family days,” Nelson says. “I don’t think that corporate sponsorships, especially in the Twin Cities area, look at just getting benefits for the corporate leaders. There’s really a grassroots effort on the behalf of the employees.”

Many Happy Returns

In many cases, it’s a mistake to predict a hard return on investment (ROI) for sponsors. Nevanen notes that you can’t guarantee they’ll follow up on the leads they generate, or even that they’ll meet the people they want to meet in the first place. What you can predict is how much exposure they’ll get in front of their target audience.

But there are ways you can help companies get the most out of their sponsorship. For example, the Uptown Association staff tries to help with the marketing of Art Fair sponsors.

“We [said] to someone like a car dealership, ‘It’s really great to put your car out there, but let’s build something around it,’” Fitzpatrick says. “‘Maybe we can get the people who design and draw the cars to come in and do a demonstration. Maybe we can have some art going on, so that people can be attracted to your booth.’”

Fitzpatrick feels that about 20 percent of sponsorship fees should be set aside in a sort of informal escrow account—designated specially to help them “activate” their sponsorship and get the maximum benefit from it. “We need to do some things to help make them successful, if they’ll allow us to,” she says. “Maybe we can do a giveaway to get them some leads. Or we can spend the money to buy some art for them, or even help them staff their booth. It helps them see a value.”

Nelson agrees, but names a different percentage. “One of the rules of thumb is that for every gift that is given, an organization or nonprofit [being sponsored] should plan on setting aside about 10 to 15 percent of that gift for publicity,” she says. “Use it to make sure that that organization knows how important it is, and is thanked appropriately. You’re not just saying, ‘Okay, thanks for sponsoring, now we’re taking all the money.’ There’s a gift back [in the form of] PR, media relations, and events for employees in the corporation.”

As in baseball, follow-through is everything. Fitzpatrick says after the event was over, her staff prepared ROI reports for all its sponsors and talked with them about what happened and what needed to be improved in the future. It’s an information-gathering process, but it also makes sponsors feel important.

“Dedicate people on your staff to be their liaisons,” she says. “Follow up with them. Once the event’s done, you’re still busy.”