By Julia Schroeder Marketing & Nonprofit Account Coordinator Big Buzz Idea Group A common thread in fundraising today looks at how to weave supporters through a donor experience that knits together strong and impactful relationships. Nonprofit organizations rely on donors who care about the cause and give consistently. Each donor is one strand of the whole piece that upholds an organization’s mission. Fundraising can be one of the most cumbersome components of running a nonprofit. Keeping an accurate record of donations, sending timely acknowledgments, and running reports are only some of what needs managing. One of the biggest challenges within...
By Melissa Lagowski Founder/CEO/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Be it donors or dinners or annual bake sales, nonprofit organizations live and die by their budgets and funding streams. Finding a steady revenue stream may seem difficult but it also might just be hidden in plain sight: look around to discover that opportunities exist to develop a sponsorship program that can play mightily into your success. Established nonprofits already have an underlying support system in their board of directors, staff members, social media followers, donors, etc., who believe in the cause. This network brings obvious value to the organization and...
By Brad Ball Big Buzz Idea Group Vice President It should go without saying that sponsorship can be a great tool for associations to increase revenue, but what goes into any well-planned program may vary widely depending on context. For example, sponsorship for a single event will likely look very different from an annual sponsorship. There are many excellent resources on sponsorship across the web (including these articles from the Big Buzz Idea Group blog). However, one point that doesn’t seem to get much attention is the touchy subject of whether to include membership dues in your sponsorship packages. This...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Nonprofits are constantly looking for new ways to grow their revenues and create additional reliable revenue streams. Sponsorship is often overlooked or deemed to be difficult and time-consuming, but it is a great way to secure additional funding. To date, we have helped clients secure more than $6 million in sponsorship, so we know it works when done properly – and we can help you find ways to generate more dollars. We have previously shared tips on how to organically find sponsors, and we want to share five additional ways to generate...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group When clients come to us wanting to start a sponsorship program, they often start rattling off the national and/or international companies that they want to target for sponsorships. Of course, it is natural for people to immediately think of the companies that have multi-billion dollar budgets and presume that all of these large benefactors will want to support the cause. But the reality is that thousands and thousands of other nonprofits are also thinking the same thing, so the sheer volume of asks going into that particular company each day...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Many nonprofits work diligently on annual giving, private donations and grants to fund their organizations, but we find many nonprofits are not tapping into corporate sponsorships as a way to enhance their bottom line. Many corporations sponsor events and organizations as a part of their annual marketing budget and/or as part of their corporate-social responsibility initiatives. Companies generally sponsor for one of two reasons: marketing exposure or brand alignment. If you are working to grow funding for your nonprofit, consider these best practices to help foster financial partners for your cause....
By: Chris Baylis President & CEO, The Sponsorship Collective Events can be great. They can engage your donors, show off your cause, increase revenue and, most important of all (in my highly biased opinion) drive sponsorship dollars. Sponsorship sales can be a major revenue source from events. With a little effort, you can make your next event a sponsor’s dream! MAKE SURE YOUR ATTENDEES LOVE YOUR EVENT What do your attendees have to do with fundraising event sponsorship? Everything. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the people at your gala are excited about another 30 second speech from a donor or sponsor....
Part Two of a Two-Part Series (Click here to read Part One) By: Melissa Lagowski CEO, Founder and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group Now that you have learned the value of a sponsorship program and outlined the assets that your organization can offer to a sponsor, let’s look at the next phase of program development. To Package or Not to Package There are different schools of thought when it comes to sponsorships and sponsorship packages. One involves creating a menu of levels of deliverables and pricing, while the other requires a bit more effort in customizing a sponsorship based...
Part One of a Two-Part Series (Click here to read Part Two) By: Melissa Lagowski CEO, Founder and Queen Bee, Big Buzz Idea Group Be it donors or dinners or annual bake sales, nonprofit organizations live and die by their budgets and funding streams. Finding a steady revenue stream may seem difficult but it also might just be hidden in plain sight: look around to discover that opportunities exist to develop a sponsorship program that can play mightily into your success. Established nonprofits already have an underlying support system in their board of directors, staff members, social media followers, donors,...
