Sponsorship And More

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Sponsorship

Sponsorship investment can come in many forms such as cash, advertising, accommodation room nights, prizes, professional services, and more.

Create a wish list of sponsors; consider which companies would be a good match to sponsor the event. Write a proposal which shows the value of their involvement and how it will benefit their company.

Start thinking of ways you could highlight your sponsors in different channels in the lead-up to and throughout the event. A company that is considering sponsoring your event will want to know what they will get out of their investment.

You could propose a few different sponsorship options offering different levels of benefits to the company. For example the local radio station option 1: sponsor your event by way of daily advertising, in return for benefit 1: their logo featuring on the website as well as 10 complimentary tickets which they can giveaway; option 2: sponsor your event by way of daily advertising and $20,000 contribution, in return for benefit 2: their logo featuring on the website and the tickets, 10 complimentary tickets which they can giveaway, and naming rights to your event.

Assign one person to manage the relationships with sponsors. Too many people making promises can become very confusing and cause problems down the track.

Ensure sponsorship agreements are well documented and signed by both parties.

Donations

Receiving money from individuals is not a usual source of funding, although recently crowd-funding is becoming popular. Various websites have been set up where you can register your event and raise money to help get your event off the ground. PledgeMe, Kickstarter, and Givealittle are some platforms you could use.

Ticket Sales

Ticking costs

Ensure that the “inside” fees that a ticketing agency charge are accounted for.  For example a $20 ticket may cost you $2 in ticketing fees.  You may choose to increase the advertised ticket to $22 to account for this.

Guarantee Against Loss (GAL)

Some funders may provide a grant and/or a GAL against ticket sales not reaching targets.  A GAL will not cover budget overruns or a failure to secure all funding as per the budget.  However, a GAL can be particularly useful if your event is weather-dependent and an inclement day results in fewer people turning up than expected.

Yields

A useful exercise is to create a ticket sale projection (yield) based on best (100%), average 50%) and worst case (30%) scenarios.  This will help determine the “fat” needed in the budget to account for any ticket sale deficiencies. This “fat” may be identified as a contingency.  It is recommended that at least 5% of the budget be kept for contingencies such as poor box office income or budget blow-outs.

Complimentary Tickets

Remember to account for complimentary ticket costs—these “freebies” not only use up valuable seats that you could sell but also they may require ticketing fees.  If your sponsorship requires complimentary tickets, ensure you have budgeted revenue to pay for these tickets.

Beware Of The GST Issues

Ensure the ticket income calculations in your budget has GST removed if you are GST registered.  For example, a $20 advertised ticket price will only be worth $17.40 in your bank.