Generating Support for Your Association
Farley, L. (2013). Generating Support for Your Association. boardwalk, Summer 2013, 4.
It’s more than just money and logos
Stepping up on sponsorship is a growing reality for professional associations in the face of shrinking revenue streams. At the same, it seems that ambivalence, misconception, and misunderstanding about the nature and value of garnering sponsorship prevents professional associations from effectively tapping into the unrealized potential of this source of funding.
My perception is that there is a limiting belief within many associations that sponsorship is a tool with limited value, useful only to aid cost recovery on specific events. Rather than using sponsorship as a means to an end, it should be framed as an important ingredient to organizational development with the potential to provide opportunities for associations to focus their time, talent, and energy on mission-critical work.
An effective, sustainable sponsorship program for your organization is about building a business case for alignment with your sponsors as partners, not simply putting together a proposal, or at the minimum calling last year’s sponsors. While most associations know that it is a good idea to devise Pricing Strategies, Rank potential sponsors, and Market with a sponsorship proposal, they are missing out on the big picture strategy and the other tactics that can create fresh or individualized approaches, evaluate opportunities, maximize results, and meaningfully engage members.
When was the last time your association completed a Needs Analysis for programs and funding? A Risk Assessment (around the pros and cons of sponsorship or lack thereof)? Or, created or reviewed your Sponsorship Policy?
Sponsorship has evolved beyond plastering logos on every flat surface in sight. People don’t notice signage anymore and are good at filtering for messages that mean something personally to them. Developing a comprehensive sponsorship program will help you Define the Value Proposition for your association, your members, event attendees, as well as your sponsors. Putting serious thought and some resources towards understanding and Developing your Identity, conducting a Competitive Analysis, and Evaluating your strategies increase sustainability and growth of credibility in the sponsorship market.
Year round Recruitment, meetings, and Stewardship with prospects and sponsors are of significant benefit, but an under-resourced organization will find it difficult to sustain without help, continuity, and an understanding of the Lifecycle and Impacts of their sponsorship program. Sponsorship is actually now more about the sponsor, and not so much about the association or the community it represents – shifting focus from “what can we get from the sponsor?” to “what can we offer the corporation sponsoring?” – and how we can provide and leverage Activation opportunities for sponsors to engage directly with the membership.
How long will professional associations engage in the same behaviors and produce the same results before challenging themselves to take risks? Will they see that a strategic sponsorship program can help them perceive and manifest their own potential by treating sponsors as partners and allies? What opportunities are being missed for nonprofit professional associations to accelerate the pace of progress, and capacity, for their sponsors, their organization, and their industry?
