How to Write an Event Sponsorship Proposal

You may be organizing a charity event for a social cause, your college event, a conference or a movie festival, the first thing that you need to arrange is the financing for the event, for which you require sponsors.

To rope in businesses to sponsor your event and pay for it, you need to create a convincing enough event sponsorship proposal which will highlight why giving you money is a mutual Win/Win situation for you and them.

Let us see what are sponsorship proposals expected to be like, before we talk about how to write one. First and foremost, what you need to understand is that this is a business proposal. You are selling an idea to a business, by advertising how they stand to benefit from it.

A sponsorship proposal is an invitation you give to a business to provide money for the event, provide information about your event and the target audience attending it, its total budget, the advantages of sponsoring for the business and a quote of the total amount you expect from them.

It normally consists of a cover letter introducing them to the event, a budget breakdown of the event and the benefits for the business.

One of the first things that you need to do is decide what your event is going to be all about. Then think about the type of business which will be interested in sponsoring you. You can gauge that by the kind of audience you are going to have for the event.

For example, if you are planning to have a fashion show, top garment brands are naturally going to be interested in sponsoring. If you are arranging for a sports meet, the sportswear brands are the ones that you should approach. In short, know thy event and know who would be interested.

It is essential that you are ready with the details of your event, the monetary amount you need for sponsorship and the time frame for the event, before you go ahead. Make a list of brands and businesses that would be interested and start working on creating the proposal.

Study the brand or business you plan to approach, for the sponsorship money and know if they have provided any guidelines for sponsorship proposals. Know about the kind of events they have sponsored in the past and get information about the right proposal format.

Study the target audience for the business and note the kind of advertising rights they look out for in events. Begin working with the cover letter addressed to the business. Provide information about your event in brief and emphasize why the event would profit from sponsorship, provided by their esteemed business.

Provide a quote of the exact amount you expect as sponsorship and direct them towards the rest of the proposal for more detailed information.

Provide complete information about the event, its duration and location along with information about the kind of audience that would be attending and the kind of publicity it could get.

Present you entire budget with details of the cost involved in setting up the event. Companies like it when you provide an estimate of the sponsorship cost clearly, along with details about how you plan to spend their money.

In the next part, talk about how sponsoring your event aligns with their business objectives and aims. Provide information about the advertising facilities you will provide them during the event, like banners and stalls for their product promotion.

Lastly make sure that you demand a sponsorship amount, which is reasonable. After all, like any business proposal, 'cost' is going to be the most important factor under consideration. Keep room for negotiation and follow up your proposal with a personal visit to meet the business managers personally.

Writing a good sponsorship proposal is all about selling the event to sponsors and bringing out how they stand to gain from this investment. The key lies in identifying the kind of businesses that will benefit from sponsoring and advertising your event.

Approaching the right businesses according to the nature of the event is half the battle won. Making a reasonable demand, providing advertising opportunity and painting it as a win/win deal will ensure that the rest of the sponsorship battle is won.