Event sponsors can help you fund your event, as well as add to its prestige. Companies are also looking to sponsor events to gain visibility and a positive reputation. Crafting a nice event sponsorship proposal can be really helpful to convince those companies’ stakeholders to sponsor your event.
In this article, we gathered a 5 Step Guide to creating an Event Sponsorship Proposal and collected 15 Event Sponsorship Examples to help you get inspired for how to prepare your next event sponsorship prospectus.
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How to Create an Event Sponsorship Prospectus – 5 Steps
Now that we’ve looked at some examples of prospectuses, let’s talk about what goes into making one.
An event sponsorship proposal or prospectus is an organized summary of your event and the sponsorship opportunities it offers. This proposal can be for either one event or contain multiple different events for your organization.
Because no two events are the same, the type of event, whether it is a conference, educational event, a career fair, nonprofit event, or anything else, will also affect how you write your prospectus. This list will go over common guidelines when creating a sponsorship proposal — it doesn’t have to strictly follow these rules.
The key is to capture the attention of the potential sponsor because they will likely skim the proposal at first, so don’t overcomplicate things — make sure everything is presented clearly. Also, communicate why sponsorship is worth it and why they should trust your organization.
On another note, have someone with at least a little bit of graphic design experience on hand to make it visually appealing. Most event sponsorship proposals are done as a PDF, but some choose to feature the proposal as a webpage on their website. However, a PDF can be preferable to many sponsors, as it is universal and printable.
1. Create an aesthetically pleasing cover
This is the first thing that prospective sponsors will see, so you want to make it visually appealing.
First, the name of the event and the organization that will be hosting the event should be shown, along with the dates of the event. The logo should also be included for branding purposes. You’ll also need to specify when the event will be, so the city, the venue, and/or virtual event format will need to be specified.
For a good example of an event sponsorship cover, check out this prospectus for the WE21 Virtual Career Fair.
2. Build trust by explaining the event and organization
In your event sponsorship proposal, there should be background information about the organization running the event to give sponsors an idea of what the organization does, their history, who any members are, and what their reach is. One good example is the TAPPI Leadership Conference.
Along with information about the organization, general information about the event itself is needed as well. It should answer questions such as: What the event is about? What is the mission? How will it be run? And what will be going on? You can get a good idea of how to do this from the Red Hat Summit.
It can also be helpful to directly outline why a potential sponsor would want to sponsor your event, like in The Successful Bookkeeper Summit’s proposal.
You might also consider including is a message from a major player in the organization or event, as shown in the 4th OECD Meeting. If the event is not virtual, then information about the venue or lodging situation can be given as well, like in the Early Educators Leadership Conference. Testimonials from past sponsors and attendees can also help.
3. Provide information about the attendees
In an event sponsorship prospectus, audience demographics might be the most important information when it comes to finding the right sponsors for your event. Sponsors want to know exactly who they will be marketing to and how many people they can reach.
Specifically, this section should include attendee statistics and demographics, such as numbers on technical roles, location, industry, buying power, and anything deemed important for sponsors to know. For examples of this, check out the proposals for the Red Hat Summit and 365 EduCon.
Equally important, a post-event survey from the previous year’s event can help convince prospective sponsors to secure their spot. These results can include how many attendees interacted with sponsors, how many found a new product at the event, and whatever else you think would be beneficial to show potential sponsors. Check out the Boost Conference prospectus for an example.
Note: if you have multiple events, points 2 and 3 may have to be combined into one page or an overall description of all events.
4. Describe the sponsorship opportunities being offered
This section of the event sponsorship proposal is where you display what sponsorships are available to prospective sponsors. This can be done using either tiered packages, a-la-carte options, or a combination of both.
Tiered packages are usually displayed in two different ways. An efficient way to do this could be with a matrix table that includes all the packages as the columns and the packages’ features as the rows. Cost and availability should also be specified somewhere in the table. You can view the event proposals for The Arc and TSBKS for an example of how this might look. The other way to display sponsorship packages is to just list all the relevant info out under the package name, like MICCAI’s event sponsorship prospectus.
Further, a-la-carte sponsorship opportunities can work in three ways.
- They can be add-ons to be purchased along with a sponsorship package as a customization option. (Ex. Fire-Rescue Canada’s event sponsorship example)
- Rather than offering sponsorship packages, they can stand alone and be purchased separately. (Ex. Boost Conference’s sponsorship proposal)
- A sponsorship package can be assigned based on what sponsorship opportunity is purchased. (Ex. ACS Spring 2021’s event sponsorship example)
Info that should be included in the offered sponsorship opportunity description are things like where the sponsor will be visible, how the sponsor will be involved, how many registrations are included, what networking opportunities there are, what is included post-event, and more. After looking through some of our examples, you can see the possibilities are almost endless. Try reviewing the options in the examples to figure out which are best for your event.
5. Conclude with contact information, terms, and a booking form
Once the sponsor is convinced and excited to partner with your event, you need to give them a way to move to the next steps. The contact details you collect are up to you, but you should get a contact name, company name, email, and website. You can also collect payment information right on the form.
Then, include a checklist for the sponsorship opportunities that prospective sponsors can fill out, like in the OECD Meeting event sponsorship example. You’ll want to include terms and conditions and/or rules and regulations and definitely include the cancellation policy with details about any refund compensation.
Lastly, include contact information for the prospective sponsors to send their booking form and ask any questions about surrounding your event, organization, and sponsorship.
Sponsorship Proposal Templates and 15 Examples
These templates will hopefully give you an idea of what to put on your sponsorship prospectus. The design and content will fully be up to you, this template will serve as a rough floorplan. Your event may fit into more than one of these event-type sponsor prospectus templates; however, all the content on the templates is quite similar. The best part about this is that all the templates are free!
Download 15 Event Sponsorship Examples
1. Association Events
The goal of most association events is to network and increase their membership. Many of these events limit the number of sponsors they have so sponsorship opportunities are usually limited. This also helps create a sense of scarcity and will make potential sponsors reach out much quicker.
Highlights:
- Many associations already have sponsors who partner with them. Typically, if an association has an event that needs sponsors, they will reach out to their current partnered sponsors first.
- Many associations use this event prospectus to display exhibition opportunities
- Some association event sponsor prospectuses will begin with a letter from the director to give an overview of the event and let potential sponsors know some of the benefits of event sponsorship
- Since associations bring many similar people together, attendee demographics do not to be quite as detailed as other events. You should not how many members are in the association and sponsorship at an association event can be highly targeted.
- The best visual tool for potential sponsors is the sponsorship table, however, some association events do not include one. No matter what, sponsorship package information needs to be given with the price and number of packages available.
- If a sponsor does not align with the values of the association, the association can always reject potential event sponsors.
2. Technology Conferences
Many conferences can fall under a technology conference. These technology conferences provide a platform where attendees can discover new, exciting technologies in a particular field. They also allow attendees to learn the best protocols and techniques from their peers. Companies that have products and services related to the technology in the conference will be the best for sponsorship.
Highlights:
- By listing reputable past sponsors, a technology conference can create trust with potential sponsors. If a highly-reputable brand is featured it makes other sponsors more confident in the event’s value, and in turn, more likely to sponsor the event.
- .The attendee demographic section is very important so that potential sponsors can decide whether they will reach the target audience by sponsoring the conference.
- Including positive testimonials from attendees and/or sponsors is another way to reinforce confidence in a potential sponsor when it comes to sponsoring your event.
3. Trade Show/Expo
A trade show or exposition is an event where companies in a particular industry can showcase their service or product. An example would be something like a chocolate show or toy show. Some of these types of events are a part of a conference. Along with selling exhibit booths, expo organizers will also sell sponsorships as the main goal for these events is to make money.
Highlights:
- Most trade shows have an exhibitor and sponsor with more of an emphasis on selling exhibitor booths. The template will focus primarily on the sponsor side.
- To sponsor a trade show, most organizers need to purchase an exhibition booth as a requisite.
- There will likely be one booking form for both the exhibition and sponsorship options. Make sure to put the exhibitor booth options first, then the sponsorship opportunities.
4. External Corporate Event
An external corporate event is an event hosted by a company typically with the goal of marketing their product or service to attract customers. Objectives for these types of events are to teach others about and market their own product or service and allow non-competitive partners or sponsors a chance to showcase theirs.
Highlights:
- In events run by a corporation, sponsors typically get to showcase their products or services like an exhibition setting or special session.
- Again, showing buying and decision-making power among your attendees is especially important in securing sponsorships for this type of event.
- Having the ability to reject sponsors is important to include in terms and conditions in case a close competitor wants to sponsor your event.
Download 15 Event Sponsorship Examples
Conclusion
As you can see, writing an event sponsorship proposal can take quite some time and thought. However, once you have a solid prospectus or proposal, it’s easy to edit and use it as a template for next year’s event. Having examples to look at and draw from can also be a major benefit in figuring out how to shape yours.
Of course, writing this proposal is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to securing sponsors at your event, but it’s not the only one. If you want to impress your sponsors with extra exposure, consider using the latest technologies, such as Whova’s all-in-one event platform, which supports digital booths, in-app company banners, opportunities to tier benefits, and more. Request your demo today!