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Getting Corporate Sponsors for Your Young Professionals Organization - A Five Step Plan

Does this situation sound familiar?

Your YPO has launched successfully, and you have awesome ideas for future programs, but no budget. You face a choice:

You can “bootstrap” each event, finding new sponsors and in-kind donations for each
You can pursue corporate sponsors, who’ll make an annual commitment to your YPO in exchange for a package of benefits
You can do a hybrid of the two

Many young professionals organizations (YPOs) rely on a mix of memberships, corporate sponsors, and grants to keep their programs humming. In this article, we talk about a strategic 5-step approach to take you from Zero to Hero in developing corporate sponsors:

1. Think like Santa: Make a list of prospects and check it twice.

Who should be on your YPO corporate sponsor list?

Sit down with some of your most entrepreneurial and connected members and supporters and ask:

Who benefits most from our YPO? Who would cry themselves to sleep at night if we didn’t exist?
Which companies have - or need - a lot of younger employees? Note: School districts, fire and police departments are often overlooked.
Does our membership roster include multiple members from a single employer? For example, if you’ve got five YPs from Amazing Life Insurance Company (ALIC), but ALIC is not a sponsor, put them on your list.
Which companies consider young professionals their target market? Real estate professionals (especially with the current first-time home-buyers credit), telecommunications and cable companies, cell phone companies, insurance agencies, financial service companies, day cares, colleges, retailers, bars and restaurants may all be on the prospect list.
You should also consider requiring or at least encouraging your board and/or council members to ask for a contribution from their company or at least help get you in the door. We are starting to see more YPOs require a monetary contribution from their board/council members (much like the big boy boards).

2. Switch seats. Get on the same side of the table as the prospect.

Many person-to-person interactions, e.g. checking in at a hotel,meeting with your boss, opening a checking account, are arranged so that the two parties are facing each other with something (a desk, a table, etc) between them. This puts a physical barrier between you, and may create a subtle sense of being in “opposition” to the person on the other side.

Looking at your list of prospects, think about how to (metaphorically)be on the same side of the desk with them, rather than sitting across from them. This is a subtle but important difference. Rather than approach the prospect trying to sell your YPO, slide over to their side of the desk and look at the pitch from their perspective. What’s in it for them?

For each prospect on your list, identify two things: why should they become a sponsor, and what’s in it for them.

To determine why they should become a sponsor, dig up some facts about your YPO and about the potential sponsor. For example, if you’re trying to woo a real estate company, look back on your Global Impact Survey, and find out how many of your members are renters looking to buy their first home. If you know that the potential sponsor has a lot of young employees, develop talking points about the importance of getting new employees connected to their peers, in order to retain them, and plan to ask if there are any challenges the employer is facing in attracting or retaining young talent. Corporations understand the bottom line. You may want to even ask how much it cost to train new employees, connecting that to how your YPO can help in their retention efforts.

To determine what the sponsor will receive in exchange for their support, you may want to assemble sponsorship packages. One example:

Silver package: Sponsor receives secondary logo placement plus 200-word ad on YPO website. Unlimited number of employees may enjoy YPO member benefits for three months.
Gold package: Sponsor receives primary logo placement plus 200 word ad on YPO website. Unlimited number of employees may enjoy YPO member benefits for six months. Sponsor introduces keynote speaker at one main monthly event of their choice, and may also use that time to share 3-5 minutes about their organization and value to YPs.
Platinum package: Sponsor receives banner ad in rotation on YPO homepage, plus sponsor link in all monthly emails. Unlimited number of employees may enjoy YPO member benefits for 12 months. Sponsor receives one page ad in program for YPO annual event.

3. “It’s who you know….” Find the right person to (help you) make the ask.

When trying to shake money out of CEO-types - or anyone with money, really - there’s a well-known, rarely-uttered rule: Who asks is as important as what’s asked. [Link to blog?]

Think about it: have you ever said “No” to an adorable Girl Scout dressed in her uniform, going door-to-door selling cookies? Me either. But when that Girl Scout’s pushy mother sends everyone an inner-office email with sign up and payment instructions, I hit “delete” without thinking twice.

So, find the equivalent of a Girl Scout to help you make the ask. Don’t know any of the CEO’s on your prospect list? Don’t worry, someone does. Reach out to your network, to the CEO’s employees, to your LinkedIn and Facebook networks, and shorten the degrees of separation between you.

4. Show, Don’t Tell: How to Prepare for the Meeting

Most decision makers have to make snap decisions every day. Often,their instincts are very good about which decisions are good and which are not. Use images to help you tell the story.

For example: Mark is approaching a local wireless company about signing on as a $2,500 per year corporate sponsor. Mark has noticed that the company has been running promotions in the local alternative newspaper, offering a free second phone for “family plans.” Mark pulls research about the number of members in the YPO who are married and or in committed relationships. He also has statistics on how many have children. In addition, Mark found out by calling the ad office that it costs the wireless company $8,000 a year for its weekly, quarter-page ad. To prepare, Mark has prepared a bar chart showing $8000 for the ad vs. $2500 for corporate membership and direct access to 1,500 married/partnered members.

5. “Coffee is for closers.” Set the meeting and make your case.

For many, this is the easy part: show up, turn off your Blackberry,give your full attention to the prospect, ask smart questions about their YP employees and customers, and lay out your offer: what they get and how it aligns with their business goals, what you’re asking in return, and a real interest in their concerns and questions.

Don’t be put off if you get the “I’ll have to think about it.”This creates another opportunity to “ping” the prospect with another tactic, e.g. having one of their peers “put in a good word for you” or following up with an email that lists your current sponsor roster, or link to your YPO’s calendar of events.

Conclusion: The fact is supporting the growth and development of your YPO is essential to your communities’ and business communities’ future. It’s simply good business to invest when you think of the economic impact it has on your community when a YP leaves. Do the math,you and that CEO may be surprised!