Turning Corporate Sponsorships into Institutional Partnerships
A company buys a table at an annual scholarship gala. They send a round of employees to fill its seats. Maybe these employees have a connection to your organization. Maybe they don’t. The gala is a hit yet you hear not a word from your corporate sponsor until it’s time to purchase next year’s table. How can this cycle be broken?
This is where prospect research comes into play. Using publicly available information, the job of the prospect researcher is to find a deeper connection with the corporation. And that looks something like this
Understand the mission of your organization. What is your organization most well known for? In what spaces are they a community leader? While it may seem obvious, having a solid understanding of what spaces your organization is involved in is crucial.
Find overlap in the mission between your organization and the company. Overlap that is deeper than surface level. Where mission statements turn into actions that intersect.
Look for already existing connections be it shared board memberships or other involvements and leverage them fully
Maximizing corporate relationships to their fullest extent is a combined effort between prospect research and frontline fundraisers. And In some ways, the most difficult part of this process is
