Increase Your Association’s Sponsorship Revenue with a New Approach to Corporate Partners

If your association has trouble finding sponsors, it’s not just you. A new research report from Association Laboratory—Looking Forward Impact 2024—lists “sponsorship strategy” as the #2 concern of association executives with 80% either “concerned” (32%) or “somewhat concerned” (48%).

Companies have plenty of options for their marketing dollars. Many of them spend that budget on their own content and events to reach and educate your members, build authority as experts, and generate leads. They’d like to work with associations, but only if you offer partnership opportunities that help them meet these marketing goals.

The increasing need for sponsorship revenue

Your association competes with non- and for-profit organizations for the attention, budget, and time of your members and market. This competition is assailing associations from all sides with offers of community, education, credentialing, mentoring, information, and other benefits.

A competitive membership value proposition requires experimenting with new experiences, programs, products, and services. You can’t fund this type of innovation without additional revenue. You can’t attract, hire, and retain talented staff to develop and run these new offerings without additional revenue.

Because associations, on average, earn only 38% of their revenue from membership dues, you must generate a healthy stream of non-dues revenue to achieve your mission. But as we all learned during the pandemic, non-dues revenue streams must be diversified, which is why corporate sponsorship revenue is receiving more attention than ever.

The old sponsorship model isn’t working

An association sponsor told consultant Bruce Rosenthal, principal of Bruce Rosenthal Associates, “Recognition at conferences is probably the least important driver of sponsorship value.” Yet, most associations offer only this type of event sponsorship opportunity in their bronze, silver, and gold menus. The whole point of displaying corporate sponsor logos and mentioning their names during events is to raise brand awareness. But in reality, these “impressions” are forgettable.

And they’re not working. According to the State of Sponsorship Engagement, a survey by the Partnership Professionals Network and Dynamic Benchmarking, only 21% of sponsors said they’re achieving their sponsorship objective most of the time. When asked what would help them achieve their objective, 70% said they want to educate members and be seen as thought leaders.

The benefits of a new sponsorship model

It’s time for a new approach to sponsorship. Leverage the expertise of your corporate sponsors and highlight its value for your association’s audience. Give sponsors opportunities to position themselves as content experts who educate your audience, not just sell to them. You can still sell opportunities for brand visibility, brand value, and awareness, if that’s what some sponsors want, but don’t stop there.

The old approach to a sponsorship agreement is transactional. It’s based on selling exposure at each event. The new approach to sponsorship is based on year-round relationships.

In his interviews with 100 association sponsors, one of them told Bruce Rosenthal, “We’re absolutely interested in a year-round model and less of a piece-by-piece, ad hoc model.” Another said, “Our company markets 365 days a year; our conference sponsorship is only three days a year.”

In the new year-round approach to corporate sponsorship, each partner—the association and the company—helps the other achieve its goals. It might also be a good time to change the jargon used for these relationships. Instead of calling them “sponsors,” give “revenue partners” a try.

Components of the new sponsorship model

The traditional event sponsorship offerings can still serve as a way for new revenue partners to give you a try. But encourage them to sponsor experiences that members actually value, such as snack breaks, coffee and smoothie carts, charging stations, lounges, discussion tables or areas, relaxation rooms, first-time attendee orientations, hotel keycards, photo booths, and headshots.

Based on what we’re hearing in the association community, an increasing number of associations are branching out beyond traditional brand awareness opportunities to expertise-sharing opportunities, such as sponsored online education and networking programs:

• Webinars
• Conference tracks
• Online cohort programs
• Leadership academies
• Online discussion meetups on hot topics
• Online learning programs, such as training on soft skills, new business practices, and technology skills

Sponsors are serving as education co-designers, hosts, presenters, facilitators, moderators, advisors, coaches, and mentors. Training sponsors for these roles will be worth your investment.

In an article they wrote together, Lori Zoss Kraska, founder and principal of Growth Owl, and Bruce Rosenthal suggest offering CSR-focused education sponsored by corporate partners. They said, “Companies are more eager than ever to learn about sponsorship and strategic partner opportunities from associations centered around [CSR] initiatives in order to assist in communicating the company’s commitment to a sustainable, diverse, and inclusive community.”

Revenue partners could also contribute sponsored content, such as articles, blog posts, research/survey reports, and materials for a curated resource library. Ask them to fund scholarships and memberships for students, young professionals, and other under-represented segments of your market.

Rolling out a new sponsorship revenue model

First, talk with a handful of revenue partners about the pros and cons of your current sponsorship deal. Ask whether they’re achieving their marketing goals with the current model. Share your ideas for a new, but not yet approved, sponsorship package. Talk about how they might achieve their goals with this proposed model.

Then, make a case for the new model to your boss, using what you’ve learned from sponsors to support your arguments for the new model. Highlight the drawbacks of the traditional approach and the benefits of the new approach. Describe what corporate sponsors want versus what they currently receive—backed up by quotes from your interviews or Bruce Rosenthal’s.

When the new model is approved, it’s time for the nitty-gritty. Get a better understanding of the value of different sponsorship offerings so you can determine the appropriate pricing. Ask your peers and their colleagues in the association community for guidance.

Get rid of the gold, silver, and bronze menu on your website. Describe the new approach to sponsorship and the opportunities you can offer. Be clear about the value of each offering for the potential sponsor, association, and members. Include your contact information or a meeting-scheduler tool so prospective partners can take the next step immediately. Share testimonials on the page when you get them.

Strategies for boosting sponsorship revenue

Your relationship with sponsors must change too. You’re no longer a salesperson. You’re an account manager or partner success manager. Understand their marketing goals. Match those goals with opportunities, for example, sharing expertise, connecting with a target audience, or establishing a particular reputation or brand association in your members’ eyes.

Together, identify success metrics for your association and for the sponsor. Come up with a plan and timeline for analyzing and achieving these metrics.

Don’t assume your sponsors are education or marketing experts, even if “marketing” is in their title. Help them improve their offerings and tactics. Check in with them quarterly or semiannually, depending on staff resources, to gather feedback.

Impexium as a revenue accelerant

When nurturing sponsorship leads, selling sponsorship opportunities, and strengthening sponsor relationships, you need the support of a strong back office. An all-around assistant can help you collect and analyze data, track your progress, measure your success, and personalize your interactions with sponsors.

Where do you find this kind of assistance? Look no further than your Impexium association management system, which can help you with:

• Sponsor surveys, marketing personalization and automation, campaign management and analytics, and email delivery
• Sponsorship sales management and analytics
• Sponsor, member, and attendee engagement reports, dashboards, data visualization and analytics, and business intelligence with Microsoft Power BI
• Accounting and financial management, including invoicing, cash receipts, credits, and inventory management

Request a demo to explore the solutions offered by Impexium that can strengthen your sponsor partnerships and revenue.