How to get sponsors for your sports club in NZ

To get sponsors for a sports club in New Zealand, start with local businesses whose customers are your members' families, offer each one a clear package with a fixed price and a list of what they get, and make it easy to say yes. Small packages for a single team or event sell faster than big ones. The clubs that keep their sponsors are the ones that send a photo of the sign, say thank you in public, and show what the sponsorship achieved before asking again.

This guide is for the club committee or the volunteer doing the asking. If you are a business thinking about sponsoring a club, read how to sponsor a local sports club instead.

Who to ask first

The best prospects already have a reason to care about your club.

Businesses your members already use. The physio half the senior team sees. The cafe across the road from the ground. The builder whose kids play in the juniors. Ask your members who they would recommend, and who they know personally.

Businesses whose customers are your members. A junior club's sideline is full of parents, which suits swim schools, dentists, orthodontists, real estate agents and family cars. A senior or masters club suits tradies, accountants, physios and anything to do with houses.

Businesses that sponsored a club like yours. Look at the fence signs at the next club over. A business already sponsoring a rugby club understands the value and might add a netball team.

Past sponsors. The easiest yes is somebody who said yes before. If a sponsor dropped off, ask why. It is often because nobody asked again.

Build packages, not a begging letter

The most common mistake is asking for "support" without saying what the sponsor gets. A business owner reading "any support would be appreciated" has nothing to decide on. A business owner reading "$450 for the season: your logo on the Under 12s shirts, a sign on the fence, and a thank you at prizegiving" can say yes in one email.

Build three or four packages at different prices:

Adjust the prices to the size of your club and how many people come to a home game. A club with 400 juniors and busy Saturday mornings can ask more than a social league with a dozen spectators.

What to put in every package

• Something people see every week. A shirt logo, a fence sign, a changing room poster. This is the part sponsors value most.
• A start and an end date. A season, a tournament, a calendar year.
• Who pays for the sign or the shirts. Say so up front. Many clubs include a basic sign in the price and ask the sponsor to supply anything bigger.
• Exclusivity, if you offer it. Being the only plumber on the fence is worth more than being one of three.
• A photo. Promise one of the sign up or the team in the shirts. Then send it.

How to ask

In person beats email. A committee member walking into the business with a one page sheet of packages will get more yeses than a hundred emails. Go when the owner is likely to be there and not busy, which is not 8am at a cafe.

Lead with the audience. "Every Saturday from April to August, about 300 local families come through our gates" is the sentence that sells. Bring real numbers: how many members, how many teams, how many people at a typical home game.

Ask for something specific. "Would you sponsor the Under 14 girls for the season, $450?" is easier to answer than "Would you like to sponsor us?"

Accept no gracefully. Say thank you, ask if you can try again next season, and leave the sheet behind. Plenty of sponsors say yes the second time.

Keeping sponsors for next season

Getting a sponsor once is harder than keeping one. The clubs that keep theirs do four things.

1. Deliver everything promised, quickly. Sign up in round one, not round five.
2. Send a photo early. The sponsor's sign on the fence, or the team in the shirts, in the first fortnight. Sponsors share it, which helps everyone.
3. Say thank you in public. Tag them on the club's Facebook page. Mention them at prizegiving. Encourage members to use them.
4. Show results. If a sign carries a QR code, tell the sponsor how many people scanned it. If members mentioned the sponsor when they used them, pass that on. Results make the renewal conversation easy.

Ask about next season before this one ends, while the photo is fresh and the season is still on.

Selling sponsorship online

The traditional method works, but it depends on one or two volunteers with the time to knock on doors and chase invoices. Many committees now list their packages online as well, so businesses can see what is available and book it without a meeting.

On Pritty Ghood, a club can list each team or event as its own package, with its own price and dates, and each one shows as taken the moment it is booked. Listing is free. A business picks a package and sends a request, the club has 72 hours to accept or decline, and once accepted the business pays online and the money goes to the club's bank account. Every sponsor gets a QR code to put on its sign, so the club can show exactly how many people scanned it when it is time to renew.

Our Sports and Events Guide walks a club through setting this up, from the account to the first sponsor.