Getting Group Sponsorship

Did you know there are businesses willing to sponsor your Meetup? It's true. Your Meetup Group is already a great resource for your and your members, but it can benefit businesses, too. And those businesses are typically willing to contribute some type of sponsorship for any exposure your Meetup can give them. A sponsor can do anything from help out with your subscription costs to offer your Meetup discounts. And since they can support your Meetup in different ways, it’s even possible to have several. But let's start with the basics. Here are the three most important aspects of obtaining and retaining a sponsor for your Meetup.

1. What a Sponsor Can Do for You
   
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2. What You Can Do For the Sponsors
   
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3. Approaching a Potential Sponsor
   
   
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What a Sponsor Can Do for You

First, decide what you hope to achieve/gain through a sponsor. A sponsor could:

• Cover your subscription costs
  
• Partly cover your subscription costs
  
• Supply free products to distribute to your members
  
• Offer free services to your members
  
• Offer discounts on products and service to your members

Deciding what you want will help you figure out who to approach and what to ask for. Ron Purvis, Organizer of The Atlanta Dungeons and Dragons Meetup Group, looks to local gaming stores for free products to give as door prizes at events:

”There are a number of stores that sell D&D gaming products. I can ask them all to sponsor a month at a time.”

Door prizes get members excited about events, boost turn out, and get people buzzing about your Meetup! Sunnie, Organizer of Mothers Inc., also uses sponsorhip to get discounts and products for her members:

“For me, the sponsors are not just about off-setting my costs, but getting special deals and goodies as rewards for my members loyalty!”

Now that you're thinking what you want from a sponsor, time to consider what they want from you.

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What You Can Do For the Sponsors

Businesses are alway looking for ways to get the word out about their products and/or services. And between your Meetup events, member word of mouth, and the web traffic to your Meetup page, your Meetup can be a great, easy marketing tool for these businesses. In exchange for group subsidy (whatever form it may take), a sponsor might ask you to do any of the following:

• Make their logo your Meetup Group photo
  
• Mention their sponsorship on your About page
  
• Add links from your Meetup pages to their website
  
• Talk about them in the messages you send your Meetup members
  
• Acknowledge their support at your Meetup event
  

For example, Sunnie has links to sponsors on her Meetup's About page:

Click here to see entire About page.

You want something, a sponsor wants something. A little quid pro quo. That's understandable. Time to contact one and make it happen!

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Approaching a Potential Sponsor

So you know what a sponsor can do for you and what you can do for them. But who should you contact? Who would be a great and willing sponsor?

Well, think about your Meetup, its topic, and members. What's the shared interest? Look to businesses with the same focus. They're the ones that will benefit the most from a potential sponsorship and will meld best with your Meetup. Got a dog Meetup Group? Approach a pet store, breeder, or vet. Vegan Meetup? Talk to a favorite restaurant, health food store, or yoga center. You'll be surprised who's willing to contribute to your Meetup when you mention you've got a "captive audience."

When talking to a potential sponsor, list the many things a Meetup like yours can offer: web traffic, lots of potential customers, and the word of mouth they generate. ReneeA, Organizer of the Cincinnati Nutrition & Natural Health Meetup, remembers how she approached her holistic doctor:

“I told him that... I could give his website a… link. Then… he would pay per month for the exposure I could offer him. I told him I could offer:

1. A link to his website
   
2. Photos or logos placed on my pages
   
   
3. A description of his practice or other written material on my about page”

Sarah, Organizer of the Week, January 15-21, 2006, used large event attendance as a way to get free products for her Meetup members:

“For the last Meetup I noticed that we had a very large amount of “YES” RSVPs. I contacted the company… and mentioned to them that we would be meeting in a few weeks, and there would be a large amount of potential customers all meeting in one place”

For help making that initial contact, here's a great sponsorship request letter written by Ron Purvis. Click here to read it.

Finding and contacting a potential sponsor can be made even easier by getting your whole group involved. Hilary Moon Murphy opened a discussion on her Meetup’s message board encouraging her members to throw out ideas of businesses to contact. Getting your members involved can generate suggestions and potentially lead to a contact that'll make approaching a company easier.

And sponsorship can be flexible, you don’t have to look for a long term deal. You can ask for sponsorship of a single event, a single month, or a few months.

Sunnie sums up the heart of finding a sponsor with these 4 important questions one should ask.

1. What do YOU want from them?
   
2. What do THEY want from you?
   
3. Are they a large or small business? What can they afford?
   
4. What can you offer your sponsors?

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A sponsor can really add to your Meetup's overall experience. And collection of people such as your Meetup can leverage their numbers to gain a sponsorship that will benefit not only you, but the sponsor as well. It's a win win! Now that you know the ins and outs of getting a sponsor, get crackin'! Fire an email to your members and tell them you're on a quest to find a Meetup sponsor big or small. They'll be excited about the prospect and will be eager to help.

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Further Reading

Here are some great discussion going on, on the Meetup Organizer’s Forum, that you can join in about getting sponsorship:

How to Obtain Sponsors?
Tips for Getting a Group Sponsor