Sponsorship or Stewardship?
There is a Difference.
 "Will you sponsor me at five dollars per mile for Life Walk?"
"Would you underwrite a table at our fundraising banquet?"
"Will you purchase an advertisement in the book commemorating our tenth anniversary?"
Sponsorship is a favorite fundraising tool of many nonprofit organizations. Perhaps you use it with a measure of success.
Advantages or sponsorship
Sponsorship is one way of involving new donors with your ministry. Those who participate in your Life Walk fundraiser reach out to their circle of friends for support. These donors may or may not have a connection with your mission but give on the basis of their friendship. It becomes a grassroots way of expanding your donor base. However, most gifts are small, one-time, and tied directly to their friend. If their friend quits walking, they quit giving.
Asking a business to underwrite a table at your fundraising banquet or a hole at your golf outing is a good way to involve a business that typically would not support your annual operating budget. From the business owner's perspective, these opportunities are viewed as a form of marketing paid from their advertising budget.
Limitations of sponsorship
There are serious drawbacks to relying on sponsorship as your primary fundraising strategy. Consider this example. A ministry decided to celebrate its anniversary by printing a memory book for those guests who attended their annual fundraising banquet. They set a "price list" of suggested donations for various sizes of ads and "sold" advertisements to their supporting businesses. The ministry director believed that this strategy would raise more money than simply asking donors for gifts. He was convinced that one particular business owner who had supported the ministry with a previous gift of $12,000 would "buy" an ad for $12,000, plus continue giving to the general fund. However, the director was disappointed when the business owner "bought" the ad but did not increase his overall support.
 What went wrong? When you ask a business to "buy" advertisements, you frame your request in the context of how it will benefit the business. They receive something in return for their sponsorship. Maybe it's goodwill or a small amount of advertising. Think about this from the business owner's perspective. Investing $12,000 to reach five hundred people at a banquet is not a very cost-effective advertising strategy. That calculates to $24 per advertising impression, which simply doesn't make good business sense, especially if most of the banquet guests aren't potential customers. It's clearly a gift, not a legitimate advertising expense.
Ministries are lured into using sponsorship as their main fundraising strategy because secular nonprofits use it with great success. Zoos, museums, hospitals, and other community-focused organizations appeal to businesses, corporations, and individuals based, in part, on the recognition the donors will receive. Organizations "sell" the prestige of being associated with other prominent community patrons listed on the library wall, but many of these donors don't cross over into stewardship.
Sponsorship from businesses or individuals is a glass ceiling for ministries—especially those focused on reaching people with the Gospel. Businesses concerned about building community goodwill can accomplish more for themselves by supporting secular organizations. Individuals looking for donor perks will choose the symphony's Maestro's Circle over helping you. Don't worry about trying to compete in the world of sponsorship, you have something much better—it's called stewardship.
Stewardship
Stewards aren't buying anything. Our business owner didn't "buy" a $12,000 ad because it was a good business decision. He gave because he believed in the mission. He wasn't looking for something in return. Instead, he was more interested in how his gift would impact lives for eternity. Why didn't he increase his support? Because the ministry tied his gift to an unrealistic advertising scheme. If they had presented their need in the context of reaching more people, perhaps he would have been motivated to rise to the challenge.
 Stewardship is limited only by how closely your organization's mission aligns with the donor's giving priorities. Donors are attracted to your ministry because they believe that you are making a difference in this life and for eternity. Don't limit their giving by asking them to sponsor something. Encourage them to consider making a generous, sacrificial gift.
So you're asking yourself: What about the success of relief agencies who promote sponsoring a child in a Third World country? This type of sponsorship is really an appeal to sacrificial giving. The donor is not buying something like an ad, table, or miles walked but rather giving to meet a child's need. The donor receives no benefit in return, only the satisfaction that he is making a difference.
So you're asking yourself: What about the success of relief agencies who promote sponsoring a child in a Third World country? This type of sponsorship is really an appeal to sacrificial giving. The donor is not buying something like an ad, table, or miles walked but rather giving to meet a child's need. The donor receives no benefit in return, only the satisfaction that he is making a difference.
Sponsors give from the head; stewards give from the heart. Some individuals and businesses will stay at the sponsorship level of involvement. But many in your donor base have the potential to grow from a limited level of sponsorship to greater involvement through stewardship. The key lies in how you tell your story. Are you selling something or changing lives? |
