can of worms: sponsorship vs. donation
I've been having one of those, "How can I wrap my head around this?" kind of conversations with myself for the last couple of days, and I'm coming up a) short and b) frustrated; mostly b) frustrated. As a person who prides herself on photographilanthropic pursuits, I prefer the anonymity of giving quietly and providing random acts of kindness to beating my chest and saying, "LOOK AT WHAT A GOOD PERSON I AM!" Yeah, you gotta promote your cause and rally your peeps to participate, but there are ways of doing that without turning it something about YOU.
Coming from a marketing and arts administration background and working with the media in a number of capacities in the not-for-profit sector as well as an educational institution, the one thing that I have learned right through to the core is the fact that at the end of the day, everyone has an agenda. While there are individuals who are genuinely nice people (this is where I came ups short) there is very little integrity between their personal beliefs and what the bigwigs in the backroom want to spin (this is where I come up frustrated.) When it comes to people in need of a cause to support, where the media is concerned I've experienced more vultures than philanthropists. They are first and foremost doing it to make sure the company looks good; the fact that your cause is being supported is secondary.
I once shipped off a rant to the organizers of an event who apparently saw small picture instead of big picture, tying themselves to one particular media outlet for an event that should be, for all intents and purposes, non-denominational so-to-speak. I don't think the organizers were aware of the difference between sponsorships and donations, so I wanted to do my part to educate anyone who isn't clear on the fundamental difference.
Sponsorship is where an organization is basically given the exclusive rights to support something. While other media may come out and cover the event itself, the name on the posters will be the name of the company who happened to take ownership and they will be the only ones promoting it beforehand. Now, this in and of itself isn't a bad thing - it can lead to things like cash, free advertising spots, required goods and services like portapotties, snacks, water, etc. At the same time, the downside is that it marries the event to those companies. Sponsorships result in the exchange of goods and services, to the exclusion of all the other companies who provide similar services. As an example, a new library in the children's hospital sponsored by Telus Mobility is highly unlikely to be co-sponsored by Roger's Wireless. If you attend an event sponsored by Starbuck's, you aren't going to see Tim Horton's set up at the next table. When we consider media sponsorship, what you essentially do is make it so that only one media outlet is going to cover your event leading up to it, when it's most important to get the word out. If you are sponsored by rock station A, rock station B isn't going to touch you.
So how do you increase awareness of your event without securing media sponsorship? Enter the Public Service Announcements and Press Releases. Enter the viral internet campaign. Enter the footsoldiers delivering flyers into people's hands. Enter Facebook networks. Enter the phonecalls to the radio stations and the letters to the editors of every newspaper in town. This is how you get coverage without being owned by a corporation who has their own best interests at heart, not your event's. And of course, this is where the remainder of my frustration sets in - because without securing sponsorships, you may not get the turnout for your event or support for your cause that you hoped for. Depending on the season and the reason, your cause may not be deemed 'newsworthy,' wherein newsworthy is understood to mean that when there are only 30 seconds of airtime, it is of sufficient interest that people will want to know about your cause or event more than the car crash on the freeway and some celebrity's new stint in rehab. A sponsorship kind of secures coverage in at least in one place because you're coverage is coming out of the advertising budget, not competing with the news. Nice catch.22, hey?
The other really crappy thing is if you aren't media savvy, you may secure a sponsorship with a media outlet that either partially or completely misses your target market. For example, if you're trying to sell opera tickets, chances are good that the local thrash metal station isn't your best bet. If you are trying to reach youth, putting your ad in the business section of the national newspaper is probably a bad idea. There's a reason why market research is conducted to establish demographics. You know those surveys where they ask your income and which brand of toilet paper is your favourite and how old you are and if you have kids and what TV channel is always on in your house? There's valuable information derived from those surveys. If I want to sell more gum to 25-34 year olds who have kids, market research has the potential of giving me the information I need to target them with an advertising campaign. If they're all buying Brand B of toilet paper, I'm going to hang coupons in the toilet paper aisle, put an advert on Treehouse, and make sure everyone who buys that brand of toilet paper gets a free sample at the cashier. The question then becomes, if you don't have a good understanding of the people you need to market to, how can you ensure that your media sponsorship is a good match? Or what if your demographic falls into two equally important categories of comparable size, and sponsorship in one newspaper will completely and totally miss the other half?
A donation on the other hand is when you give without getting anything of notable or commercial value in exchange. You may receive a tax receipt, some kind of mention in a write-up, or maybe nothing. You stand to gain little if anything of value other than that warm feel-good fuzzy feeling of knowing you did something (gave time, money, supplies, etc.) to ease someone else's hardship. Maybe it's the SPCA, maybe it's your church, maybe it's a fundraising organization like the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Whatever the case may be, you give, and you walk away feeling good. (*I have to make a note here about raffle tickets, too. While I think the raffles are great ideas, they don't count as donations because the person who purchases the ticket is purchasing the ability to gain something of commercial value (cash or prizes.) There is nothing wrong with this - it's just not a donation.)
Speaking from experience, the bigger the company, the more likely they are to want some kind of exclusivity and sponsor recognition. Smaller companies and organizations are happy to settle for a single line in the programme that says, "This evening's dinner generously donated by..." instead of "WE present" on the front cover of the menu, their logo splashed over 10,000 posters, and an 8-foot banner regaling the crowd with the message, "We own this." When it gets down to an individual level, there is usually one person on staff at a major company who decides to take up your cause, who will then have to sell it to their superiors as a valuable alliance that will maintain and increase their corporate profile. When it's a smaller contribution from a smaller organization, it's usually because the individual believes, and more than anything wants that warm fuzzy feeling.
I understand how easy it is to welcome commercial sponsorships (read: something that looks like it's for free - cash, airtime, goods - but isn't) without meaning to, which is why it is SO important for us to be aware of how sponsorships v. donations work. While a huge, established charity event can afford to offer sponsorship exclusivity, it maybe isn't the best route for everyone in need of promotion... especially if the spirit of the event was intended to balk commercialism in favour of altruistic pursuits in the first place.
Such a double-edged sword. ~sigh~
Coming from a marketing and arts administration background and working with the media in a number of capacities in the not-for-profit sector as well as an educational institution, the one thing that I have learned right through to the core is the fact that at the end of the day, everyone has an agenda. While there are individuals who are genuinely nice people (this is where I came ups short) there is very little integrity between their personal beliefs and what the bigwigs in the backroom want to spin (this is where I come up frustrated.) When it comes to people in need of a cause to support, where the media is concerned I've experienced more vultures than philanthropists. They are first and foremost doing it to make sure the company looks good; the fact that your cause is being supported is secondary.
I once shipped off a rant to the organizers of an event who apparently saw small picture instead of big picture, tying themselves to one particular media outlet for an event that should be, for all intents and purposes, non-denominational so-to-speak. I don't think the organizers were aware of the difference between sponsorships and donations, so I wanted to do my part to educate anyone who isn't clear on the fundamental difference.
Sponsorship is where an organization is basically given the exclusive rights to support something. While other media may come out and cover the event itself, the name on the posters will be the name of the company who happened to take ownership and they will be the only ones promoting it beforehand. Now, this in and of itself isn't a bad thing - it can lead to things like cash, free advertising spots, required goods and services like portapotties, snacks, water, etc. At the same time, the downside is that it marries the event to those companies. Sponsorships result in the exchange of goods and services, to the exclusion of all the other companies who provide similar services. As an example, a new library in the children's hospital sponsored by Telus Mobility is highly unlikely to be co-sponsored by Roger's Wireless. If you attend an event sponsored by Starbuck's, you aren't going to see Tim Horton's set up at the next table. When we consider media sponsorship, what you essentially do is make it so that only one media outlet is going to cover your event leading up to it, when it's most important to get the word out. If you are sponsored by rock station A, rock station B isn't going to touch you.
So how do you increase awareness of your event without securing media sponsorship? Enter the Public Service Announcements and Press Releases. Enter the viral internet campaign. Enter the footsoldiers delivering flyers into people's hands. Enter Facebook networks. Enter the phonecalls to the radio stations and the letters to the editors of every newspaper in town. This is how you get coverage without being owned by a corporation who has their own best interests at heart, not your event's. And of course, this is where the remainder of my frustration sets in - because without securing sponsorships, you may not get the turnout for your event or support for your cause that you hoped for. Depending on the season and the reason, your cause may not be deemed 'newsworthy,' wherein newsworthy is understood to mean that when there are only 30 seconds of airtime, it is of sufficient interest that people will want to know about your cause or event more than the car crash on the freeway and some celebrity's new stint in rehab. A sponsorship kind of secures coverage in at least in one place because you're coverage is coming out of the advertising budget, not competing with the news. Nice catch.22, hey?
The other really crappy thing is if you aren't media savvy, you may secure a sponsorship with a media outlet that either partially or completely misses your target market. For example, if you're trying to sell opera tickets, chances are good that the local thrash metal station isn't your best bet. If you are trying to reach youth, putting your ad in the business section of the national newspaper is probably a bad idea. There's a reason why market research is conducted to establish demographics. You know those surveys where they ask your income and which brand of toilet paper is your favourite and how old you are and if you have kids and what TV channel is always on in your house? There's valuable information derived from those surveys. If I want to sell more gum to 25-34 year olds who have kids, market research has the potential of giving me the information I need to target them with an advertising campaign. If they're all buying Brand B of toilet paper, I'm going to hang coupons in the toilet paper aisle, put an advert on Treehouse, and make sure everyone who buys that brand of toilet paper gets a free sample at the cashier. The question then becomes, if you don't have a good understanding of the people you need to market to, how can you ensure that your media sponsorship is a good match? Or what if your demographic falls into two equally important categories of comparable size, and sponsorship in one newspaper will completely and totally miss the other half?
A donation on the other hand is when you give without getting anything of notable or commercial value in exchange. You may receive a tax receipt, some kind of mention in a write-up, or maybe nothing. You stand to gain little if anything of value other than that warm feel-good fuzzy feeling of knowing you did something (gave time, money, supplies, etc.) to ease someone else's hardship. Maybe it's the SPCA, maybe it's your church, maybe it's a fundraising organization like the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Whatever the case may be, you give, and you walk away feeling good. (*I have to make a note here about raffle tickets, too. While I think the raffles are great ideas, they don't count as donations because the person who purchases the ticket is purchasing the ability to gain something of commercial value (cash or prizes.) There is nothing wrong with this - it's just not a donation.)
Speaking from experience, the bigger the company, the more likely they are to want some kind of exclusivity and sponsor recognition. Smaller companies and organizations are happy to settle for a single line in the programme that says, "This evening's dinner generously donated by..." instead of "WE present" on the front cover of the menu, their logo splashed over 10,000 posters, and an 8-foot banner regaling the crowd with the message, "We own this." When it gets down to an individual level, there is usually one person on staff at a major company who decides to take up your cause, who will then have to sell it to their superiors as a valuable alliance that will maintain and increase their corporate profile. When it's a smaller contribution from a smaller organization, it's usually because the individual believes, and more than anything wants that warm fuzzy feeling.
I understand how easy it is to welcome commercial sponsorships (read: something that looks like it's for free - cash, airtime, goods - but isn't) without meaning to, which is why it is SO important for us to be aware of how sponsorships v. donations work. While a huge, established charity event can afford to offer sponsorship exclusivity, it maybe isn't the best route for everyone in need of promotion... especially if the spirit of the event was intended to balk commercialism in favour of altruistic pursuits in the first place.
Such a double-edged sword. ~sigh~
Comments