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JTK
10 Posts |
 Posted - 02/15/2015 : 20:06:46
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I am basically a travel ball newbie and need advice on how to approach sponsorships. I could use advice on basic averages that companies give to teams; how long the sponsorships last (a full season?). Kind of need a 101 class for this! Can anyone jump start me here? 
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2015 : 08:49:29
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Well, typically you have a letter to hand out with different levels of sponsorship. For example, $200 gets the business on your banner (if you are having one) and a plaque of appreciation, typically with a team photo. $150 gets them a team meal at their business, this has to be approved with coach first, but it's fairly common for a coach in the younger ages to say hey let's all meet at the Dairy Queen after practice and poof 10+ kids plus parents and siblings they easily make back that $150 they sponsored you with. $100 and under gets you a hand written note of thanks from your kid.
It is vital to have the non profit number on your paperwork, specifically the 501(c) number. This allows the business to get the tax write off like they contributed to any other non-profit. This is typically a one time amount, and it is for the entire season. Places that deal with food tend to be more open to sponsorships and they only do it for 1 team per year, so it's best to get in there early. Some places prefer to sponsor all-star teams because they are local to their park, and not so much the travel ball teams because displaying a banner in Cumming when the sponsorship is from a Woodstock place of business doesn't do the company much good on advertising. We also included the coaches name, phone number and address with the name on the bank account, such as 8u blah blah team, so the company would know it wasn't a scam.
I have to admit, rarely did we succeed in getting sponsors, the most likely businesses were family owned, but even then our success rate was less and less. However, most companies were willing to offer some kind of goods to a raffle, such as 3 large pizzas, or a 3 free oil changes...etc...and those items could be raffled off at a tournament, but then YOUR kids profit goes way down because it has to be split so many ways.
The most lucrative way to fund raise is actually hosting your own tournament. You rent the fields, maybe only 2 or 3 fields, get 10 teams to enter, at $300 per team (a reduced price that is appealing), a $5 gate fee per day, and you sell drinks and candy at the concession stand and have the parents prep the fields in between innings, sell some kind of kid friendly item like a blow up bat, or funky necklace (also staffed by the parents), pay the umpires $50 per game and well EACH FAMILY can easily take home over $800 for 2 days worth of work and FAR less leg work. |
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Mad1
252 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2015 : 09:11:35
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| JTK, it varies from team to team. Some teams have parents get individual sponsorships to cover the price of their players cost for the season or a portion thereof. The team we are on now has a corporate sponsorship for all tournament costs for the season. Parents only cost is uniform cost for their player and travel costs, which is minimal because one of the coaches has a uniform business and uniforms are at cost As a sponsorship. The smaller amounts for player sponsorship are easier to obtain, and the corporate is usually obtained by a connection of the coach or a parents corporate contacts and harder to get. They are there, you just have to work to find them. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2015 : 13:32:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Mad1
JTK, it varies from team to team. Some teams have parents get individual sponsorships to cover the price of their players cost for the season or a portion thereof. The team we are on now has a corporate sponsorship for all tournament costs for the season. Parents only cost is uniform cost for their player and travel costs, which is minimal because one of the coaches has a uniform business and uniforms are at cost As a sponsorship. The smaller amounts for player sponsorship are easier to obtain, and the corporate is usually obtained by a connection of the coach or a parents corporate contacts and harder to get. They are there, you just have to work to find them.
Just an FYI, we played out of a pretty affluent park for 6 years and not ONCE did we ever run into this corporate type of sponsorship. I think of them like bigfoot...you hear about eye witness accounts all the time but I've never actually seen one of these all encompassing sponsors. |
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redsox23
98 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2015 : 21:48:22
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Mad1 has it as good as it gets. think about it, 13 tournaments, average at $450 per on the low end and it is $5850 total for the SPRING. That's a GREAT sponsor and they are few and far between these days. Be happy with the $100-$200 you may be able to squeeze from a local business by sponsoring a "team night" at their restaurant or business but be ready to do it all year long. Begging for donations in front of a local business like we used to in the 70's- 80's -90's still works. The right street corner can produce a $1000 in a 3-5 hour period for the team. But if you think about it, you need to do it once a month for an entire year to pay for your teams WS trip. Have to get all on your team on board and that's not easy to say the least.
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rippit
667 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2015 : 10:38:27
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| In our experience, 10% of the parents did 90% of the work with the 90% just continuing to complain about anything and everything with their hand out. 'Merica |
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Sponsorship Averages
