Im off to meet the team from St Oswalds this afternoon to talk Corporate Sponsorship and thought I would revisit the learning from last month’s Greater North Arts Gathering and publish it for our blog.

Figures from a handful of businesses from across the north on sponsorship/partnership budget planning showed the market place is still very open and warm to partnerships with arts & culture:

• 66% said budgets for this year have stayed the same as last year. 25% said budgets increased this year. Less than 10% said budgets decreased.
• 75% said their investment was a Sponsorship. 50% said their investment covered CSR, Community Engagement and Staff Engagement.
• Obviously most commented that the more boxes that were ticked, the more value for money attained.

The panel Andrew Harvey, Dickinson Dees and Gerald Jennings, Land Securities shared their top tips on successfully getting and managing corporate support: 

• First meeting should be about fact finding and building relationships.  “We want to co-create a partnership.”
• It is critical to do in-depth research. Help us to help you think about what we would want from a partnership.
• Understand where the budget is held and when it is set. Today marketing budgets are not separated into Press/TV/adverts etc. They are media neutral which means the potential budget is much bigger. The big sums of money are now available for compelling cases. Don’t assume you are competing for a slice of the arts sponsorship cake.
• Panellists say they would rather talk money sooner than later and are looking to see if the proposed price reflects good value.
• We can engage with the community and be a good citizen through arts and culture.
• Match funding schemes are attractive because they can leverage other funding to organisations. WARNING: The private sector can lose patience if projects get tied up in bureaucracy. 
• Your most powerful sell is creativity. How can we use that creativity for our staff, business etc

If you need support and training on approaching business partnerships get in touch with us about our consultancy services.

Our arts members and business members cite ‘events to meet new contacts’ as a top priority for their Sponsors Club membership. We linked up with professional network ‘Exceptional Networking’ to host three events bringing people together to practice networking skills and make new contacts.

Firstly, the Mad Chatters Tea party where arts members had the opportunity to meet individuals from across the professional services sector at Seven Stories. Then we hosted an ‘art valuing’ quiz at NewcastleGateshead Art Fair for our business members. The third event is open to all and takes place on 30^th November, details below.

We received supportive feedback to continue these events. Senior representatives and employers who attended the Mad Chatters valued the opportunity for their staff to meet arts professionals. A number of attendees to the NewcastleGateshead Art Fair event returned to the fair over the weekend and purchased art.

The events are designed to help make those initial connections. It can take between 1 and 2 years to successfully manage a contact into a donor or to develop a creative partnership with a business. We know putting you in a room with people is only the first step so watch this blog for our top tips in managing a new contact.  

The next event in this series brings all the professional networks together to a ‘Sing for your Supper’ Networking Event on the 30th November 6pm at RMT offices in Gosforth. The event will include networking, a singing workshop and Fish & Chips. Tickets cost £25 to confirm your place email alison@exceptional-networking.co.uk