[Greg Findley]

Hi all,

I'm currently setting up a new Mens basketball team in my local area, called the Thanet Rhinos whilst things are going well with the team side of things, we're getting a lot of people to practice and a lot of people are showing an interest I'm struggling to find any local companies who would be interested in sponsoring the team.

We need a sponsor to help us fund the initial outlay costs for new kits and equipment, the sponsor would get some exposure from our new website (currently being developed by yours truly!) and from advertising on the kits/merchandise, which would be seen at our games and events throughout East Kent.

So far I've tried contacting companies by e-mail and telephone, trying to introduce myself and letting people know what the new club is about, but its fair to say that they haven't been that receptive!

I'm trying to draft out a letter to send out to local companies/potential sponsors, but am struggling to get anything together that could really catch their attention or more importantly make them consider being our sponsor! If anyone could give any pointers/tips on how to do this it would be really appreciated...

Thanks,
Greg

(Or if there are any companies in East Kent who would be interested in sponsoring us?! )

EDIT: Sorry just realized this would be better suited to the fundraising sub-forum... can a Mod please move this thread? Thanks!

[Mike]

As a company on the other side of the coin, as we have just sponsored a local football team, id say that you need to sell to them the PR side of things.

Are you in the paper much? on the web? what exposure can you give them? events etc etc - this is what spun it for us

[Greg Findley]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply, as we are just setting up its hard to give proof, but we should be appearing in local press, and we will have a well designed website (I hope!) with regards to events the Mens team is part of a club setup where we will be having community events as well as an Under 14s team.

We have the support of the local council, but whilst they can offer support to the kids teams and community events they can't for the Mens team, which is fair enough, but means we need to find funding from other places.

[Mike]

Thats a great start - think about events that the company can headline at, and equally think of companies that would benefit from this...

[ParentsforPlay]

What about putting in a bid for grant funding instead?

Sarah

[Greg Findley]

Thanks Mike, I'll try and give it some thought from the business point of view.

Thanks for the reply Sarah, do you mean a lottery grant/funding? Guess we've got nothing to lose by applying for a small grant...

Thanks,
Greg

[ParentsforPlay]

Yes I am sure you would have no problems with getting funding for that. But the group would need a bank account if they haven't one already.

Sarah

[ParentsforPlay]

You could give these a call they may be able to help.

http://www.kentcf.org.uk/index.html

Sarah

[KingPin]

This is something that I have thought about, being the kit sponsor of my local rugby/football team.

The advertising part of me says "go do it" but the other side of me is "what benefits will be gained, will the crowed even know what a media company is?".

That's not to say I think the crowed is thick lol but I'd be interested to hear what benefits it would have for me (apart from brand noise).

Rather than drafting a letter, I think I'd call the potential sponsors because that way you can gauge more if they are interested or not just by the tone in their voices.

KP

[Mike]

Have you tried some of the bigger sports teams locally - from other sports, you might be ablr ot get help from them