A Win-Win Situation
Two nonprofit clients have not paid for centerpieces for
their annual fundraising dinners in the past year. They
were matched to a florist and designers who supported
their causes and thought they couldn’t afford the price of
a sponsorship. By doing an in-kind sponsorship (also
known as a trade-out), they could afford to trade prod-
uct/service for the sponsorship. In both cases, the busi-
ness entities increased their market share for very little
expense, and, at the same time, the organizations saved
thousands of dollars in centerpiece expenses.tities as it allows them an inroad to markets that otherwise might
be unattainable for them. A new business might not have the cap-
ital to invest in a sponsorship but could supply its product;
the same is true of an existing but small business that has cash
flow committed to other activities. This type of sponsorship is par-
ticularly effective when working with cause-related nonprofit
organizations.
Summary
The budget is your cash plan to turn your event goals and objec-
tives into reality. Through the use of careful analysis of price and
cost, you can develop the benchmarks that are important to the
overall marketing plan. This analysis also allows you to keep an
eye on the details and to ensure correct reporting of both revenue
and expenses.
Once the expense side of the budget has been determined, the
resource side of the budget can be developed, looking at internal,
external, and client input. To ensure that the event is fiscally vi-
able at this stage, examine the return on event marketing. The
need for external resources then leads to the development of spon-
sorship programs. Because there is a vast difference between spon-
sorships and donations, you need to develop a sponsorship busi-
ness plan. This plan includes identifying potential sponsors,
qualifying those sponsors to match your marketing goals and
Summary 99