BSW SPONSORSHIP PLAYBOOK 1

SPONSORSHIPPLAYBOOK

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Welcome to your Sponsorship Playbook! This guide outlines 7 simple steps to help you secure sponsorships to fund your shirts and school!

We want every student to experience the joy and pride that comes from wearing their school’s custom shirt on the fun run day and throughout the year, so our goal is to help you provide each student with a FREE custom shirt at no cost to your families or school. We know you have limited funds to accomplish huge goals, so we want to help you secure sponsorships to not only fund your shirt order, but also fund your school’s story, purpose, and dreams beyond the cost of your shirts.

Partnering with your school gives sponsors the opportunity to support the students in their community while advertising their business logo on the back of the shirts. Because students wear their shirts year-round as a trophy of the fun run, they become “walking billboards” for the local businesses, providing continuous exposure and maximizing the value of their sponsorship. This playbook will make the process as simple as possible, supplying you with all of the action steps and resources you need along the way.

The 7 steps to securing sponsors are:

1. Determine Fundraising Goals2. Brainstorm Potential Sponsors3. Create Sponsorship Packages4. Go Get Sponsors!5. Collect Sponsor Logos6. Email Sponsor Logos to Spirit Wear Consultant7. Thank Your Sponsors

In 2017 alone, schools that used these steps and resources to secure sponsorships raised over $2 million to fund their shirts and schools! Our hope is that this playbook will help YOU be the hero that provides every student with a FREE custom shirt and the funds to enliven your school’s story, purpose, and dreams. Most importantly, you are not in this alone! We will be here to guide you every step of the way!

Are you ready? LET’S DO THIS!

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STEP 1: DETERMINE FUNDRAISING GOALS

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo.

We know you have dreams for your school! At Booster Spirit Wear, we love turning our client’s dreams into realities, and that starts with setting a fundraising goal. Of course we want to help you fund your custom shirts, but we would LOVE to help you fund your school’s dreams! What are a few things your PTA/PTO would love to provide for the school but hasn’t been able to afford this year? Write those down and we will use them in the calculations below.

There are two values we will calculate. The first is the total needed to “Fund Your Shirts.” The second is the possible “Fund Your School” amount. Our “Fund Your School” goal is set at $1k-$3k of profit for the sake of simplicity. However, we encourage you determine what it will cost to provide the items you listed above, and then set your goal above that. If you miss this goal, you will still fund your shirts and hopefully at least one initiative at your school!

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To calculate these values, there are two basic questions you will need to answer.

1. How many shirts do you need to order?

(Consider students, faculty, staff, PTA/PTO volunteers, etc. We highly recommend including extras in each size in case additional students come in or incorrect sizes are ordered.)

2. Which shirt would you like to order? (Shirt options and prices for 400-699 shirts are below. Please ask your Spirit Wear Consultant for pricing on other price breaks. If you aren’t sure which option you want yet, shoot for the stars! You can always change shirt options later.)

With those two values, please reference the resource below to calculate your goals and see a few examples of how schools have used their additional funds raised!

STEP 1: DETERMINE FUNDRAISING GOALS

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Now we are ready to brainstorm the best partners for your school! You might want to grab a few members of your PTA/PTO to brainstorm with you. Below are three suggestions for the most common types of sponsors, as well as some best practices. You will find resources to help you reach out to these potential sponsors in Step 6.

STEP 2: BRAINSTORM POTENTIAL SPONSORS

1. Existing Partners: We recommend starting with the businesses and people your school has the closest relationships with. Your school might already have longstanding relationships with partners that are already supporting your PTA/PTO, fundraising efforts, school events, etc. that would love to help fund your shirts!

2. Businesses in the Community: Next, think of businesses in the community that might want to support your school. Think of businesses you or your PTA/PTO members have relationships with, as well as ones that are close to your school. Below is a list of the most common types of businesses that sponsor school shirts.

• Construction / Engineering / Home Improvement• Doctor / Hospital / Dentist / Orthodontist • Restaurants• Fitness / Sports• Real Estate• Automotive• Child Services / Education / Tutoring / Summer Camps• Retail Shops

3. Parents of Students: Finally, leverage the relationships parents have with potential sponsors in the community. Most parents own, work for, or know of a business that would love to sponsor your school. Many schools have funded their shirts and school solely by sending home our Letter to Parents resource found in Step 6!

Best practices:

1. Ask for help. Recruit a team of your fellow PTA/PTO members. This will take the full responsibility off of your shoulders, as well as allow you to leverage your team members’ unique relationships in the community.

2. Make a list. Remember, Step 2 is about brainstorming. List out ANY potential sponsors, no matter how far of a shot it seems. The worst that can happen is they say no!

3. Divide and conquer. If your team members reach out to at least two or three of the targeted sponsors each, including the ones they have relationships with, the success rate will be higher, more ground will be covered, and it will take a lot of pressure off of you! And that is exactly what we want – less stress, more funds!

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Now that you know your financial goals and have a list of potential sponsors, it’s time to create sponsorship pricing levels. We know that every community is unique, and price sensitivity can fluctuate. Therefore, some schools find it best to customize their sponsorship levels, while others choose to use our standard sponsorship levels. Regardless of what you choose, we want to stress the importance of not undervaluing your sponsorships. Remember that students will wear their shirts throughout the year and become “walking billboards” for the sponsors. The goal is to offer fair pricing to the sponsors that still achieves your financial goals.

The Sponsorship Package resource below shows a few examples of the types of sponsorship packages you could sell to reach your financial goals, based off of our recommended pricing. You might be surprised to see that it only takes a few sponsorships to reach your goals. With help from your team and parents, it won’t take long to exceed the “Fund Your Shirt” goal!

If you want to get creative with your sponsorship packages, we recommend sponsorship bundling. Many of our schools have found it helpful to include additional sponsorship benefits to each level. This is a great option if you typically seek sponsorships for any other event or fundraiser throughout the year. You can either increase your price levels to cover the shirts and other events, or you can just include the extra benefits as part of the standard pricing for your shirts. You will be able to edit the pricing levels and bundle options on the Sponsorship Form in Step 4.

STEP 3: CREATE SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES

Please note: the maximum number of printed sponsor logos is 15 on the back and 1 on each sleeve. However, you are free to have as many name-only sponsors as you would like.

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Example Sponsorship Packages

For 300 shirts at $4.40 each . . .Total cost of $1,320

For 600 shirts at $3.45 each . . .Total cost of $2,070

For 1,000 shirts at $3.35 each . . .Total cost of $3,350

PREMIUM$750 (x2)

SLEEVE$1,000

PREMIUM$750 (x2)

REGULAR$500 (x3)

REGULAR$500 (x2)

+

+NAME$250 (x2)

+

+

OR

OR

OR

REGULAR$500 (x2)

NAME$250 (x2)

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PREMIUM$750

+

+

REGULAR$500 (x2)

NAME$250 (x2)

+

*These examples are based on our recommended pricing of Sleeve ($1000), Premium($750), Regular ($500), and Name ($250)

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SP

IR I T W E AR

PREMIUM$750

REGULAR$500 (x3)

+

PREMIUM$750

REGULAR$500 (x3)

+

NAME$250 (x2)

+Booster Spirit Wear

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Now it’s time to get started finding sponsors! Schools tend to be more successful at engaging sponsors by using a variety of communication channels. Below are three editable resources to help you communicate your need for sponsorships in each channel. In order to reach the most potential sponsors, we recommend using all of these resources. Make sure to include the mock-up you received in Week 1 to help people visualize the shirt and drive interest and commitment. Most people want to help, but they have many responsibilities pulling at their attention. We highly recommend multiple follow-ups in each communication channel to give the community ample opportunity to fund your shirts and school.

STEP 4: GO GET SPONSORS!

Sponsorship form for businesses

Social media post to parents

Letter/email to parents

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STEP 5: COLLECT SPONSOR LOGOS

YES! You have an interested sponsor! Now what? We recommend asking for their payment to secure their placement (all money is given directly to your school/PTA/PTO), and then ask for the business logo they would like on the shirt. We need high resolution vector art files for printing, described in the Art File Guide below.

Your partners are making an investment with their sponsorship, so we want to make sure their logo is as clear as possible. If the sponsor does not have a vector file, please ask for the highest resolution file the sponsor has. For most high-resolution files, we can convert them to vector files for you for FREE. If we are unable to convert a logo, our graphic designers will recreate it for you. We include three recreated logos for FREE. After three, the recreations cost $15 per logo.

Since the print space is limited, the maximum number of printed sponsor logos is 15 on the back and 1 on each sleeve. If a business or parent buys a name-only ad or does not have a logo, please list out the names of those sponsors. You are free to have as many name-only sponsors as you would like.

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Once you have received a sponsor logo, go ahead and email the logo to your Spirit Wear Consultant. This gives us plenty of time to help convert or recreate logos if necessary. If you have name-only sponsors, list out all of the names as you want them to appear on the shirt, and then email those as well. Please make sure your school name, sponsor name, logo size, and desired logo placement are in the email. We will save the logos for you until you are finished securing sponsors. Then we will send all of your logos to our graphic designer to add to your t-shirt mock-up.

We know it’s a big deal when sponsors commit to partnering with your school and sponsoring your shirts! We want them to know their gesture to support and invest in your school is appreciated, so we have included an editable Sample Thank You Letter resource below. Please take a moment to let your sponsors know how grateful your school is to have their support! We also suggest ordering an extra shirt for each sponsor, inviting them to the Fun Run, and thanking them on the microphone during the event to show your appreciation!

STEP 6: EMAIL SPONSOR LOGOS TO SPIRIT WEAR CONSULTANT

STEP 7: THANK YOUR SPONSORS

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That’s it! Those are the 7 simple steps to help you secure sponsorships to fund your shirts and school! Please know that we are here to help you every step of the way. We would love to answer any questions you have or help you with any challenges you face. Your hard work will pay off when you get to see the joy and excitement on students faces on fun run day! Thank you for all you do strengthen your school!