Eurostyle Sponsorship

Some notes about corporate sponsorship in Europe.

Once at a very nice gas station mart, we went to use the restrooms and saw that the paper towels had advertisements on them. What a novel idea, if one is going to have paper towels, why not sell the real estate on them? It doesn't feel much different than selling the real estate on the back of receipts.

The banners on Amsterdam museums all have the logo of the corporate sponsor. Sometimes museums only have the logo on the banners on poles in SF. Not on the exhibit banners that are on the museum itself.





Historic buildings here have every sort of logo hanging off it. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. It is definitely an eyesore and makes the building look sadly disrespected.

Would it make a difference if those buildings were nonprofit entities and this was one of their revenue models? I'd say "yes", but if I wasn't in corporate sponsorship for npo's would I feel the same? And what makes the money different if it comes from the same purse? Because of the recipient? Is a "good" end result justify receiving the money?

In Your Service

On a plane trip to the UK today, I shared an aisle with an interesting woman. S identified herself as a "spiritual being" who was homeless, profession-less, and unmarried. She appeared to be in her mid-50s and as we made small talk about our lives, what she does (financially) to get by came up. I've been sensitive to this before, so I asked her, how she supported herself, given that she stated no profession.

She hinted at singing and being and how she was in people's service and the universe took care of her. She felt that by having small conversations with strangers she was assisting the world as a whole.

Okay, we can all see the holes in her logic, but it got me thinking about the idea of service. How service is the purpose of philanthropy, it is what we as humans feel compelled to do. We want to be of service to a cause, an idea, a person. In the act of caring for someone/something else, one becomes a better person.

I wonder if we sometimes forget this in corporate philanthropy? That first and foremost, people are the ones making the decision to give to us, marketing benefits are usually secondary. Individuals need to be (and individuals always make the decision) assured they are of service to something they find valuable.

So, how do we do that? Through a sense of belonging. In my last position at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (where I was successful at incrementally upselling returning sponsors) it was important to keep up on Asian and Asian American cinema. If I ran into any of the sponsors out at events I could talk to them about the current state of cinema. Being inclusive of their opinions - this created an idea of the larger film community and our respective parts in it. "Industry" sometimes forget that supporters are as important as makers and doers, especially in film.

My background on Asian artifacts is limited, so what idea do I sell now? Do I delve into the Asian art world or talk about what I know of the culture(s) at large?

That depends, I haven't had enough exposure with AAM patrons to assess where they see the linkages are, but I'm looking forward to expanding the Museum's corporate base by nurturing the relationships with corporate donors who want to be of service. Because, I want to be of service as well.

Objectives Meeting

Today I sat down with my supervisor to go over performance objectives that were laid out in accordance to this position. It was a very "HR" thing to do, but it helped to clarify what could be accomplished in the next year and how I could develop as a fundraising professional.

I was able to ask the question of a possible mentor: "What helped you get to where you are?"

Coming from the environment I had, previously, it was the first time in years I could ask that question.

It seems that planned professional development can be an exciting thing, versus happenstance development through trial by fire.

I also made my first call related to procuring resources and set-up several tentative meetings for June.

Calendar

In my audit of the files, my own need for a definitive calendar for my piece of the pie is emerging. The previous devo person had an outline-like calendar, which gave specific benefits and processes, but seemed to lack hard due dates.

I'd like to get on the phone to create a sense of urgency in giving, "we'll need your commitment by ______ if you'd like to make it onto the ______ acknowledgement."

In my investigation of the state of the files, I'm searching for opportunities where tangible deadlines can be inserted to create a feeling of shortage.

Which hopefully, in turn, will encourage corporate sponsors to act.

View

This is the view from my cube. Every once in awhile, between auditing the files and contemplating new benefits, I get to stare out at this. I'm lucky indeed.

Working under specific restraints can nurture creativity. I've been rolling up my sleeves and exploring this in earnest. It's a challenge I relish.

Performance Objectives 2005

1. Renew existing/lapsed and recruit new Corporate Partners for the AAM. Develop stewardship opportunities. Organize annual Corporate Partners reception in September 2005 and at least 2 smaller Executive membership events.

2. Develop formalized in-kind giving program, with attendant Corporate Partner benefits.

3. Organize and maintain departmental systems, including sponsorship files, grant attachments, media and program information, stewardship calendar, cultivation materials, grant tracking, and acknowledgement and benefits fulfillment.

4. Assist with major foundation and government proposals and government grant reporting throughout the year.

A Start

Early morning (for me) meeting with HR. The HR Manager handed me an empty journal.

"You'll need it," she said. "For the self-assessment that we ask you to do of yourself and your accomplishments at your year-end review..."

So, hmm. Seems like they're encouraging of blogging (or at least of journaling).

On the job itself: Development Coordinator

Looking through the files and assessing where they are at, the job seems very do-able. My first self-appointed task is to start compiling a current corporate calendar for renewals, with questions to be answered and notes from the hard files built-in.

Previously, the AAM renewals came at key calendar dates and were sent out in bulk renewal. In a sense, they haven't been as focused on the expansion of the smaller corporate partners, something that was absolutely necessary to me as a stressed out fundraiser with an always too quickly approaching deadline.

Other thoughts:

• The organization is very professional (which means a lot in the npo world)
• My boss seems very cool to work with. How could I not like a guy, who says, "I really like Tony... And Maggie too..."
• The Education Department looks like they're having the most fun
• The Marketing Department is still one of the nicest groups of people I've ever worked with (even from the inside).

Looking forward to good challenging work, but *hopefully* at a very manageable pace.