How To Win Corporate Sponsors Consistently Using LinkedIn In 5 steps

When it comes to fundraising, many nonprofit founders find corporate sponsorship intimidating.

Because they do not understand the process of winning sponsorship, probably never done it before, they unconsciously ignore the strategy altogether.?

With a few reaching out to only friends and people within their network.?

Consequently limiting many founders from maximizing LinkedIn for corporate sponsorship.?

If you’ve found yourself in this dilemma, here’s a step-by-step process to begin reaching out to corporate sponsors consistently using LinkedIn thereby increasing your chances of winning sponsorship even if you’ve never won any sponsorship before.?

1. Identify The Value In Your Organization and Develop a Fundraising Offer and Sponsorship Packages.?

Corporate sponsorship is a value exchange strategy. This means, while you expect to fund, you must be able to provide some value in return.?

Interestingly, there are loads of value in every nonprofit organization a corporate sponsor would want to tap in. Aside these values, you can identify specific benefits only your organization can provide and aggregate these values into a fundraising offer that helps your organization stand out.?

2. Create Your Prospect List

A prospect list is a list of companies, official communication channels, and their executives that aligns with your organization’s mission, programs, and the value your organization provides. You can begin by creating a list of 30 companies and proceed to expand your list as you begin to implement.?

3. Create The Resources You Need

You need a donor deck, a corporate sponsorship appeal letter, a corporate sponsor’s agreement/contract, marketing messages, and materials, a webpage, a meeting scheduling page, a content plan, a LinkedIn newsletter, etc. With these resources in their respective places and well-branded, you can easily attract and appeal to the interest of any sponsor starting with the companies and executives in your list above.?

4. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn network is a valuable asset find opportunities and make meaningful connections. To be taken seriously, you must optimize your profile to show you are also a valuable professional worth connecting with by clearly expressing your expertise and leadership skills through your LinkedIn profile. By optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you increase your chances of winning corporate sponsorships and attracting new opportunities and connections.?

5. Launch Your Corporate Sponsorship Campaign?

Here’s where you start reaching out to the companies on your prospect list through their official communication channels and the company's executives on LinkedIn.?

When reaching out, you don’t do so with your hands out asking for money. Rather I have a five-step process that has helped my clients win corporate sponsorship by simply connecting, asking for a meeting, presenting their value, making the ask, and following up consistently.?

Concurrently, you should be following your content plan by creating content that speaks to your prospects daily. Since you are reaching out to these executives daily, they will be exposed to your content thereby increasing your know, like, and trust factors.?

To maximize your reach, you can run a sponsored inmail campaign targeting millions of company executives that fall into your prospect categories, initiating a connection, conversation, or partnership that can grow into a sponsorship relationship in the nearest future.?

LinkedIn can be a tool to transform your organization’s fundraising and revenue generation around if you choose to pay only a little attention and implement the strategies listed above daily.?

If you need help implementing any of the steps listed above or have any questions, please feel free to comment below or reach out to me directly.?

All the best