📬 Mailbag: What Tools Do Nonprofit Teams Use to Manage Sponsorship Fulfillment?
Q. I work for a larger arboretum in the Chicago suburbs and believe it or not, our biggest challenge is working with other teams here to stay organized! I am hoping to find suggestions or ideas from other organizations that work to ensure that internal teams are keeping up with mutually agreed benefits such as logos or signage, acknowledgement in press releases, and on-site presentations, etc.
A. To manage our sponsor deliverables, we use our database (we use Salesforce) to track everything. When a new sponsorship is “won,” it is logged into the system and saved. We then have our system automated at save to create deliverables based on the sponsorship level. Finally, an email is sent to the individuals who manage the deliverables letting them know a new sponsorship has been entered – i.e. they now have tasks to complete.
We do have the advantage that we are a smaller team so only two of us are actually completing the deliverables with myself being the main person. I then created a report that shows all the deliverables by event to keep me on track. We even go as far as having a completed check box and/or date completed field I mark for when the deliverable has been completed. Anyone at anytime can see what a sponsor should receive and if it is completed.
I realize that not everyone can do this with their database. My workaround would be to use Google Sheets. You could create a system where you capture everything in one place – sponsor, contact name, contact info, sponsor level, etc. You then could create columns sets for each deliverable and use the checkbox feature (one of the nice features of Google Sheets) to select the deliverables eac”ac
I realize that not everyone can do this with their database. My workaround would be to use Google Sheets. You could create a system where you capture everything in one place – sponsor, contact name, contact info, sponsor level, etc. You then could create columns sets for each deliverable and use the checkbox feature (one of the nice features of Google Sheets) to select the deliverables eac
I realize that not everyone can do this with their database. My workaround would be to use Google Sheets. You could create a system where you capture everything in one place – sponsor, contact name, contact info, sponsor level, etc. You then could create columns sets for each deliverable and use the checkbox feature (one of the nice features of Google Sheets) to select the deliverables each sponsor gets. I would break down each deliverable to look something like this:
Because you are in sheets, you could then have conditional formatting setup to highlight due dates that are getting close, past due, etc. You can also sort by columns to see for example who gets a logo on event signage or who gets included in press releases. Finally, Google Sheets can be setup to send a notifications for changes. This would allow everyone to receive a notification when something is updated. You could even investigate further to see if notifications could be setup for specific items (new rows, added names, etc.).
The main point with any system is the expectation that the team is looking at it daily, weekly, etc. You can have a beautiful system setup but if no one is looking at it, it will not matter.
To summarize, here is a list of items to possibly capture:
Sponsor Name
Sponsor Contact (and contact info, if desired)
Date sponsorship is “won” or entered in system
Sponsorship level
Assigned to (Staff Solicitor or Primary) – This would be if sponsors are managed as a whole by one person or someone needs to be in the loop about deliverables.
Recognition Notes – Maybe a sponsor has a DBA name or this could include a custom option for a specific sponsor
Deliverables
Name/Description
Assigned to – If different deliverables are managed by different team members
Due Date
Completed Date or Check Box for Completion
- Jennifer, Second Helpings, Indiana
A. Regarding resources and how-tos for sponsorship management…I did some research and tested a ton of platforms and our team started using AirTable (for free!) and we have been loving it! It is a fully customizable online platform that essentially takes spreadsheets and pivot tables to the next level and makes them user-friendly and pretty. It does take a time investment to start off and setup initially, but, boy, has it made it easier to work cross departmentally. It is so adaptive and flexible that it can really be whatever you need it to be.
For our partnership tracking, you can do things like add statuses (in process, complete, etc.), assign team members to tasks, assign reviewers to tasks, categorize tasks, add deadlines and even upload assets/links for reporting and future reference. I’ve attached a few screenshots for you of one partnership main overview and then sub-tables that are category specific – I hid the fields that have assigned tasks because they display our individual names.
There is also a mobile app to update on the go or check on projects and each table you create is easily exported to excel to create an accessible backup of what you have online.
- Bridget, Habitat for Humanity, California
