Newsletter: How to Use Surveys to Land More Partners ✅ ; How to Find the Right Contact at a Company ☎️ ; What’s Your Referral Strategy? 🤔

I always ask my nonprofit clients if they have charity or marketing sponsors - or do they have both?

The distinction matters because each type requires a different strategy for recruiting sponsors for your fundraising events and programs.

😇 Charity Sponsors support your nonprofit because they love what you do and are motivated by your mission and impact.

😈 Marketing Sponsors support your nonprofit because they see a bottom-line benefit to partnering with you. In short, your audience has them seeing dollar signs.

If you want more charity sponsors, cultivate strong relationships with donors and target the businesses they work for or run - preferably the latter.

If you want more marketing sponsors, you need to show the company how your audience is their audience.

But how do you do that?

👉🏻 👉🏻 You use surveys, focus groups, and interviews to identify and understand your audience. Of the three, surveys are probably the easiest and most effective way to collect information on your event audience.

For years now, I've been recommending nonprofits consult ​Who's Comming? Respectful Audience Surveying Toolkit​, published by the Knight Foundation.

It's a great resource for learning how to collect high-quality participant data, which is precisely what you need for marketing sponsors.

A few things to keep in mind...

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 You need a team. You'll need several "fielders" to administer the survey. These people can be staff, interns, or volunteers.

✍️ You have two survey modes to choose from. You can use a good old-fashioned pen and paper, or you can use digital. The other day at the airport, someone gave me an iPad to take a survey. You can also have people scan a QR code and take one on their phone.

💨 Keep your survey short and focused. Shoot for a survey that will take three to five minutes with a maximum of ten questions. The Knight Foundation has excellent advice on creating a welcoming, accurate, and inclusive survey. This is important and requires skill!

Have a plan for approaching people randomly. Don't approach people because they are available or "seem nice." To get a representative sample, plan to ask every third or fourth person and stick to it!

Don't stop until you've collected enough data. Knight suggests aiming for at least 20 percent of your audience.

Are you already surveying your event audience? I would love to hear how you handle the logistics and how it's helped you secure new sponsors!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. How to find the ​right contact at a company​. My go-to is #6: Create a Google Alert.

2. After a partnership campaign wraps up, you should immediately do two things: write up a case study and ask for referrals. I've talked a lot about the former, but here are ​11 referral strategies​.

3. Dutch Bros Coffee's ​annual cause marketing effort​ for the Muscular Dystrophy Association has deep roots in the company.

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. This is a ​wicked smahht appeal​ from charity: water. I've been telling clients that many companies are steering clear of risky causes in favor of causes we can all agree on...like access to clean water. 🔐 (🔐 = This article is behind a paywall, but I can email it to you.)

Causes with unifying appeal should be yelling it from the rooftops!

2. Some might say that supporting the LGBTQIA+ community is in the "riskier" category. Still, Horowitz Research released ​pretty strong consumer information​ showing that brands supporting that community do see a solid payoff.

3. I Shared this last year, but it's so good I had to share it again. How the Humane Society ​makes emotional connections​ through print and digital content.

Non-Obvious Lessons for Nonprofits from the Humane Society: Insights from ChatGPT

Personalized Storytelling: Tailor stories to individual donor experiences to create deeper connections.

Print’s Tangibility: Utilize the physical presence of print to evoke nostalgia and stronger emotional responses.

Strategic Surveys: Use surveys not only for feedback but also to reinforce donor involvement and commitment.

Cross-Channel Consistency: Maintain a consistent brand voice across all media to build trust and recognition.

Data-Driven Content: Leverage data analytics to refine storytelling and content distribution strategies.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Senior Director, Corporate Philanthropy, ​MDA​, Remote ($120k - $130k)

2. Chief Partnership Officer, ​Common Impact​, Remote ($200k - $225k)

3. Director, Development - Sponsorship & Convenings, ​Points of Light​, Remote ($75k - $85k)

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. The type of board member who can ​transform your fundraising​ (in a good way).

2. I really geeked out on this article. What if ​we replace guns and bullets​ with bows and arrows?

3. ​Me when I pay $15 for two grande lattes​ at National Airport in D.C.

Thanks for reading this week! As always, let me know if you have any questions or if I can be helpful in any way.