Corporate Sponsorship is more than a funding transaction...

It creates connections and relationships.

"AT & T Social Responsibility—Our purpose is to create connection – with each other, with what people need to thrive in their everyday lives and with the stories and experiences that matter."

When you think of developing a corporate sponsorship, think about relationships you create and the connection you foster with the communities where your organization and the companies’ employees live and work.

Think about the value you are creating and an expansive relationship with many points of connection.
The connection can be created in a number of ways…
1. Volunteer opportunities: An important part of securing a corporate sponsor is being able to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities for their employees. It can be a one-day event like a neighborhood park cleanup, or an ongoing commitment, like stocking boxes in a local food bank and working the distribution table twice a month. These opportunities create connections to people and purpose.
2. Consider how the corporation can use its skills, influence, and unique capabilities to join your organization in addressing a local or societal challenge. Often companies want to use their core expertise in service of societal goals. For example, BNY Mellon used their technologists to help City Year create a system for tracking attendance for their high school participants engaged in a service year in their city. Verizon
3. Corporations are also matching employee volunteer hours in charities of their choice with cash donations or giving employees a specific number of paid days each year to perform community service.
4. When disaster hits, many corporations provide immediate and substantial relief as part of their social contract, whether or not the disaster has impacted the communities where they live and work.

Now You: Where have you volunteered, and did it enhance your sense of connection?