A Word From Your Sponsor

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Fete Sponsorship

This is an excerpt from our How to Organise a Fete Guide. It gives some very handy hints and tips to make seeking sponsorship and donations easier.
Sponsorship is probably the most overlooked and underestimated ingredient to successful fetes. Local business sponsorships can offset the cost of running your fete and increase your revenue. They can provide:

  • financial assistance
  • in-kind help
  • vouchers
  • prizes

But remember: you won’t be the only one seeking their support. That means you need to start early, know how to ask and what to offer in return.
Your sponsorship coordinator and fete convenor should work together initially on this, approaching individuals and letting them know what they’ll get in return.
Start by looking within your school community.
Who, within the parent cohort, runs a business?
Could they supply goods or products at competitive rates or better still donate in return for free advertising?
Parents have a vested interest in supporting the school: it helps their kids!
Use your contacts
For example, a parent I know runs a catering business. She was surprised to learn that her school fete was buying the hamburger buns at the local supermarket, paying full retail price. She offered to order them through her business at wholesale – a significant saving. Bonus: the rolls were delivered fresh on the day and pre-split.
Another parent is a food distributor. She was able to source and donate gourmet cookies for the fete café.
A public servant was able to put his school in touch with marketing people in government departments who were only too happy to provide bundles of stickers as token prizes. Cost nothing but the kids thought they were winners!