--- name: corporate_sponsorship_fundraising description: "Build corporate sponsorships for a nonprofit or event: inventory and value what is actually on offer with a cost floor, a documented CPM check, and line item pricing, build three to five packages whose parts sum above the price, write a short deck with honest audience numbers, prospect by mission and audience fit, negotiate by trading benefits instead of discounting, and deliver and report every promised benefit so the sponsor renews. Ships a valuation calculator that also runs the IRS 2 percent substantial return benefit test, three fully priced worked packages at 2,500, 10,000, and 25,000 dollars, and reference guides for valuation, the deck and fulfillment, and the qualified sponsorship tax line under IRC 513(i). Use when seeking, pricing, pitching, or renewing corporate sponsors for a gala, event, program, or season, or when a sponsorship offer needs valuing or a deck needs rebuilding." --- # Corporate Sponsorship Fundraising ## Purpose Turn sponsorship from a hopeful ask with an invented price into a priced offer a company can buy with confidence. The work has four parts that depend on each other: value the inventory honestly, package it at prices the worksheet supports, pitch it to companies that fit, and deliver and report what was promised. Most sponsorship programs fail at the last part and then wonder why renewals stall. One full fictional example ships with this skill in `references/worked-example.md`: a 400 person benefit concert with packages at 2,500, 10,000, and 25,000 dollars, every number produced by the calculator on the CSV files in `assets/` so it can be rechecked. ## Workflow 1. **Inventory what is actually on offer.** List every sellable item: acknowledgment placements by channel and size, naming positions, stage mentions, tickets and hospitality at face value, exhibit or activation space, speaking or remarks slots, employee volunteering, content and photo rights, category exclusivity as sponsor, and the post event report. Cross off anything the team cannot deliver on the day. An item that depends on another sponsor leaving, a venue feature you have not confirmed, or a channel you do not control does not go on the list. 2. **Count the audience from records.** Pull last year actual attendance, current registrations, the email list size from the platform export, social reach from platform analytics, and page views from site analytics. Write each count into a channels CSV in the format of `assets/example-channels.csv`, with its source in the third column. Follower counts are not reach. A forecast is allowed only labeled as a forecast, with its basis next to it. 3. **Run the three valuation anchors.** Follow `references/valuation-method.md`. Cost floor: direct event cost divided by expected attendance. Media value: `python3 scripts/valuation.py impressions --channels --cpm `, with the CPM taken from a comparable local rate you can show and its source written down. Line item sum: price each deliverable as if bought alone. A package is ready to price when all three anchors are on one worksheet and none of them is a guess. 4. **Build three to five packages.** Price each package so its line items total about 20 to 30 percent more than the price. Make each step up add a new kind of value, not a larger logo: presence at the entry level, participation (hosted guests, exhibit space, a voice in the program) in the middle, position (naming, category exclusivity, activation) at the top. Run `python3 scripts/valuation.py check --package --price ` on every package and fix every FAIL. Offer a custom rebuild line in the deck, and keep a la carte add-on prices for single items a sponsor wants to bolt on. 5. **Run the tax split before anything is pitched.** Sort every line item into acknowledgment or benefit, following `references/tax-and-agreement.md`. Run the 2 percent test in the check output. If benefits other than acknowledgment exceed 2 percent of the price, which tickets and hospitality usually cause, the agreement will state the split between benefits at fair market value and the qualified portion. Review all sponsor facing copy for advertising language: qualitative or comparative claims, prices, savings claims, endorsements, and calls to buy turn an acknowledgment placement into advertising. Route any package with advertising, provider exclusivity, or naming rights past the organization accountant or tax counsel before signature. 6. **Build the deck.** Follow the nine part order in `references/deck-and-proposal.md`: cover, opportunity, honest audience, a fit page rewritten for each prospect, packages, impact in concrete units, proof, terms in brief, and a decision page with a specific ask and a reply date. Keep a major ask near 4 to 8 pages and a small community ask to 1 to 2 pages. Every number in the deck traces to the worksheet or a named record. 7. **Prospect by fit and work the list.** Score companies on mission fit against their published giving pillars, audience fit, a named internal connection through board, donors, vendors, or volunteers, and timing against their budget cycle. Contact the person who owns community investment, CSR, brand marketing, or the local site budget. First message: one sentence of fit, one sentence of opportunity, one provable audience number, one easy next step. Log every contact, response, and next date in a tracker. 8. **Negotiate by trading benefits, not by cutting price.** When a sponsor pushes, swap benefits of equal worksheet value (tickets they cannot use for activation they will), reprice the worksheet, and put the change in writing. If the price must move, a benefit moves with it. Screen the sponsor against the written gift acceptance policy before the negotiation gets deep, and know the walk away shape for each prospect before the call. The signed agreement carries everything listed in `references/tax-and-agreement.md`, including the tax allocation, asset deadlines, and the reporting promise. 9. **Deliver on a tracker and report within 30 days.** The day the agreement signs, build the fulfillment tracker: each promised benefit, its owner, its deadline, and the proof to file (photo, screenshot, tear sheet, analytics export, attendance count). Assign one person to work the tracker at the event itself. The report shows promised against delivered item by item, audience actuals against the deck numbers, photos the sponsor may use, the impact units funded, and a plain line on anything that fell short and what replaces it. Open the renewal conversation with the report, while the evidence is in front of them. ## Output Contract - The inventory list, with undeliverable items crossed off and the reason noted. - The channels CSV with a source for every audience count, and the impressions run showing total impressions, the CPM used with its source, and the media value. - The valuation worksheet per package: cost floor, line item CSV, line item total, package price, and how far the line items sit above the price as a percent, with checker output showing RESULT PASS. - The tax split per package: acknowledgment total, benefits fair market value, the 2 percent threshold, and the qualified portion to state in the agreement. - The deck or short proposal, customized per prospect on the fit page, with every audience number matching the worksheet. - The prospect tracker: company, fit scores, named contact and owner of the budget, connection, status, and next step with a date. - The signed agreement containing the benefit list, allocation, deadlines, and reporting promise. - The fulfillment tracker with proof filed per item, and the post event report delivered on the agreed date, ending with the renewal ask. ## Operating Rules - No invented audience numbers, ever. If a count cannot be sourced, it comes out of the deck or goes in labeled as a forecast with its basis. A sponsor marketing lead will check, and one padded number discounts every true number beside it. - Never promise a benefit the team cannot deliver, and never price a payment contingent on attendance, ratings, or turnout. Price on what you control, report actuals after. - Acknowledgment copy stays acknowledgment: names, logos, locations, contact details, value neutral descriptions. Superlatives, prices, and buy language move a placement into advertising and change the tax treatment. - Do not discount in negotiation. Trade benefits at worksheet value, in writing, with the tax split repriced. - This skill gives the federal tax structure for United States sponsorships, not tax or legal advice. Advertising deals, provider exclusivity, naming rights, and periodical or trade show income get professional review before signing, and rules outside the United States differ. - Donor and sponsor records, contact details, and internal fit scores stay inside the team. A prior sponsor name or logo is used in a deck only with that sponsor permission. - Delivery is the product. A sponsor who got every promised item, with proof, inside 30 days is the cheapest renewal in fundraising. A sponsor who had to ask where their logo went is already gone.