THE GOOD CLUB GUIDE EXTRA: FOR A FUNDRAISING AND SPONSORSHIP OFFICER

GETTING STARTED The following sections will provide additional help and support for a Club Fundraising and Sponsorship Officer in key areas of the role. This resource contains additional information to the Good Club guides, and should be read in conjunction with the other ASA Good Club Guides, available through the British Swimming website at

HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE As a reference to assist you/others in their role To assist a club in recruiting volunteers by giving information about a role To prompt discussions at your club about the standards and qualities of volunteers needed As part of an induction for a new volunteer at the club To input into the development /action plan for the club

ACTIVITY 1: HOW DOES THAT FIT WITH YOUR ROLE? Using the role description in the ASA Good Club Guide for a Fundraising and Sponsorship Officer, consider how this relates to you, and the role you are doing / could be doing in the future? ? E.g. are there areas, as a club fund raising and sponsorship officer that you may need to consider as part of your role having read the role description?

THE CURRENT STATUS OF YOUR CLUB’S FUNDRAISING AND SPONSORSHIP It may help to assess the current status of your club to gain an overview/understanding of what the current situation is, and to then prepare for the future. The ASA’s swim21 club development programme is the recommended process to follow in doing this. You may find the below SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis useful in gaining a current picture of the club. You may wish to ask current volunteers to contribute their thoughts too to ensure a true picture, credibility and have representative views of volunteers at your club.

ACTIVITY 2: SWOT ANALYSIS: WHAT DOES YOUR CLUB HAVE TO OFFER? In the boxes below write down what you feel your club has to offer in relation to fundraising and sponsorship, and also consider the potential for the future. You can ask others in the club to help complete this exercise (particularly existing volunteers too) – this will give a good overview of the benefits and challenges for the club too.

From the ASA Good Club guide for a Fundraising and Sponsorship officer, note down any areas that your club undertakes on fundraising. Note down any potential fundraising opportunities you think your club could follow up in the future. ACTIVITY 3: CLUB FUNDRAISING

Here is an example of how an ASA region secured Sport England Community Investment funding (CIF) for disability swimming Sport England press release August 2007 Sport England’s West Midlands Regional Sports Board (RSB) has great pleasure in announcing that the following awards have been made from the Community Investment Fund (CIF) over the last few weeks: West Midlands Amateur Swimming Association - awarded £21,750 towards a project to improve the access, provision and support for disabled swimmers in the West Midlands. This project has many elements and the development work to achieve the key aims will be carried out through the appointment of a key person who will drive the project forward. Importantly it will find out the numbers of disabled young people attending special schools in the region who wish to take up swimming as a regular activity. The estimated contribution to an increase in people to taking part in sport in the region from this project is 60 disabled new swimmers. The projects as indicated will all contribute to achieving an increase in the take up of sport in the region. They have each demonstrated in their applications to Sport England that through the provision of either new facilities or coaching and development work they will be able increase the take up of sport in the West Midlands. They will also help us to reach our target of getting an additional 195,960 people in the West Midlands taking part in 3 sessions of 30 minutes (3 x 30) of sport or active recreation each week by 2012.

ACTIVITY 4: YOUR CLUB SPONSORSHIP From the ASA Good Club Guide for a fundraising and sponsorship officer, list any current club sponsors, and reasons why you think they are involved with your club, and the benefits it brings to them? e.g profile in competition programmes, awareness of their product

TOP TIPS FINDING SPONSORSHIP FOR YOUR CLUB: THE FULL VERSION Put yourself in the sponsor’s shoes. Know the reasons why a sponsor may wish to be involved with your club. There are generally 2 reasons as follows: Corporate image. This is where sponsors attach themselves to causes they believe to be in the public interest, or will promote a specific image of their business. Sources of local and national pride, community image, health and fitness, children, etc are often seen as corporate image sponsorships

Opening up “selling” channels. Sponsorship of sporting Clubs / events often develops a direct channel for sales, such as “on-site” selling rights. For example, a sports drink company may have the sole rights to sell drinks at your events Be clear in reasons why you are targeting a sponsor, and pre-empt what a potential sponsor will be thinking: How can the club/events/athletes’ relate to the company’s image? Can the club, athletes, or event generate trade and sales opportunities? Continued…

How can the sponsorship provide the company with an extensive presence or exposure? E.g on-site signage or advertising on team kit Will the club, athletes, or event be given radio, television or print media coverage so that advertising can be tied with sponsorship? If the company decides to discontinue the sponsorship after a time, can it do so without any embarrassing publicity in the media? Can the sponsorship succeed without a great deal of time and effort being put in by the company’s staff? Does the “property” (i.e. the club being sponsored) have a plan for evaluating the performance of the sponsorship? Does the club membership match the company’s target market? Does the club, event, sport or athletes have a high profile in the local community? Will the media be sufficiently attracted to give adequate publicity and recognition of the sponsorship? Does the activity match the sponsor’s product and/or company image? Will sponsorship actually increase sales?

Conduct sport sponsorship research to help prepare your proposal. You also need to do some research into what your club can offer a potential sponsor. Define the sponsorship objective or goal of your organisation and the company you are targeting. Conduct a brief “Situational Analysis – SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)” of your organisation and the sport e.g anyone can access the sport etc – see appendix 1 Gather as much information about the sport (particularly the sponsorship aspect of the sport) as possible. If you can analyse past and present sponsorships, this will also assist Decide who to target and how you will do this

Prepare a great proposal. Make sure it: Is professionally designed and presented Has an identifiable sponsorship strategy Knows the target company Knows the target company’s audience Is clear and concise in its content Has great value and is quantifiable in all respects Makes promises it can keep Is capable of doing more than it originally promises Provides regular updates Can “ring cash registers”, i.e. potential to increase sales Contains support documentation, photographs, media releases, and video evidence (media kit) Provides a win-win situation

Present a great proposal. A suggested format is as follows: Executive Summary: Outline briefly the components of the sponsorship, its benefits and the value to the sponsor. Introduction: Grab the attention of the reader, outlining the unique and exciting nature of the opportunity. Benefits to the Sponsor: e.g. - signage, visibility, image enhancement and increased sales. Background of the club / event: This can include details of your facilities, personnel, history and club structure. Statistics of the growth of your sport in the UK and in your local area/club. The benefits to the club if sponsored. The level/s of investment required: see examples available on Future goals of the club How the sponsor will be serviced by the club.

EXAMPLES OF SERVICES TO OFFER A SPONSOR For you to ensure that a viable return on investment is taking place, any sponsorship arrangement made could include the following services to you: Club volunteers to attend an agreed range of company events to publicly thank you for your support. Company staff will be invited to attend club competitions and social functions to raise profile The club will produce a yearly editorial in the local newspaper to outline the support the organisation receives from the sponsor Bi-annual statistical updates in relation to player and affiliate numbers in the region will be forwarded to sponsor No sponsorship agreement whatsoever will be made with another sponsor which in the eyes of the club, may present as a direct or indirect competitor of the sponsor

Service and communicate with your sponsor throughout the sponsorship period. Ensure that all of your promises are delivered. If you said that you would present monthly attendance figures, present them. If you said that 10 of their colleagues could enjoy corporate hospitality at your events, ensure that this takes place. Get your sponsorship matched. Once you have found a sponsor, it may be possible to match funding pound for pound through Sportsmatch. Sportsmatch is government funded to support the development of grass roots sport. Further details listed in the back of this resource.

ACTIVITY 5: SELF REFLECTION ACTIVITY What could you do to gain further experience in being a fundraising and sponsorship officer having now read this resource? Eg. Have a go at preparing a sponsorship proposal and sharing with the chair person of the club What information might be useful for you to follow up / gain further information on to help you during you term of office as a fundraising and sponsorship officer?

Who are the people who will be important for you to speak / communicate with in order to achieve the above and why? What further help do you need in developing your skills as a fundraising and sponsorship officer? (You may be able to discuss this with your ASA Regional Office)

Twelve months from today, what is the one thing you would like to have achieved in being a fundraising and sponsorship officer? TIP: Set a reminder in your phone / diary / calendar that you have committed to doing this, and to re-visit this page!

SUMMARY We hope you have found this guide informative in guiding you in your role, and providing you with information and helpful tips. We wish you a great experience in your role and thank you once again for all your time and commitment you are giving to the sport.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The ASA are grateful for the contributions and input from the ASA Volunteer working group in ensuring these resources are written and reviewed by volunteers, for volunteers. These resources also draw upon the work developed by swim21 clubs, runningsports and Volunteering England. The ASA would like to acknowledge and thank these organisations for their support and permission in using the work they have completed.