The Lesson from 2 expeditions seeking sponsorship to fund their next adventure

Expedition #1 has sent a potential sponsor a letter asking for a meeting to discuss sponsorship of their upcoming trip to (Fill in your mountaineering destination of choice).

It is written on expensively printed headed paper. It is long and detailed, documenting all the amazing features of the coming trip. How they are going to climb such and such a mountain. That it is high and dangerous and they will be the first to achieve it etc etc.

It describes how amazing the trip is going to be. That it is going to test the participants body and mind to their very limits. That they will be away for months, braving life threatening and extreme conditions.

Expedition #2 has sent the same potential sponsor a letter asking for a meeting. They have a similar trip planned. BUT their sponsorship letter is very different.

It’s on plain paper. It’s brief and to the point. It OPENS with a simple statement…

While looking at YOUR web site I saw that you are currently doing (You fill in the blank about their current hot piece of company news) and that your objective for it is (you then repeat something from their web site that was the reason).

Our expedition to ******* can help you achieve your objective BY…. (Now they tell the sponsor How they can help them meet that objective. They tell the sponsor WHAT They CAN DO FOR HIM. They ANSWER THE question whats in it for HIM.)

Which expedition do you think gets the meeting and the chance to close the sponsorship deal?

What is your experience of raising sponsorship? What worked and what didn’t?

This is a new web site and I would really appreciate your help in raising awareness. If you enjoyed this article please take a moment to comment or share it on Facebook or Twitter. I would really appreciate it. Thanks

Luke Bream

P. S. If you enjoyed the article then please stay in touch. You can do this by joining our email newsletter or become a FAN on Facebook or how about subscribing to the RSS feed.