Securing Sponsors for Special Events

It was 9:57 p.m. and I was standing on the roof of City Hall.

I was exhausted, and my heartbeat seemed to be beating louder than the band that was wrapping up on the main stage.

In three minutes, 250 drones would fill the sky and delight the ~10,000 people gathered below me.

In this week’s newsletter, we delve into the strategies and tactics we used to secure a $50K drone show sponsorship from Amazon, and how you can replicate this success for your own special events.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to determine the value of your sponsorship assets

• Tips for pitching to potential sponsors and securing meetings

• Crafting the perfect intial email

• 20 example questions to ask potential sponsors

• Formula to calculate your Cost per View (CPV)

See it for yourself:

📄 View our tactical guide to: Securing Sponsorships in Parks and Recreation

📧 If you find value in today’s email, please send this link to your colleagues so they can get these weekly newsletters: https://parksandrecipes.beehiiv.com/subscribe 

Don’t Miss Out:

I was standing on the roof of City Hall capturing the video below at our 2023 Special Event for my organization.

Our council/community strongly encouraged our special events team to explore alternatives to traditional fireworks, which had been a longstanding part of our events.

After the RFP was published, we ended up contracting with a company who was featured on America’s Got Talent: Extreme in 2022 (they got the golden buzzer from Mr. Simon Cowell himself) and honestly was blown away with their operations, knowledge, and ultimately the final product.

Watch the first 16 seconds of our 2023 special event, where Amazon funded the $50K drone show, generating countless impressions, engagement, and PR for Amazon and our city.

It’s a prime (see what I did there😉) example of a win-win partnership.

I’m definitely seeing a trend of municipalities moving away from fireworks and looking at alternative options. I’m curious if your department is looking at alternatives and would love for you to take the quick poll below.