Soliciting Sponsorships for your Baseball Team
Before you go looking for sponsorships, decide what the needs are of your team and set a goal for the amount of sponsorship dollars you wish to raise.
Once a goal has been established, decide what you can and will offer to local businesses who support your team. Develop a package. For example, if a business donates $100, what do they get for that? Effective return on investments for business include being mentioned on your social media accounts or Facebook page or putting together a banner with the logos of all of the businesses that support you at a certain level and bring it to all games and hang it on the fence.
Start local. Very local. Big stores like Wal-Mart have to get all grant requests approved outside of the store, but local businesses make their decisions locally and are much more willing to help. Start with people you know who own businesses and visit all of the businesses that service your area. Put together a flyer that tells who you are, what you need and what they will get for their sponsorship. Flyers templates are available for free from Microsoft. These funds are not tax deductible, so be clear about what they will receive for their hard-earned dollars.
Be sure and publish your schedule on your social media accounts and in town. Encourage your sponsors to attend the games so they can see their dollars at work. They might not attend, but you have made the effort and that will help sell that sponsorship again next year.
An effective fundraiser for next season could be a “Miracle Minute” at a high school basketball, football game or a youth league Saturday. This would also provide you much needed exposure. Players and family members go through the crowd after announcements have been made and collect dollar bills and change from the spectators. These events typically have a large local audience and are a great place to get the word out about the team and the league. This just makes your search for sponsors in following years easier.
If you have questions with wording, flyer creation or putting together packages, please contact me at or 317-918-5895. Before moving back to the area, I managed all of the sponsorships for the Greater Whiteland Baseball Association.