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My last post bit into how to fundraise and use sponsorships and I wanted to expand on that a little more. At JTF I attended a fantastic session with Nick Pramic. Some of this is from that session. As always, I did add some of my own ideas and thoughts.

1. Look at your community. Think of your relationship with the business in your area/town as a sponsorship. A sponsorship is a business relationship. You give them something, you get something. Businesses are more likely to treat you and your organization with respect if you present what yourself with this mentality.

2. Branding: Include company logos on posters, t-shirts, on signage in the theatre, seasonal fliers, mail outs, newspaper ads, tickets, and in your newsletter. You can even have crosslinks to their website on your website, fb, or twitter. Another idea is to allow your bigger sponsors to have a booth at one of the performances or host a vendor event.

3. Match fundraisers with shows. If Willy Wonka think candy sale. If Cinderella think pumpkin carving contest. The list could go on.

4. A colleague gave this website kickstarter.com (or org, not sure)  which is for theatre stuff. There is also donorschoose.org which is a fantastic site that matches your projects or needs with donors. Donorschoose requires you to be a part of a school system. However, if you are a community theatre setting with a good relationship with the schools or a school in your area/town they may allow you to associate yourself with them to sign up for the site.

5. Franchise owners: This was new territory for me. Being from a small town with only local, small businesses, it is hard for me to get used to a bigger city with franchises. The larger companies (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Starbucks were named as examples) have a community manager that can authorize in-kind donations. Send copies of what you do for their business every quarter, cultivate a media relationship with them by having your kids star in their commercils or provide voiceovers for the radio.

6. Invite local new producers to productions.

7. Talk backs: Allow your students to do that talking. Let them tell the sponsors what it means to them. In another twist, have a sponsor that relates to the show give a talk back during intermission. (Flat Stanley=travel agent; Damn Yankees=baseball coach or player)

8. Create a database and include your patrons and business sponsors in your emails.

9. School performances: This idea is TOP NOTCH: On half days of school schedule half off performances. This would be extra out of the normal performance schedule, but I am a firm believer of having extra things in my students repretoire for such occasions. This idea also work for boy and girl scout troupes. They have a theatre badge.

10. Holiday parties: One idea: Kids dress in Dickensian costumes and sing Christmas Carols as entertainment.

11. Swapping: get an ad, give a coupon; comp tickets; pre-show reception

12. Use college programs and continuing ed. programs.

13. At your first rehearsal or class on your students info card ask what school they go to, where they go to church, and where their parents work. That alone will give you a huge network to start.

14. Small informances that are audience participation in improv that really involve the corporate sponsors invited. You can also do this for parents and include a silent auction.

As always I hope this is helpful and opens your eyes to new possibilities. Often as the "grown ups" we tend to narrow our scope to what is familiar or comfortable. In theatre we truly have the opportunity to keep dreaming and keep thinking outside of the box. For the sake of our craft and the sake of our