Attracting Sponsorship for PTA Events

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Sponsors play a very important part in PTA fundraising. They offer cash donations, raffle prizes, lucrative sponsorship income, community support, event promotion and more. Let’s take a look at how to attract sponsors and the best way to keep them on-board for the long term.

First of all, you need to let the sponsor know why they should support your PTA.

What’s in it for the businesses?

  • Your PTA can offer sponsors low cost advertising opportunities directed to their target market. They could become the go to business for the local school community.

  • Brand awareness. The business has the chance to complement any monetary support by providing prize donations for PTA raffles / auctions.

  • The business gets to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility Goals.

  • Having an ongoing relationship supporting the PTA builds their reputation amongst the school community

What sort of businesses should you  approach?

The list is endless... Think of all the goods and services used by your families regularly for their household, leisure and family needs.  All of these businesses would love to be the go to business for the local school community.

Tap into all readily available business leads, especially parent employers and business owners. A shout out on your Facebook page is a great place to start.

Local independent businesses are often the easiest to approach as you can often speak directly to the decision maker. School communities also like to support independent businesses.

How should the PTA organise to get sponsors on board?

  • If possible, have a dedicated sponsor coordinator to oversee your sponsorship

  • Ideally split the responsibilities so different people take on different tasks e.g.

    • Walking into local businesses to ask for advertising sponsorship

    • Sending emails/calling local businesses

    • Sending letters to local businesses

  • If someone is walking into local businesses ensure they have back up information to prove authenticity ( as simple as a letter on headed paper )

In upcoming blog posts, we hope to provide you with a variety of resources to use as a starting point to approach potential sponsors.  We know schools use the resources in different ways so we suggest you adapt the formats / content to suit the tone and preferred approach of your PTA.

How can it be win-win for PTAs and the business?

Encourage businesses to make offers available to parents e.g. percentage discounts, 3 for 2, BYOB etc. If the business is a restaurant or cafe, ask if they would keep a charity collection box for your PTA (  if you are registered as a charity ).

Remember to thank your sponsors and advertisers – e.g. initial thank you letter. You may even consider giving it them a frame so they can display it proudly in their business, through social media or your PTA newsletter, 

How much should you charge?

Things to think about;

  • Make the opportunity relatively low cost to the business - you don’t want parent volunteers to have to work too hard to get sponsors and advertisers on board

  • Long term partnership will be of most benefit to your school community 

  • A monthly payment sent directly to the PTA may be more manageable for small business and is more likely to ensure longevity of their support ( it also saves work for your volunteers as they will not have to follow up to collect annual payments ).

  • Different types of sponsor will warrant different amounts. For instance, a headline sponsor for the Summer Fair would be more than a sponsor for a Quiz Night. The sponsor could have a presence at the fair which would be more beneficial to them.

Ideally, you should aim to at least cover the annual cost of your online ticketing platform  with your headline sponsor.  Ticket Tailor provide the lowest fees for PTAs. In fact, the Ticket Tailor platform is free if you choose to pass on the low ticketing costs to the ticket buyers!

Sponsorship pricing can be a minefield, I really hope this helps you.

The price you charge will very much depend on any established relationship with the businesses, your history of obtaining sponsorship, the size of your school community, your demographic and the success of your events. 

Please let us know what has worked for you.  School PTAs can learn so much from each other and we would love to share your success with new or struggling PTA groups, that they can learn from your experience. Email us at pta@tickettailor.com with your stories.