Three letters to your sponsors, and the first one goes this week
Our 2024 season was terrible. I’d come in as president at the end of 2023, but the big decisions for the year had already been made before I got there, and I didn’t know enough yet to change them. We lost a lot of games. By presentation night it was challenging to stand up and be positive, because I didn’t know what the plan was, and it showed.
That’s the point in the year where writing to your sponsors feels impossible. It’s also the point where it matters most.
Good, bad or different, you write to them
After 2024 I went to the sponsors anyway. I didn’t have a plan to give them. What I had was the truth: the year had been bad, we knew we had to make big changes for 2025, and I’d be back once we’d worked out what those were. I needed to do it, because the club couldn’t set a budget for 2025 until we knew where the sponsors stood. But I’d have done it regardless. Whether the season was good, bad or different, your sponsors should hear from you before they hear from anyone else.
Here’s how I’d do it. It’s three letters, not one.
The first goes now. Thank them for the season. Say what worked and what didn’t, and own the bits that didn’t. Tell them the committee is doing its end-of-season review and you’ll be back with what comes out of it. That letter doesn’t need a plan. Anyone can write it this week.
The second goes after the review. This is what we found, and this is what we’re changing.
The third is about their support next year. I’d want to be having that conversation in October or November, and the only way to get there is to send the first letter as soon as the season is over and get the review done straight after. People treat presentation night as the end of the season. It isn’t.
Make them letters, not emails. Something they can print and put up at work or hand around. The bigger sponsors get a visit as well.
One more thing while presentation night is still ahead of you. Make sure your sponsors are invited, and have them present the awards. It’s the easiest way I know to get them along.
And don’t wait for the AGM. You might not be president after it. These things have a funny way of working out sometimes. That’s a reason to send the first letter now, not a reason to hold it.
Club Funding builds fundraising tools for clubs, and that’s how this gets paid for. This isn’t the pitch. Nothing above needs anything from us.
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