Finding a Sponsor

Learning Objectives

• Assess matches between potential sponsors and your own organization/project
• Understand types of sponsors
• Use Internet-based tools for research

Introduction

With a well-researched case statement, a solution that fits the problem, and information about other projects related to your problem, you are ready to look for sponsors. As with other parts of the process, finding a sponsor (or “grantors,” as some literature on grant writing calls them) requires thoughtful planning and research. 

As noted in Module 2, grant proposals must cater to relationships among stakeholders, including those whom the grant serves, your organization as a benefactor, and sponsors who fund your proposal. Because they are providing money for philanthropy, sponsors will be interested in serving populations or causes that align with their interests or needs. Therefore, it is important to look for sponsors who have similar interests and missions or values as your own organization.

Sponsors

Money may be available from several types of sponsors. Government agencies at the federal, state, or municipal level might be able to help. Non-profits of various sorts may exist to serve populations you would like to serve or fund projects like yours. Private companies may set aside money to help organizations like yours. Doing research and casting your net wide can help you find a good fit (or, in some cases, several good fits) for your project. 

It will also be important to do a great deal of homework on your potential sponsors to figure out if (a) they will be a good match and (b) what their requirements are for applicants. As Browning (2014) notes, grant writing is about building relationships with sponsors; she recommends not only finding and reading profiles of potential sponsors carefully to understand the types of projects they fund and how to contact them, but also searching the Internet for as much information on each potential sponsor as possible. "If you don't do this homework," she writes, "I guarantee you're going to destroy a valuable relationship bridge with a potential grant maker" (p. 74). 

Along the same lines, Mikelonis, Betsinger, and Kampf (2004) recommend that grant writers choose potential sponsors selectively because your funding rates may increase when there is a good fit between the sponsor, your organization, and your project (p. 97).

Where to Look

Importantly, key research terms you have used to find information about your project will be useful as you look for sponsors. It is always important to keep honing your research through the terms you use.

Browning (2014) recommends using the following Internet resources (p 74.). This approach can be very beneficial because the Internet can do some of the work for you by automating parts of the process (as opposed to checking back periodically on your own):

• Grants.gov: Here, you can set up an account to receive announcements for grants that you may be interested in.
• Foundationcenter.org: This site is home to two useful resources: the Philanthropy News Digest (foundationcenter.org/pnd) and the RFP Bulletin (foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/). These Web pages can help you get up-to-date news on private sector philanthropy and sign up for alerts about RFPs.

Also consider using Internet tools such as Google Alerts. When you conduct Internet searches that yield meaningful results for your project, setting up a Google Alert for that search will help you keep abreast of new information or funding announcements.

What to Look For

While it is difficult to predict exactly where you will find your potential sponsors, you might look for the following (depending on the type of sponsor and the vocabulary that a sponsoring institution might use):

• Notice of Funding Availability
• Requests for Proposals
• Requests for Applications
• Program Announcements

Questions to Consider as You Move Forward:

• Do the sponsors I have found have stated priorities (in terms of their missions and the populations they would like to serve) that align with my project?
• Does the amount of funding they can offer align with my project?

Resources

Grant Writing for Dummies, Chapter 5.

Grant Writing for Dummies, Chapter 6.

libguides.gcu.edu/grants

References

Browning, B. (2014). Grant writing for dummies (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 

Mikelonis, V. M., Betsinger, S. T., & Kampf, C. (2003). Grant seeking in an electronic age. New York: Pearson/Longman.