Jessica EustaceCook #asl2015 'The insode out library; collaboration, inspiration, transformation' workshop 'Filling the empty cup, fundraising in recessional times' delivered Feb 27 2015

1. Jessica Eustace-Cook. M.A., M.L.I.S.
Trinity College Library Dublin

2. Overview
 Background
 The process
 Developing a plan or strategy
 Creating a funding structure
 Identifying prospective sponsors
 Making contact - tips and tools
 Building a relationship

3. My Background
 Graduated in 2000 from UCD Library School
 5 years working for the Web of Science as part of
MIMAS. 5 years on the UK national exhibition circuit
 5 years as national fundraiser for an animal charity
 2008-2011 Fundraiser for A&SL
 2013-2014 Joint Project Manager & fundraising lead
for A&SL
 No marketing experience
 No professional training in fundraising

4. How did I learn to fundraise?
 I made a list of all the positive experiences I had as an
exhibitor and tried to think how to incorporate them into
a funding plan which would attract sponsors
 I developed ideas as I went along – if something didn’t
work one year, I tweaked it
 I invested time in building a relationship with individuals
rather than companies – huge job movement in
publication and sales support but it’s a small pot of
employers and employees
 Every event I attended as a Librarian I always took the
time to talk to people on the exhibition stands

5. Networking

6. Fundraising is a team activity
 Organising an event requires a number of team players
working together. Fundraising is not possible without a
good working relationship with:
 Project manager
 Treasurer or Financial Lead
 Venue Coordinator
 Promotional officer – social media
 Liaison Officers with sponsors – ideally 1 to 1
 A good relationship with potential sponsors / exhibitors and
potential investors

7. Fundraising is a long process

8. Your Event
Planning
Identifying
Sponsors
Mapping a
funding structure
– single or multi
streams
Identifying
strengths of
proposal or
product
Contacting
prospective
sponsors
Waiting &
Follow up calls
Getting them
to sign
Promotion and
advertising
Coordinating
event space
On the day liaison
Follow up and
next event
planning

9. Identifying your strengths
 What makes it unique
 Access to a unique set of members
 Are there other comparable events in your country / area
 Is this a one off event or will there be a series? – what are the
implications of this for your sponsors
 Consider the potential promotional avenue your event offers
for sponsors
 Unique access to attendees emails
 Twitter and Facebook promotional posts
 Conference Social Event – special funding opportunity
 Consider providing meeting rooms for sponsors to combine
additional business with your event
 Consider how to break down the impact of each of these factors
and map that to the cost of each funding strand.

10. Creating a Funding Structure
 How much money do you need to raise?
 Are you just trying to cover the cost of the event?
 Will monies generated be used to fund additional events
(this is the model applied by the A&SL)
 Do you want a single sponsor rate
 Do you want to have different funding streams so that
different sized companies can apply depending on their
budget?
 Don’t get greedy! Ensure a fair ratio between exhibitors
and attendees

11.  Is there a similar event in your own country that you can
review their pricings
 Is there an event or company in the UK?
 A&SL’s pricing structure was based on the UKSG conference
 What are the pricing streams for CILIP events?
 What do A&SL, LAI and HSLG do?
 Read literature around pricing models
 REALITY: its based on an educated guess.
Our pricing evolved as our event expanded
Guidance?

12. Tips
 Create an overview document with all of the funding
streams
 Create separate documents also for each funding streams
 Label each stream clearly to avoid confusion
 Make sure to use your logo on every item you send to a
prospective sponsor / exhibitor as you are selling your
brand

13. How do you vary funding streams
for a seminar / conference?
 Consider varying:
 Number of exhibitor places
 Table size and number
 Room placement relative to foot fall
 Lightning Sessions
 Promotional lead up to event – pre / event /post
 Emails
 Spotlights
 Event promotion
 Inclusion of promotional information in brochure – vary number of
words
 Inclusion of additional marketing material in delegate packs
 Inclusion of accommodation costs
 Advanced access to delegate list

15. How do you vary different funding
streams for different events?
 Exhibition stands (most common)
 Funded Lunch
 Funded Drinks Reception
 Spot Prizes
 Sponsored Prize for best poster / First time speaker etc.
 Be creative – any way in which you can allow a sponsor to
be highlighted has the potential to be a fundraising
opportunity
 BUT: it must be mutually beneficial

16. Identifying the prospective
sponsors
 These can come from a variety of sources.
 I started with trying to identify who would be interested
in our event

17. Potential sponsors for a Library event
 Your membership or prospective attendees
 Colleagues / peers / students / departments / research groups
 Physical product suppliers
 Shelving
 Photocopying / Scanning / Paper suppliers
 Digital tools
 Conservation materials
 Computers DELL, IBM, Microsoft?
 Publishers – Elsevier, Springer, Proquest, EBSCO, IEEE
 Software suppliers – Endnote?
 Authentication providers – athens / shibboleth
 E-Resource providers
 Who else has a vested interest in your business?
All of the above are prospective investors in your event

18. What to send to encourage
sponsorship
 Consider creating a sponsors / exhibitors manual and
include:
 The title of the event
 Details of your keynote speakers or main speakers
 Details of the venue
 A floor plan of the venue is helpful
 A detailed break down of each funding stream and what
each stream entails – make this as tempting as possible and
clearly labelled.
 Clear contact details for project lead, treasurer and
fundraiser

20. Include:
• Entrance / Exit
• Refreshments
• Doors
• Table layout
• A foot flow of movement
through the exhibit space can
also be helpful

21. Promotion & Advertising
 Normally the promotion and advertising of a sponsor will
occur as part of a timed plan.
 For example for the A&SL advertising of platinum sponsors
occurs up to 3 months before the event and reflects their
investment
 Consider merchandising as a promotional function
 Consider visual displays or pop up displays on the day
 Verbal acknowledgements during the event
 Use the event brochure to help promote your sponsors
 Encourage on the day competitions to help highlight sponsor
activities
 These elements can all be used to help advertise and promote
your sponsors without disrupting the flow of the event

22. What discourages investment
 Spelling and grammar
 Misspelling a company name
 Misspelling the person you are contacting
 Asking for too much or too little money
 Relevance
 The funder must see why your event is relevant to them
 Lack of structure for an event
 This can make it difficult for a sponsor to see how they fit
into the event

23. Contacting prospective
stakeholders
 You have identified those who potentially might invest
 Before contacting create a spreadsheet with contact name /
email / date of contact – this will allow you to track their
progression
 I recommend a max of three attempts to get sponsorship from
an individual contact or company
 Consider different wings of large companies e.g. Springer
 Have a deadline for cut off - this will encourage timely responses
 Consider the timeline for calls for sponsors - most companies
start planning their funding for events for the following year
around Sept
 Keep track of each contact you make with a company whether
you are successful or not.

25. The relationship
 Building a relationship with sponsors and exhibitors is one
of the most important parts of the fundraising role
 In most cases you will be the point of contact between
the project manager, treasurer, secretary and venue
coordinator and the exhibitor / sponsor
 Be aware that their experience at your event will
influence whether they will encourage their company to
reinvest in the future
 Consider what they need to achieve from the event and
try to encompass their needs into your planned event

26. Exhibitors & Sponsors
 Be aware of their IT needs
 Consider exhibitors comfort
 Consider providing break out time for companies to talk
and meet with your delegates

27. What happens next?
 Your sponsors are starting to make contact you need:
 Correct company name
 Correct size and type of logo
 Twitter hashtag
 Brief company description – this will go into promotion
 Named exhibitors with emails
 Finances
 As point of contact you will need to get
 Correct contact name, email address and address for issuing of a bill for
attendance
 Be prepared delay over this. Consider delays if payment is in
foreign currency and discuss with Treasurer before hand

28. Tip:
 Do not under estimate the amount of emails you will get
in relation to this stage.
 Set aside 1 hour a day to deal with correspondence
 Set up standard replies if at all possible to deal with the
most frequent queries.
 Consider creating a separate email address to deal with
correspondence

29. The Venue - considerations
 A month before the event send contact details and guidelines
to the exhibitors for set up and break down of the exhibit area
 Ensure that CLEAR dates of delivery for material intended for
the delegate packs are provided, separately to the exhibit
material
 Clarify what will be provided
 Booth?
 Chairs – (number)
 Table – with or without table cloth?
 Ensure there are enough power points near the exhibitor
tables – this can be a huge source of contention on the day.
 Provide a rough count of delegate numbers to allow sponsors
to estimate documents and freebies

30. Example of exhibition
venue details from A&SL
2014

31. Event Day Liaison
 Ideally you will be able to assign a sponsor to
an event day liaison
 Common event day challenges:
 The cable they brought is not long enough – consider a
back up
 Illness resulting in a last minute change of person –new
name badge required
 Late delivery of exhibition items
 On the day arrival of material meant for the delegate packs
- solution set up a drop off and and pick table

32. Post Event Follow-up
 Email
 thank sponsors for their time and
investment
If you received feedback from attendees – pass it on
 Sponsor Survey - recommended for future events (survey
monkey)
 how to improve
 what to change
 Give a time line (if appropriate) for next call for funding

33. Back to planning the next event
 Try to hold a review /
planning meeting no later
than 1 month after the
follow ups. This will allow you
to sketch ideas while they
are fresh in your mind.
 A draft plan is much
easier to return to after a
couple of months than
trying to remember from
Scratch.

34. Top tips for any fundraiser
 Timeline – must be established early so the project can be
broken down into achievable sections
 Speakers – must be identified early so that they can be used
early to encourage sponsors to invest
 Venue – catering, accommodation, parking, distance to transport
/ airports –must be considered when exhibitors are travelling to
attend
 Technology – laptops, power points, internet, mics, charging
stations
 Delivery / Collection – marketing items for the conference and
the sponsors
Network! Network! Network!

35. Scenario A: 1 Day National Seminar
 Suggest a potential theme
 Suggest a venue – what considerations will effect this
 Decide how many project team members would be necessary
to support the event
 Identify a minimum of 3 funding streams
 Identify a minimum of 6 potential sponsors
 Write a list of 5 reasons why a sponsor would want to fund this
event – what are the benefits for them
 Identify 3 ways to promote your sponsor during the project
 Identify 3 potential support tools which may help support
communication amongst your project team

36. Scenario B: 3 Month Exhibition
 Select an appropriate collection for your event
 Decide how many project team members would be necessary
to support the event
 Identify a minimum of 3 funding streams
 Identify a minimum of 6 potential sponsors
 Write a list of 5 reasons why a sponsor would want to fund this
event
 Identify 3 ways to promote your sponsor during the project
 Identify 3 potential support tools which may help support
communication amongst your project team

37. Scenario C: Book Launch
 Decide what format the launch will take e.g. reception /
reading
 Suggest a venue – what considerations will effect this
 Decide how many project team members would be necessary
to support the event
 Identify a minimum of 3 funding streams
 Identify a minimum of 6 potential sponsors
 Write a list of 5 reasons why a sponsor would want to fund this
event – what are the benefits for them
 Identify 3 ways to promote your sponsor during the project
 Identify 3 potential support tools which may help support
communication amongst your project team

38. Contact Details
 Jessica Eustace-Cook
 Nursing & Midwifery Subject Librarian
 & SFI Research Support Librarian
 Email: eustacj@tcd.ie
 Tel: 01-896-4916