Sponsor Search

Today I was focused on finding date auction sponsors. There isn't much news to report yet, but it does take time to get commitments. I did hear back from one potential sponsor very promptly this afternoon- they were asking for more information. Our date auction is an absolutely perfect event for them. Of course, our event is a good fit for all the potential sponsors that I approach, but this would be perfect. It is a national company that will be expanding into the Boston market shortly. I was searching online for companies that are launching new products or expanding in Boston and found a news article about their expansion. Our event is so good that if I was a marketing director for a company whose target audience is young professionals in the Boston area, I would absolutely jump at this opportunity. Not only is it a fun, hip event that is attended by over 350 young professionals it also supports an important cause with an unique service. There are a number of charities that help children, but there are no charities that do what we do. The event has a track record of success- is marketed in pretty much every publication and website of significance in Boston and the sponsorship rates are incredibly reasonable. I say this is a pretty golden sponsorship opportunity.

Finding sponsors for our events is nerve wracking but it is also exciting at the same time. It becomes addictive as well because you are constantly searching for the next business or organization that could be a potential sponsor- there is a certain thrill that comes with the hunt. I have a dollar figure that we need to reach to cover our event expenses, but even when that figure is reached, I will still keep going. Part of what makes it exciting is that our event is so great and is such a good fit for the marketing needs of lots of different companies. There is a lot of pressure as well because the sponsorship dollars are extremely important.

I was thinking this morning about all the different jobs that I do with Project Smile- marketing, public relations, grantwriter, program director, event planner. Each of those are full time jobs in themselves. It can't go on like this forever- in order to grow the way we need to, we need staff, but in order to hire staff we need more money. It is a tough position to be in, but I can't do anything about that right now. I do want to find some more volunteers who are able to help. I want to reach out to people who have been laid off and would like to spend some time volunteering and learning new skills. There have been quite a few news articles recently about people who lost their jobs and have started volunteering and also people who are choosing to change career paths and work for non profits.

What else is new? Probably other things, but I can't remember right now. There were a lot of things that I didn't get done today- I got a bit of a late start, but I did make time to exercise which really made all the difference this morning. I wasn't going to exercise at first, but I had made a commitment to myself last night that I would stay on track with exercising this week and I needed to fufill that this morning. After about 10 minutes, I could feel the change in myself and was so glad that I was cardio blasting.

Well, I am off to bed. I have about a million things to work on tomorrow and need to get to bed early. It is 12:18, if I can get to bed by 12:30- that is an early night. Until tomorrow friends..