Conference Sponsorship Resources

The sponsorship co-chair is responsible for partnering with the Corporate Partnerships office on conference sponsorship strategy. Additionally, this person is responsible for coordinating with sponsors and other conference co-chairs to ensure that all of the promised sponsorship benefits are met throughout the conference day.  As sponsorship affects all areas of the conference, this co-chair will work closely with all conference co-chairs.

Your conference will be assigned one of the Assistant Directors of Corporate Partnerships (CP) who will work to raise sponsorship for your conference.  Some conference fundraising efforts will be more of a CP/student partnership than others.  This money is secured from corporate sponsors that have had long-standing Partnerships with individual conferences and the school.  Additionally, if your CP contact and your conference team members cannot reach your funding goals, you will be asked to make modest budget cuts.

Quick Tips for Conference Fundraising

• When developing a list of additional sponsors, utilize business contacts, recruiters, Kellogg alumni and past organizers of your activity.
• Corporate Partnerships has developed uniform pricing and benefits for conferences.  This pricing should be used when reaching out to companies for funding.  There is also an opportunity to be a Conference Series Sponsor and receive benefits across all conferences.
• The platinum level presents the opportunity to receive most prominent recognition at a conference.  Because of that exclusivity, we have limited the number of participants at the top sponsorship levels to maximize the recognition and promotion that each company will receive.  We do not suggest having more than 1-2 platinum sponsors and 4-5 gold sponsors.  As the silver level of sponsorship is the lowest level, there is no limit to the number of participants.
• Conference fundraising should begin 6 months before the conference.  It is never too early to fundraise. 
• We suggest giving a company 2-3 weeks to respond to your request.
• Follow up on your email 3-5 business days after it is sent to confirm receipt and to answer any questions they may have about the program.
• Please let your CP contact know immediately after a company agrees to sponsor, so an invoice can be sent (.doc).
• Companies should not be solicited less than 6 weeks before the conference.  This is to ensure that marketing materials can be produced in time.
• In-kind gifts are defined as donations or awards of company property, goods or services which are not cash.  This includes tangible items such as books or software and intangible items such as airfare or lodging costs.  In-kind gifts will only be accepted and recognized as sponsorship if the gift helps with the bottom line of the conference budget.  (i.e. complimentary printing of a marketing piece)
• The placement of promotional materials in the conference bag is a benefit of sponsorship.  Speakers are not permitted to distribute promotional material unless their company is a sponsor.

When following through with sponsorship benefits

• Corporate Partnerships will provide you with the sponsoring companies’ logos that were secured through their office.
• Please provide the company contacts (contact info will be given to you by the CP office) with a timeline of when documents will be needed to fulfill sponsorship benefits.
• One of the most valuable benefits offered to a conference sponsor is the opportunity to fill a slot on a panel. Please work closely with the Speaker Chair to ensure that this benefit is fulfilled.
• Logo display.  When placing company logos (emails, day of packet, banners), please list logos in alphabetical order within each sponsorship level.  Additionally, the logos should be sized by level; platinum logos should be larger than gold, and gold larger than silver, etc. Here is a sample banner. (.pdf)
• Please work with the company contact to see if they or anyone from their company will be registering for the conference. This is very important if your conference typically sells out. 
• Day of the Conference – Please arrive early to ensure that all “day of” benefits are fulfilled.  i.e. banners hung, conference table set up (if applicable)
• Sponsorship Benefits – Per IRS 501 (c) 3 guidelines, sponsors cannot receive anything of value for their donation.  This includes free admission to the conference.
• The CP office will send conference sponsors a thank you letter once their sponsorship check is received.  We also recommend that within one week following the conference, you send a note, thanking them for their donation.