As we start a new coworking space, we are looking for sponsors. Tomorrow we have a meeting with a company interested in being a sponsor and securing naming rights to one of our meeting rooms. Does anyone have a sponsorship agreement they are willing to share?
Thanks,
Kiri
Hey Kiri, whilst I don’t have a sponsorship agreement to share, I do want to share some insights into mistakes that other spaces had done with regards sponsorship deals.
**- don’t tie yourself into any exclusivities **
being unable to make fair and honest recommendations to your members will break down trust between members and comm managers.
for eg. even if all your members are freelancers or startups, the same accountant might not be right for their different work styles/culture/aptitude
**- if it’s naming rights they’re after, treat as a licensing deal and set boundaries **
this means they pay you for the right to brand a specific room/area/section for the duration specified
also make sure you protect the look/feel of your space, you don’t want anyone plastering your walls with swimsuit models (unless that matches your spaces’ culture ofc)
this also means you can renew/revoke licencing and can increase prices as your membership grows
- tie in some educational/support component
if they’re experts in X, Y or Z; try get them to commit to sharing insights/tips/lunch and learns with your members in their newly branded meeting room
this should obviously be structured as more supportive than salesy, but bolsters your membership value if done right
- consider include a day pass or two per month into the agreement
having them see/feel and be a part of the community is a good way to a) avoid sponsorship remorse and b) build long-term business relationships
it might also mean that they could put some of their teams with you in case of office emergencies (plumbing or mould issues for example) or eventually land up giving their flexible teams access to your space down the line. They may even gift these to freelancers/consultants they work with, who may become long-term members.
Let me know if that helps in any way 
On Wednesday, 30 May 2018 18:36:31 UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
As we start a new coworking space, we are looking for sponsors. Tomorrow we have a meeting with a company interested in being a sponsor and securing naming rights to one of our meeting rooms. Does anyone have a sponsorship agreement they are willing to share?
Thanks,
Kiri
Big +1 to all of the tips Hector mentioned.
One of my most popular podcast episodes is specifically about that last part, looking for ways to make sure the sponsor is encouraged to be active in the community in some way. It’s far too common to view sponsorship as a “quick hit” instead of a long-term relationship.
Here is the agreement that I created for our biggest sponsor to date, big enough where I wasn’t comfortable with an email record being the only record of the transaction. I had looked at lots of other examples and they were so full of legalese I knew that we’d just end up in approval hell, so I drafted something that covered the most important aspects, set important boundaries and expectations and still made it human-readable to we wouldn’t trigger the “legal has to review this” delay.
I did pull out the specifics of the offer/packages but the structure of the doc should be super helpful!
On Wed, Jun 6, 2018 at 11:08 AM Hector Kolonas [email protected] wrote:
Hey Kiri, whilst I don’t have a sponsorship agreement to share, I do want to share some insights into mistakes that other spaces had done with regards sponsorship deals.
**- don’t tie yourself into any exclusivities **
being unable to make fair and honest recommendations to your members will break down trust between members and comm managers.
for eg. even if all your members are freelancers or startups, the same accountant might not be right for their different work styles/culture/aptitude
**- if it’s naming rights they’re after, treat as a licensing deal and set boundaries **
this means they pay you for the right to brand a specific room/area/section for the duration specified
also make sure you protect the look/feel of your space, you don’t want anyone plastering your walls with swimsuit models (unless that matches your spaces’ culture ofc)
this also means you can renew/revoke licencing and can increase prices as your membership grows
- tie in some educational/support component
if they’re experts in X, Y or Z; try get them to commit to sharing insights/tips/lunch and learns with your members in their newly branded meeting room
this should obviously be structured as more supportive than salesy, but bolsters your membership value if done right
- consider include a day pass or two per month into the agreement
having them see/feel and be a part of the community is a good way to a) avoid sponsorship remorse and b) build long-term business relationships
it might also mean that they could put some of their teams with you in case of office emergencies (plumbing or mould issues for example) or eventually land up giving their flexible teams access to your space down the line. They may even gift these to freelancers/consultants they work with, who may become long-term members.
Let me know if that helps in any way
On Wednesday, 30 May 2018 18:36:31 UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
As we start a new coworking space, we are looking for sponsors. Tomorrow we have a meeting with a company interested in being a sponsor and securing naming rights to one of our meeting rooms. Does anyone have a sponsorship agreement they are willing to share?
Thanks,
Kiri
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Thank you for those insights. The company we are talking to is one we already have a relationship with and we think will be a good fit. It’s a local music school and they are probably going to sponsor our content creation room (set-up for video and photography) and podcast room. The school does a lot to promote their students and give them real-world opportunities to perform. We are discussing opportunities for students to write and record intro music for podcasts and vlogs as well as some other joint opportunities.
We are definitely trying to be strategic and careful with sponsorships. Your insights will help keep us on track.
Thanks,
Kiri
On Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 11:08:17 AM UTC-4, Hector Kolonas wrote:
Hey Kiri, whilst I don’t have a sponsorship agreement to share, I do want to share some insights into mistakes that other spaces had done with regards sponsorship deals.
**- don’t tie yourself into any exclusivities **
being unable to make fair and honest recommendations to your members will break down trust between members and comm managers.
for eg. even if all your members are freelancers or startups, the same accountant might not be right for their different work styles/culture/aptitude
**- if it’s naming rights they’re after, treat as a licensing deal and set boundaries **
this means they pay you for the right to brand a specific room/area/section for the duration specified
also make sure you protect the look/feel of your space, you don’t want anyone plastering your walls with swimsuit models (unless that matches your spaces’ culture ofc)
this also means you can renew/revoke licencing and can increase prices as your membership grows
- tie in some educational/support component
if they’re experts in X, Y or Z; try get them to commit to sharing insights/tips/lunch and learns with your members in their newly branded meeting room
this should obviously be structured as more supportive than salesy, but bolsters your membership value if done right
- consider include a day pass or two per month into the agreement
having them see/feel and be a part of the community is a good way to a) avoid sponsorship remorse and b) build long-term business relationships
it might also mean that they could put some of their teams with you in case of office emergencies (plumbing or mould issues for example) or eventually land up giving their flexible teams access to your space down the line. They may even gift these to freelancers/consultants they work with, who may become long-term members.
Let me know if that helps in any way
On Wednesday, 30 May 2018 18:36:31 UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
As we start a new coworking space, we are looking for sponsors. Tomorrow we have a meeting with a company interested in being a sponsor and securing naming rights to one of our meeting rooms. Does anyone have a sponsorship agreement they are willing to share?
Thanks,
Kiri
Thank you for sharing. Like you, most examples I found are full of legalese or practically nothing. We are trying to be very strategic with sponsorships. We want them to be beneficial to all parties involved.
On Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 11:37:03 AM UTC-4, Alex Hillman wrote:
Big +1 to all of the tips Hector mentioned.
One of my most popular podcast episodes is specifically about that last part, looking for ways to make sure the sponsor is encouraged to be active in the community in some way. It’s far too common to view sponsorship as a “quick hit” instead of a long-term relationship.
Here is the agreement that I created for our biggest sponsor to date, big enough where I wasn’t comfortable with an email record being the only record of the transaction. I had looked at lots of other examples and they were so full of legalese I knew that we’d just end up in approval hell, so I drafted something that covered the most important aspects, set important boundaries and expectations and still made it human-readable to we wouldn’t trigger the “legal has to review this” delay.
I did pull out the specifics of the offer/packages but the structure of the doc should be super helpful!
On Wed, Jun 6, 2018 at 11:08 AM Hector Kolonas [email protected] wrote:
Hey Kiri, whilst I don’t have a sponsorship agreement to share, I do want to share some insights into mistakes that other spaces had done with regards sponsorship deals.
**- don’t tie yourself into any exclusivities **
being unable to make fair and honest recommendations to your members will break down trust between members and comm managers.
for eg. even if all your members are freelancers or startups, the same accountant might not be right for their different work styles/culture/aptitude
**- if it’s naming rights they’re after, treat as a licensing deal and set boundaries **
this means they pay you for the right to brand a specific room/area/section for the duration specified
also make sure you protect the look/feel of your space, you don’t want anyone plastering your walls with swimsuit models (unless that matches your spaces’ culture ofc)
this also means you can renew/revoke licencing and can increase prices as your membership grows
- tie in some educational/support component
if they’re experts in X, Y or Z; try get them to commit to sharing insights/tips/lunch and learns with your members in their newly branded meeting room
this should obviously be structured as more supportive than salesy, but bolsters your membership value if done right
- consider include a day pass or two per month into the agreement
having them see/feel and be a part of the community is a good way to a) avoid sponsorship remorse and b) build long-term business relationships
it might also mean that they could put some of their teams with you in case of office emergencies (plumbing or mould issues for example) or eventually land up giving their flexible teams access to your space down the line. They may even gift these to freelancers/consultants they work with, who may become long-term members.
Let me know if that helps in any way
On Wednesday, 30 May 2018 18:36:31 UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:
As we start a new coworking space, we are looking for sponsors. Tomorrow we have a meeting with a company interested in being a sponsor and securing naming rights to one of our meeting rooms. Does anyone have a sponsorship agreement they are willing to share?
Thanks,
Kiri
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