It's no surprise that marching band participation is costly. Instruments, uniforms, and travel all add up, often totaling more than what’s available from school funding alone. While selling candy or cookie dough can help, these fundraisers don’t typically make up the difference.
So what works best for successful bands and music groups? High-dollar, long-term band sponsorship programs. Let's walk through these steps and strategies for building a successful marching band sponsorship program.
1. Create a marching band sponsorship deck
Start by building a presentation to illustrate your band's success. Use text, pictures, and video to show potential sponsors why they should support your winning cause. This could include:
- Competition showings, awards, and recognitions
- Individual students’ growth, graduating to college bands, and other alumni success
- Ways your band gives back to the community through parades, volunteering, etc.
- Year-over-year growth in band size, activity level, and supporting sports programs
2. Plan your pitch
Know what you’re asking for before you ask. A common approach is to organize marching band sponsorship packages in tiered levels with different perks. You could also seek specific-item sponsorship packages (i.e., $5,000 for 10 band uniforms).
At the same time, be open to other offers. In-kind donations and discounts on goods and services can go a long way toward meeting your goals. Consider:
- Dry cleaning
- Moving assistance with equipment for long-distance trips
- Hotel rooms
- Vehicle rentals
- Instrument repairs or accessories
3. Provide value
What you’re asking for should be of equal or greater value to the sponsor; generally, this will involve a mix of tax-deductible donations, the chance to contribute to local children’s development, or advertising and public relations opportunities.
To that end, consider:
- Advertising of various sizes on band programs, newsletters, websites, and social media
- Sponsor names and logos on band trailers and videos
- Plaque or certificate of appreciation for display
- Signage on equipment trailers
- Tickets and priority seating to games or shows
- Sponsor announcements at games, competitions, and shows
- Logos on band uniforms or supporter t-shirts
- Private performances at sponsored events
In your pitch deck, you can include statistics on average game attendance, school size, district demographics, and web and social reach to help showcase the value of advertising to your specific audience.
4. Curate a sponsor kit
In addition to preparing a sponsorship deck and a thoughtful pitch, you'll want to seek marketing or design help from your booster, parents' group, or a volunteer source such as Catchafire.
Other things to consider as part of your marching band sponsorship kit might include:
- A marching band sponsorship letter
- Sponsor page for your marching band's website
- Online payment or donation options
5. Communicate, network, and engage
While attracting sponsors is the end goal, always start with your roots. Band director Stephen Panoff told Halftime magazine, "If you don’t have a parent or student base willing to put in the work, you’re not going to make your goal."
Don't go it alone; engage band members, parents, boosters, and every friend-of-a-friend when it comes to sponsor development. Having an in at a business, developing materials, pitching, and securing commitment takes time, energy, and (ideally) specific skills and talents.
6. Reach out to prospective sponsors
Lastly, create a list of potential sponsors to contact, identify the right individual to connect with at each business, and keep a record of contact points, dates, and responses.
Target:
- Businesses connected to boosters, parents, and friends
- Restaurants or other businesses where you already host fundraisers or events
- Community and fraternal clubs and organizations
- Local businesses, franchises, and chains
- Corporations with a local presence
- Companies with products and services you need
Don’t shy away from big names either—band directors on Reddit report past success securing sponsorship from McDonald’s, Walmart, and other national and international corporations and local businesses.
An easier way to earn money for your marching band
Building a reliable list of marching band sponsorships is an investment that pays off—not just in actual dollars, but in providing band members with a display of support and faith in their time and talent. Sponsorships can also reduce the time spent on day-to-day fundraising, so you can focus on skill-building.
Another way to reduce time-consuming fundraising efforts is to partner with RaiseRight. Our fundraising platform enables families to raise $1,000 or more annually—without spending an extra dime.
Simply buy gift cards, shop online, dine at local restaurants, or book travel and earn up to 20% back on every purchase!
Hundreds of popular brands partner with RaiseRight to support organizations like marching bands, sports teams, schools, churches, and other community organizations.
RaiseRight is free to join, and programs can use their earnings for whatever they’d like—administrative fees, instruments, uniforms, travel, or even distributing funds directly back to families to reduce their direct costs.
- Find out more about how we help bands and music programs fundraise
- Learn more about how RaiseRight works
- Download and share The RaiseRight Fundraising Playbook
