When you’re running a fundraising or awareness event for your nonprofit organisation, corporate partnerships and sponsorships are often critical to the success of a nonprofit event because they allow you to spend money where it’s needed most.

Fortunately, today’s technology has made it easier than ever for event creators to gather data about their audience and events, which can be used to attract sponsors. In the past, organisers and marketers who wanted to accurately measure their event data needed to spend money to do so, but free web analytic tools and access to inexpensive databases have opened the world of data-driven sponsorships up to everyone. Read on to understand what data your sponsors are looking for, how you can use free tools to access your event data, and how to attract corporate sponsors by using it creatively.

Information that sponsors are looking for

When you’re pitching your event to sponsors, be sure to include these important pieces of data.

Attendee demographics

Sponsors want to know how many people your event draws and if they align with their target market. Some sponsors will expect you to get more granular with your insight, so be ready to include your audience’s age, gender, and location. They may also be interested in their education level and income, which helps determine their purchasing power.

Non-attendee demographics

Your guests aren’t the only people attending your event. You are likely to have vendors or event partners, and you might have media covering your event, too. It’s worth noting who they are and which audiences they reach. This data helps sponsors evaluate the broader exposure their brand will receive.

Ticket sales or registrations

What are your attendance records? Has your event grown each year? If you prove that you’re attracting more and more attendees over time, it’s a powerful indicator that you’re worth partnering with in the future.

Revenue generated by previous sponsors

If you’ve held an event with sponsors in the past, impress potential sponsors with past sponsor ROI data. Planning your first event and don’t have past sponsors? Try interviewing sponsors of events similar to yours to find out what they earned. If this data isn’t possible to obtain, look at putting together media exposure received to help determine the opportunities for brands to be aligned with your organisation.

Online engagement

Are people talking about your event online? Are the reactions likes, comments, shares, or saves? Track when, where, and how often your event is mentioned on a website, blog, social network, or news site. The more you can show potential sponsors that your event is in demand, the more attractive a partnership will become.

Your email contact lists are valuable for reaching out directly, and understanding the email-open and click-through rates will help you to demonstrate that your email marketing strategies are successful. To find out more about digging into your event data and how to identify the right sponsors for your next event, download our free Britepaper, The New Rules of Event Sponsorship.

Four free tools to access event data

So, how do you access this data without eating into your event budget? Here are four free tools you can use to access this event data:

1. Google Analytics

This powerful web analytics tool provides you with a comprehensive look at your event website’s traffic. It’s simple to set up and easy to use – oh, and it’s free! Here are the three reports you’ll probably want to look at:

  • Audience reporting provides detailed information about the people visiting your website, including demographics, interests, and geographic location.
  • Acquisition and conversion reports tell you where visitors are coming from. This allows you to see which channels – social media, paid ads, organic search, etc. – are driving the most traffic, and which are most effective at converting visitors into attendees.
  • Behaviour reports show how people use your website. Using metrics like page views, time on page, and bounce rate, you can see what content is most popular.

2. Google Alerts

Want to know when people are talking about your event online? Sign up for Google Alerts and you’ll get an email notification whenever someone mentions your event, be it a sponsor, a speaker on any website, a blog, or a news site.

3. Facebook Audience Insights

This free tool lets you tap into Facebook’s 1.65 billion monthly users to gain insight into your attendees. Their demographic information and purchase behaviour tools go beyond the basics to tell you their relationship status, job title, and what products or services they’re likely to buy.

4. Eventbrite Reporting and Analytics

For organisers using Eventbrite, you can track ticket sales and page views for your events on your dashboard. You can use this data to determine which of your marketing campaigns are most effective, where your attendees are located (to see if you should expand to a new city or partner with a hotel, for example), or just keep tabs on revenue. It is super easy to edit and export an attendee summary report using our platform.

It costs nothing to use these sponsorship measurement tools, and the information they provide on your events and audience demographics could help to secure much-needed funding for your cause. And you can use tracking pixels and UTM tags to reveal even more granular data about your attendees.

Other types of data to collect

Don’t forget about the value of more traditional data that will support your facts and figures. At every event you have, gather a variety of information types that you can pull together to create winning sponsorship proposals.

  • Photos and videos – perhaps partner with a photographer or videographer for some cross-promotion and to get professional-quality visuals
  • Testimonials, reviews, and surveys from past attendees, volunteers, and sponsors – prepare a standard email with a few prompting questions or use survey software
  • Infographics – too many numbers in tables can be a bit dry. Think about creative ways to display your data graphically to take the hard work out of digesting it
  • Do some homework on your sponsors – gather their data to tailor-make targeted sponsorship proposals
  • Finding corporate sponsors can be easy when you demonstrate that your goals align with those of your potential sponsors – be clear about the principles and values that you share.
  • Get nominated for awards – you won’t win awards without getting nominated. Stand out from the crowd by being creative or going above and beyond your industry standards. Being able to use an award logo with your sponsorship proposal will give you loads of credibility

If you’d like to learn more about how to get the most out of your nonprofit events, download our simple guide to better events for nonprofits.

Find the right sponsor for your nonprofit event

If you were worried about how to get corporate sponsors for your event, it might not be as difficult as you thought it was. By using Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Facebook Audience Insights, and Eventbrite’s Reporting and Analytics, you can be creative with your event data. You can write winning sponsorship proposals and offer data-driven sponsorship packages. We have everything you’ll need, including sponsorship letter templates to help you hook event sponsors.

Now that you know how to get corporate sponsorship for nonprofit events and how to make your sponsors happy, you can use all these tools to create a hugely positive vibe around uniting for the common good.

Drive your impact further with Eventbrite – we have all the hints and tips to help you grow sustainable and purpose-driven sponsor relationships.