Indiegogo and Sponsorships

This week actually worried me because I feel like I do not have enough to do for Visions. I am used to having all kinds of work that I have to do, but right now it is slow. I am going to take advantage of this and use it for sponsorships. This week, I met with Simone and we talked about how we should go about sponsorships. We decided to focus our efforts on those that I mentioned last week, the ones that said no because of budget and those that did not answer at all. I have also received leads from other people in the class which may turn out to be useful. I sent out my first contact on Thursday and I am going to send out my follow up on Wednesday giving them 3 business days to see the email. I will also be visiting Groove Jet Salon and Julia's Florist on Wednesday to ask about sponsorships.

In other news, Indiegogo is going great! We hit our $3,000 mark with over 2 weeks left in the campaign so that is super exciting!! Zoe and I met today to talk about marketing our stretch goals. We talked about how we will market the tiers we are trying to hit and types of images and graphics we will use to catch people's attention.

Sponsorship Dirty Dozen

I am using the same Dirty Dozen I made last semester again, because my goal is still the same. I am still seeking business sponsors. 

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
Raise money for the festival, form relationships and partnerships with businesses within the Wilmington community and nationwide, promote Visions with a wide audience.

2. Who is the customer?
We are targeting businesses in the local Wilmington area as well as some national businesses.

It is for the betterment of the festival in general and our guests.

3. What are the deliverables of the project?
Donations (monetary and in-kind), advertisement space, donated products (raffles, awards, food, etc)

4. What is the budget?
Will mainly consist of emails and me literally driving places to talk to people. 

We will be printing sponsorship brochures and letters which will cost money (that budget is still in the works)

5. How long will it take?
I am going to be doing this over the next few months and most likely into the spring. 

6. What specific skills are needed?
Organizational skills, timeliness, creativity, being persuasive, being outgoing, being sincere, being trustworthy, professionalism

7. What special resources are needed?
Contacts of local businesses the class thinks would be willing to donate. 

Printing paper for the letters and brochures 

8. Who is working the project? What is each person's job?
Shannon B. and me! Since development and hospitality have to work so closely anyway, she and I are going to tag-team the sponsorships. She and I will work together to go into the community to find our sponsors

9. What is the schedule?
Shannon B. and I have not talked about this in detail yet, but I have a rough schedule in my head.

9/23 - meet with Shannon B. to talk and plan out our attack strategy

By 9/30 - have a PDF version of an updated sponsorship brochure

9/30 - get contacts from the class of who would be willing to donate

10/1 - send out first wave of sponsorship emails

Shannon and I will create a schedule for follow-up emails, calls, and visits which is to come. 

10. What are the risks? (Small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)

• Large impact, likely: We don't get as much money as we need. 
• Large impact, unlikely: No one donates anything and Visions has to take place in a box.
• Small impact, likely: Our plans get delayed and we fall behind schedule with collecting money.
• Small impact, unlikely: I have no paper for letters :(

11. How will you communicate with your team?
Shannon B. and I will probably just text each other or Facebook message each other. We will call if it is an emergency or if I have a funny joke that can only be heard.

12. How will you determine if the project is successful?
If we are able to charm our potential donors enough that they think we are hella rad and they feel that they should give some of their hard earned money or products, and that makes Visions happen in April, then I will consider it a success!

New Year for Visions!

Welcome back to Visions! This week I mainly worked on making sure my team was in a good place. Since we added a new member to our group who is in charge of awards, I wanted to make sure everyone knew what was happening and what their timelines are. My main goals for this semester are going to be finishing Indiegogo strong and getting at least 2 more business sponsors. So far Indiegogo has done very well. The class came together well to make the campaign take off so now we are on a good track to hitting our $3,000 goal. I mainly spent this week brainstorming how I am going to get the sponsorships under control. One of the things I found in the fall was that some of the businesses either blew me off or they told me that they did not have anymore money in their sponsorship budgets for the year. My angle that I want to use is hitting those businesses that blew me off again to make them either say yes or no definitively. I am also going to go back to the businesses that told me no because they have no more budget and ask them because now it is a new year and that means new budget. I need to be more rigid about my scheduling and timing of my sponsorships. I need to be consistent with follow ups, phone calls, and in-person visits.