A sponsor is an individual or company who makes a payment to your club in exchange for agreed goods or services. They are the perfect supporter and can give your club the upper hand.

Many businesses sponsoring football clubs will have a link to the club, such as the owner’s son or daughter playing for the team. Your members are a good first port of call for making contact with potential sponsors.

Deals with sponsors are usually only one or two years long. It can take a while to get a sponsor signed up and good sponsors are hard to find, so it’s worthwhile working hard on keeping them. It’s much easier to keep a sponsor than find a new one!

Your sponsor will want people to know about the goodwill of their investment so you need to promote them. This means delivering on your promise to put the sponsor logo across any materials you print and across your facility.

Remember that sponsorship monies are subject to VAT, therefore you should ask the sponsor for a fee plus VAT or include the cost of VAT within the total fee you ask for so that they cover the costs. You will need to pay the relevant VAT monies when your club does its returns.

You need to think about who you approach in the target list. The companies should be reputable and a suitable match for your club. For example, it is not appropriate for a pub to sponsor a youth team, and a small-scale business will not be able to afford to support a large community club.

Make sure you get the correct contact to approach. Companies are less likely to respond to unsolicited correspondence that is targeted to ‘Dear sir/madam’ or ‘to whom it may concern.’