Funding from business takes time and patience to achieve, but once trust and enthusiasm is won with the partner business your organisation is likely to be able to run projects you feel are appropriate for your clients without the targets, numbers and paperwork associated with Government funded initiatives. If you are comfortable with the business match, and what the business require in exchange is acceptable to you and your organisation (we are not talking here of initiatives which force inappropriate products or advertising on children in inappropriate locations – for example soft drink vending machines in schools in exchange for extra curricular project funding), the support of a business can be invaluable. I have previously project managed the FreqOUT! initiative at Vital Regeneration and with time, and some valuable champions inside various businesses we developed working relationships which exchanged direct funding as well as equipment (cameras, handheld pc’s, GPS units), access to personal with specialist technical knowledge, publicity departments and support for our steering group.

Achieving sponsorship from business can appear to be an insurmountable task. It takes a stable organisation and a committed team to put time aside time to research and contact appropriate businesses; develop supportive material to explain your track record, your goals and your strategies in clear language and present and update them as your experience grows. Our experience at FreqOUT! is that if you can find businesses in a quasi partnering situation (similar location, interest, target group or other) and you present well with an idea that provides an ‘everybody wins solution’ you may be lucky enough to find yourself a ‘champion’. It takes just one person within a business who understands what you are trying to do and supports you to turn the indomitable tasks into an achievable and exciting challenge. They can open doors for you, help you fine tune your presentations and paper work, advise on strategy and generally get excited about what you are all trying to achieve.

Never devalue what you have to bring to businesses. For your supporters with the business  you will represent contact with their local area or target group, a refreshing opportunity to leave the office and have a different kind of conversation, an opportunity to be creative, to give something back to society, to demonstrate their personal qualities in the work place or just light relief from the daily grind. Listen more than you talk on the first visit and find out what makes then tick. Help them help you to find out how you can give them something back – it maybe local respect, to fit with an existing charity programme, market research or just satisfaction in helping. Work out how you can achieve your goals without unacceptable compromise, but also provide value for the business. Building in a budget for good photographs to be taken which can then be published in a local paper could be invaluable for the business. Often you can write the article and it will be published intact. If you do this, ask to see the copy before it is published. Not doing so may risk your reputation and the hard won trust of your partner business.

Big businesses are very hard to crack –it can take years of relationship building - but they have big cash give away. Small businesses are a more manageable target (months) for small arts organisations, but have less money to share. My advice is to start approaching small to medium local businesses and gain know how and confidence. If you are looking for advice on beginning the process contact ’Arts & Business’ (http://interim.aandb.org.uk/ ) who run seminars, publish literature and can help you get ready to approach a business and then broker deals with you once you have found one who would like to support you.

As a postscript, after building careers in the UK with arts, education and technology organisations my husband and I are now running creative educational projects based on radio technology in Italy. There are few precedents here of arts & business working together to achieve socially beneficial educational projects and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much time people will give you to discuss you  ideas. We have brought together a bank, a local council, a junior school and two radio stations and are running a project which will bring the creativity of local children to an audience of millions. The young people have learnt new skills and soon they will be heard across two radio stations several times a day for the next six months. The School, Local Council and bank will benefit from exposure that is entirely innovative and reaches a wide audience. The secret is that everybody wins.

Links:

Arts and Business:            http://interim.aandb.org.uk/

Vital Regeneration:            www.vitalregeneration.co.uk

FreqOUT! Blog:            http://www.freqout.blogspot.com/

Josh McQueenie – Community,Culture and Commerce:

http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/dbdoc/McQueenie,%20Jock%20-%202005.pdf

Creative Leadership Forum (Australia):            http://www.thecreativeleadershipforum.com/

Culture Awards 2008:            http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/culture-awards-2008/ › Continue reading

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