Sponsorship

When looking for sponsorships, it is important to consider what particular sectors may be interested in sponsorship. Local companies are a good first step as sponsor events are easier for them to attend, which may make it more attractive for them to sponsor us. It is also important to consider companies that are not primarily involved in Software Engineering etc. but have software departments, such as engineering and automotive companies. Some sponsors will try to take us for a ride and make us do stuff for free, so watch out for that. Most companies allocate their budget for outreach very early in the academic year so it is important to get the leg work in early on, often during summer, as afterwards outreach and engagement departments will likely be running on fumes.

When a sponsor has agreed to sponsor us we need to create a contract. You can see past examples of these in the Google Drive. It's essential you DO NOT sign these contracts yourselves. Send them to the company first to review and confirm they're happy, if they are, they sign. Once that's done you can then send it to the Guild, they check it and sign it. Alternatively you could do this in the opposite direction, i.e. send to the guild first to review and sign, then send to the company second. There's no policy difference here as long as it's the guild signing it in the end.

Contracts also have to go through the same approval levels / process as a Budget, so the same warnings and caveats apply here too regarding potential delays etc…

At some point in the year, probably around Christmas, sponsorship focus needs to change to Hackathon sponsors. These bring in less money, but this cheaper option with less commitment can be attractive to companies that would not sponsor for a whole year. Look at which companies are sponsoring other hackathons and also consider reaching out to companies that may be willing to give us freebies that we can use as prizes. These prizes are effectively the same as a sponsorship for us in that they help lower the amount of our money we need to spend.