Welcome to the trenches of sponsorship. You’ll likely send a ridiculous number of emails over the next two months. No worries! We got your back.
Note: This resource heavily draws upon Karthik’s resource here. We highly recommend you check it out!
More ✨Awesome✨resources:
If you’re too lazy…
The one secret to emailing ANYONE you’ll need: be concise.
No one likes to read. Including teachers. Kill filler words, get rid of unnecessarily long words.
This is NOT an English Essay. Shorter → Better.
DON’T BE TOO LINKEDIN-PILLED!! Be put together and presentable, but not too professional. If they support teens, they’ll want to see your energy & enthusiasm.
This is a template budget you can make a copy of and use for your Daydream event (everyone thank Fonz). Keep track of every single item you plan to buy for your event, and make sure you update it after you make purchases (especially if taxes raise the cost).
Search up snack prices on Walmart and Costco, make sure the price per person doesn’t get too high.
Keep track of how much you’re spending per unit and per person. If a 36-pack of chips costs $50, each bag of chips costs ~$1.4. This unit price helps keep things in perspective—and helps you decide what to keep and what to nix.
Start small. One of the BIGGEST mistakes first-time hackathon organizers make is to cold email the biggest companies they can think of (intel, microsoft, etc). This won’t work 99% of the time unless you have a good contact.
Chances are, there are a ton of local companies you’ve never heard of that would be more than happy to sponsor and have a surprising amount of money to spare. It also doesn’t just have to be tech companies! Reach out to restaurants, small businesses, bakeries, and community-oriented businesses.
Where to start?
Companies that
| YOU HAVE CONNECTIONS TO ✨ | Start here! (Parents’ work, your job, your friends’ work, etc. Every adult you know works at a company, use it.) |
|---|---|
| ALIGN WITH YOUR MISSION | If your event is about coding education, find edtech companies |
| ARE IN YOUR AREA 🌳 | Don’t be scared! CEOs are people too. You’ll have a better chance with decently-higher up people, so maybe don’t contact all the CEOs in San Francisco. Linkedin is great for finding names for the mid-range of important people. |
| HAVE SPONSORED SIMILAR EVENTS | Look at Devpost, MLH, and even something like your school boosters |
A prospectus is a 2-4 page document that essentially contains everything a sponsor needs to know about your event and why/how they should support it.
Here are a couple of great examples! Don’t copy them word-for-word, customize them:
Note: We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization! US companies have tax-reduction benefits.
A video works SUPER well for sponsors and outreach! Make a general video telling YOUR story.
Check out Daydream’s Intro Video: (We’re Hosting The Largest High School Game Jam)
Here’s the script: JPEG Video Script
DM @renran sun if you’d like any advice with writing a script!
Hi [First Name of Employee from company],
I’m [First Name], a 17-year-old student from [City]. I’m also organizing [City’s] [what makes your Daydream special, ex: first 24 hour] hackathon.
September 27-28, we’re organizing Daydream [City], a 24-hour high school hackathon for 100 teens at [Venue]. Daydream is dreamed up by Hack Club, a global coding nonprofit supported by Dell and GitHub.
Learning to code through hackathons helped me make some of my best memories—and friends. It changed my life, and I want to bring that experience to more students!
[Company] is incredible. [IMPORTANT! Why are you emailing this company? Be personal but 1-2 sentences. Ex: Your [product] changed the way we use xyz.]
I’d love to send you more information or schedule a call if you’re interested. Let me know what you need and what time, and I’ll make it happen!
RenRan Sun
renran@hackclub.comPS: If you are the wrong person to reach out to, I apologize. It’d be great if you could direct me to the right department/person!
Send the prospectus/sponsorship package for the 2nd email! REPLY QUICKLY. DO NOT leave them for more than three hours, reply WITHIN THE DAY.
Don’t overwhelm them with information. Try to jump on a call or meet them in person to explain everything. Emails are easy to refuse, but a puppy-eyed teen? Not as much.
It is pretty common to get ghosted but being persistent can help a lot! Keep it Short ‘n Sweet.
Reply to the original email thread OR send a new email. Here’s an example.
Just saw the podcast at Fullscript with Youth Ottawa and wanted to quickly follow up!
Please let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to jump in a call and discuss details/constraints! If Fullscript can’t host us, no worries.
Thank you again,
RenRan
Make the highest tier more than half of your budget. The lowest tier should also be a significant contribution. For example: if your budget is $8k, make $5k your highest tier and $1.5k your lowest tier.