External Sponsorship is great way to get some extra money for your club or society. You may also be able to secure sponsorship for non-monetary items such as food and drink for social events or tickets to attend conferences and events for your members.

Our student groups are sector leading in the amount of income they generate through sponsorship. Creating partnerships with external organisations can help you secure the funding or resources you need to be able to deliver all of your big ideas or activities.

This page outlines some of the important things to think about as well as the steps you need to take to arrange a contract and get it signed by the Students' Union.

Step 1: Plan, prepare, approach

For any committee members who are leading on securing sponsorship we have created a helpful training module on how to successfully negotiate your sponsorship. 

Once you have completed this you need to create a plan of who you are going to appraoch, what you are going to ask them for and how you are going negoitate that with them.

Sponsorship Packs

A Sponsorship Pack can be given to companies to include more information about your club/societies and what you want from the deal. Having a professional looking offer and visual takeaway for the sponsor can sometimes be the difference between closing a pitch or losing the company so get prepared. There is a rough guideline below of what to include in your pack:

  • What your club/society is about and what you do (include detailed figures)
  • What the company would gain from sponsorship of your club/society (publicity, reaching to a student audience or potentially thousand etc.). Targeting students is part of many companies’ promotion strategies.
  • What would you like from the company (workshop, space, or do you need money or catering for an event or new hoodies for the year etc.)
  • If you are asking for money, how much will it cost the company? - don’t be unrealistic, expect to have to negotiate. Make sure you know what other clubs/societies similar to you have secured to give you an idea of what you are worth as a club/society.
  • Your contact details

I have a question about sponsorship or contracts, who do I contact?

To discuss any sponsorship questions please contact the Team managers by emailing su.activities@lse.ac.uk

Are there any companies that we are not allowed to partner with?

The Union currently does not have a veto list of specific companies you cannot partner with but we do have policies which mean you cannot make partnerships with certain types of companies.These include:

 

  • LSESU cannot make any future affiliations with fossil fuel or armaments companies, in order to uphold the SU’s commitment to climate justice.

If a group submits a contract for a fossil fuel or armament company, the Union will not sign the contract.

Our Sponsor would like to use their own contract template is this ok?

Sometimes this is ok, but to ensure you are not rejected after lots of negotiation and work, ask the company for a copy of the template contract. Then get in contact with one of the team managers with a copy of their contract, to check the template before moving forward.

Who can we partner with?

  • Identify companies/brands that have the similar values/objectives as your event or club/society or committee.
  • Consider any national governing bodies or organisations who are linked to your club/society.
  • For departmental societies consider which graduate recruiters would be keen to target your area.
  • Consider what qualities your club/society or committee members have that graduate recruiters may look for (e.g. leadership skills).
  • Research companies to see if they are involved in or support your activity such as drama or chess etc.

Step 2: Agree & Sign the Contract

If a company has agreed to sponsors you, you must then draw up the agreement between yourselves (the club/society) and your sponsors. This agreement will consist of everything that the organisation is giving you and what you are promising the organisation in return.

We have created a contract template that all societies should be using for contracts.

(Please note that there are several points in there, particularly around data protection, marketing and promoting events and booking rooms on campus that should not be removed or amended. If you remove or amend these so that their purpose is no longer clear within the contract, you will be asked to resubmit the contract with the original phrases in.)

Please get the organisation to sign the contract, but do not sign it yourself. The Students' Union will sign all contracts on your behalf – no matter how big or small the amount is or whether the contract is with a foreign organisation. Contracts signed by the sponsor and someone that isn’t from the Students’ Union will not be valid and we will not be able to issue an invoice for you to receive and sponsorship into your account.

Step 3: Submit your contract for review

Please submit your contrat for review using the contract submission form. 

Submit Your Sponsorship Contract Here

If your sponsor or your committee have any special requires that go along side the contract, please add them to the notes and requests sections of the form. 

We aim to review contracts twice per week (During term time it may be less frequent due to the high volume of contracts submitted by student groups).If there is an issue with your contract the staff team will contact with actions you need to do to rectify the issue. If the contract is approved, you will recieve an approval email and a copy of the signed contract. It is then your responsibility to share this with your sponsor.

Step 4: Union sends an Invoice

Once your contract is approved, the Union Finance Team will raise an invoice and send it to your sponsor with a 30 day period for payment. 

To check if a sponsors has paid, please check your student group account via the expense365 or your treasurer. If your sponsorship money hasn't come through after the 30 day payment period, the LSESU Finance Team will send out a standard email to chase unpaid invoices once per term, other than this it is your Society's responsibility to chase your sponsors for payments. 

If at the end of June we still haven't received payment from your sponsor, we will write off any unpaid invoices. 

 

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