Charity Insights

For the past week, my work has been based around obtaining sponsorship, big and small, for general operation and the annual dinner.

As London Tigers is a sports-based charity, I made a list of companies that were sports or fitness related and had some kind of donation request form on their websites or accepted sponsorship proposals. The sports based organisations included brands such as Umbro, Lucozade and Nike to name a few. For these companies, the application was relatively shorter with more simple online forms asking whether we were asking for cash or product, what it was going to be used for and how the company would benefit. These were good to start off with and practise proposals with as it gave me an idea of what I would need to include in a sponsorship proposal I would have to do from scratch.

 

Using experience from form-filling out to 5 companies, I came across a major airline that dedicated a lot of online space for organisations after their sponsorship. Many of the websites I came across earlier stated that they did not accept unsolicited proposals so it took some time to find any that did. This airline application not only required a proposal in the form of a Powerpoint, an official letter to accompany it, up to 3 more attachments AND an extensive application form. It took some time to complete all of it and to decide what to apply for – the Sports Complex or the Annual Awards? Or both? Even though this application/proposal was time-consuming to compile, it was an excellent experience.

Read Sponsorships in full

Week 1-2

Pitch Side Banners

In June 2014, London Tigers Sports Complex was opened – a £2.2m state of the art facility which offers training, sports, youth, intergenerational and community facilities. As the centre of all of London Tigers’ sporting activities, it is home to:

• 2 tennis courts
• 2 cricket pitches
• 3 lane cricket nets
• 11-a-side artificial grass football pitch
• Athletics running track

The park sees over 600 people pass through the complex daily and during summer it sees up to 1000 people per day. One of the ways in which the organisation could make use of these facilities and generate an additional income, is by displaying banners on the pitch side which local businesses could advertise on.  The sports complex facilities are available for hire so this location is great for attracting not only pedestrians passing through to Southall Broadway, but visitors from across London.

Using my trusty aide Google, I compiled list of local businesses, franchises and banks to approach in relation to the pitch side banners. For each one, made a contact sheet with the relevant person’s details. I then wrote a specific proposal letter in relation to just the banners, which could be emailed as a follow-up to somebody after the initial phone call.

Annual Achievement Awards

This will be held in October 2015 and aims to recognise the achievements of the young people from the past year. For it to be able to take place, we need to secure both corporate and small businesses as sponsors. Whilst looking at local businesses for the pitch side banners, I made a separate list of potential sponsors for the Awards Dinner. This included local supermarkets.

I also put together a Sponsorship Package as a PDF that could be either emailed or printed so that businesses have the flexibility in how they choose to support us.

 

Read Second Set of Stripes in full

1/4 done…nearly! I am currently in the process of designing and putting together  a sponsorship brochure to send out to corporate firms. This then can be used to obtain sponsors for the Annual Achievement Awards as well as for pitch side banners.

So, what is London Tigers?

LT is an award-winning charity based in London that targets young people aged 9-25 from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities who are socially or economically disadvantaged. They engage with young people through sporting activities, youth clubs and offer employment and training to young people. They are also involved in international development programmes having opened two cricket centres, a football Academy and fund a school in Bangladesh.

I decided to carry out my four-week internship with the Tigers because it’s a community based charity and there’s nothing better than seeing your work having a monumental impact on people around you first-hand. I do have a soft-spot for the organisation for a number of reasons – one being the excuse to come back to the area of West London I grew up in! Any excuse to reminisce, I know.

Anyway…

It’s nothing new when we hear about the negative press of young people for whatever reason, so it’s immensely rewarding working for a charity that keeps young people busy and engaged. As with any charity, they need funds to carry out their aims so I hope by working with the Business Development Director, we are able to secure sponsorships and increase awareness and support for the big cats!

 

Read Roaring to go at London Tigers in full