How to get sponsors for a market or festival.

• Local businesses near the venue: banks and credit unions, real estate agents, dentists, gyms, restaurants, insurance agents.
• Businesses whose customers look like your shoppers: home goods, baby and family services, pet shops, florists.
• Organizations with community budgets, such as hospitals, universities, developers and local chambers of commerce.
• Past supporters of similar events in your area. Their sponsorship pages and posts are a ready-made list.
• Sponsors in kind, who give goods or services such as printing, water, tents or music instead of money.

Two to four tiers are enough. Name them for what they get, not for metals, and set your own prices from your event costs. The calculators on this site help you work out what the event needs to cover.

• Presenting sponsor: one business, named in the event title and on the main signage and social posts.
• Supporting sponsors: logo on signs, the website and the vendor lineup post, with a thank-you post.
• Activity or area sponsors: they fund a kids' corner, a music stage, a rest area or the free water station, and their name goes on it.
• In-kind sponsors: a mention and a thank-you in exchange for goods or services you would otherwise buy.

• Visible placement: banners, a sponsor table or booth, logos on the website and in the vendor lineup post.
• Reach: tagged social posts, a mention in your email to attendees and vendors, and a thank-you after the event.
• Access: a chance to hand out samples, run a giveaway or meet shoppers, as long as it does not crowd your vendors.
• Proof: photos and a short recap with attendance and vendor counts from your own records.

1. Open with who is coming and why they matter to this business. Use real numbers from your own earlier events, or say it is your first and describe the audience you are building.
2. List the date, location, vendor mix and how you will promote the event.
3. Show the packages and what each one includes.
4. Name the deadline and the next step. Offer a short call or a coffee.
5. Follow up once or twice. If the answer is no this year, ask when they plan sponsorships and when to check back.

Start months before the event, so sponsors can fit you into their plans and you can include their names in your printed and online promotion. Ask each business when it plans community spending and aim to pitch before that. Lock in sponsors before you print signs and post your announcement.

Keep sponsors from overwhelming the vendors. A few well-placed sponsors beat banners on every booth, and shoppers came for the makers. Followers on your organizer page, your mailing list and your vendor lineup are part of what you are offering, so build them early.

• A public organizer page whose followers hear about each new event is something you can describe to sponsors.