Looking for a way to get Sponsors?
(or make some income)

SportCard offers rewards to Members and the Club for each transaction made through our program.

Every day your members spend over $100 just living and if you include mortgages and cars the average club of 100 members spends nearly $6M per year!

Many of your members will be a part of a rewards program or shop online for a wide variety of products already. With SportCard as their first shopping point the rewards go back to your club too. With an average return of over 3% per sale from most of our partners you can quickly add up the returns.

SportCard has 2 solutions

Online	An online shopping portal for your members that returns funds to your club and the option for members to share in the returns. With over 160 products and services online and growing everyday there are many ways for your club to raise funds now! It is free to join and easy to get your members involved, with an online solution and your club can start making money straight away.
In-store from July 2008	From July 2008, SportCard will be offering in store solutions for clubs to manage and sell. How does it work? Rather than trying to sell a sponsorship the club has the opportunity to provide this terminal to any shop in the region. Terminals are provided on a $500 refundable deposit plus a small monthly lease. For each terminal installed the club receives 50% of the returns made by that shopfront when your members shop there PLUS when members from other clubs or schools make purchases, 20% of the value of their purchases are also returned to your club. If your club received just $1 a week from you own member purchases and 20 cents from all the other clubs members, the returns add up very quickly. SportCard manages all the backend tracking and systems meaning all your club has to do is have your members shop where they see the SportCard signs. *Terminals can only be installed where there is an internet connection.	SmartCard Terminal

Want to find out more? Then click here and fill out the form to receive further information.

After all this is in place you may still want some sponsors, just maybe not as many, so here are our top tips for getting local business to help you out and a few other pointers.

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1. Where to look?

Your club members - Often there are business owners in the club who are willing to help out, even if it is for just one team, but every little bit counts. So dont be afraid to ask.

Local Retailers - Walk the local shopping malls, after all this is where your members shop and business owners are always looking for a way to create more sales. Many major retail brands are franchise operated so these are always a good place to start, think Harvey Norman, Freedom, McDonalds, Hungry Jacks, Super Cheap Auto and so on, but beware there are many head office owned stores and the chances of getting anything from them is pretty slim.

National Brands - This is where the big dollars are but the chances of your local club getting any funds, unless the CEO is involved in your club, are basically nil.

SportCard - Well of course I am going to say this one, we dont offer sponsorship as such but we do create an ongoing income for your club and its easy to see a few thousand dollars very quickly.

2. How to ask?

There are a few tricks and tips here. Never walk in wearing shorts and a t-shirt, business owners are not going to hand over any money to some one who they dont feel is professional. After all it is their hard earned profit you are asking for, so dress sharp!

Put together a brochure with what it is you are asking for and what it is you are going to do for them that may increase their business. Word or Publisher are great for this and it is only a couple of hours work. Most business owners will appreciate the effort and you will be 1 step ahead of everyone else who is asking.

Always have a range of options available, starting from as little as $250 and heading up to larger amounts, if you walk in asking for $5000 every time be prepared to get told no.

This may sound trite, but always be happy and upbeat and never get upset if you are told no. After all next year you may be back again and this time they may be interested,

3. How much do I ask for?

This is a tricky one, but my best advice is that it is easier to get a lot of small donations than it is to get that big fish. After all, ten $500 donations are no different to a single $5000 one and you are likely to have to do far less for the little ones anyway.

Try to judge the size of the business and dont be afraid to ask questions or change your expectations. From experience the big fish, like car dealers, dont actually have all that much cash to play with, so be flexible and start with small numbers. If they show interest ask them what they are looking for in return and be prepared to up your commitment if they increase the dollars.

4. How do I avoid sponsorship clusters?

At the big end of town, nationally televised sport, this is always their biggest issue. What happens when 3 sponsors all leave at the same time? How do you avoid repeating the same problem every year of having to fill the coffers when the sponsor you thought you had walks away.

Business owners are NOT giving you their hard earned profit for love, they expect returns, so if you can't offer them some way of valueing that, then you have a problem. Make sure you deliver what you say you will and tell your sponsor that you are doing it - all the time!

Of course this is where SportCard kicks in as we provide an entire program based around solving this issue. Sales tracking, marketing and ongoing returns to your club are all part of the deal and if your member sales through that business are growing then you have a great reason to ask for more money next time!

With our regular competitions, online and local shopping and very soon 2 major brands working exclusively with us we have a lot to offer to your members - not the least of which is a way to create your own major fundraising event in our competitions section where you can ........

5. How do I get my members to support the sponsor?

Ok, so now you are thinking like the sponsor is. At the end of the day if your club members don't support the sponsors then you are going back out again next year doing the same thing. Of course just assuming that they will go shop there because you put a spot in the club newsletter is expecting a bit much.

Reality is that unless you can offer the members some thing, there is very little chance of them changing their habits and that means your sponsor is not going to get any new business, and that is what they gave you the money for!

Sponsors want new business, your members want value and simple solutions. Getting over all those hurdles is the art to making it all work.

The SportCard solution

We cant say that we can solve all your funding problems, but we can say we have a complete program to help you make it a whole lot easier.

If you want to see how much your club can generate through SportCard then click here.

With SportCard you raise funds by not only having your members shop with our national partners but also at your local stores and by adding more local stores to the program your club gains an income from every member who shops there even if they arent from your club.

Working with us means you now have have some thing of value to sell to the retailer rather than just a promise. Even better, you have way to create real value for the sponsor by sending them customers from all over the region and the club gets an ongoing income without having to worry about those rolling clusters.

If you would like more information on how to build a SportCard program simply click on the link below