Prospect research and responsible outreach
Handling existing association sponsors before approaching new ones
The association already has sponsors who support its year-round programme, and you are about to write to companies that compete with them.
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The short answer
Before approaching anyone new, list what each existing sponsor already holds (categories, exclusivity, renewal dates, promised rights) and speak to the relationship owner first. New outreach should be built around what is genuinely still available.
Use the sponsor inventory builder to see which assets are free and the rights and exclusivity conflict checker to test a proposed allocation. Neither is a legal reading of any agreement: contract wording goes to your legal adviser.
Why existing sponsors come first
An association's sponsors usually support more than one event, and many have rights, informal expectations or first-refusal habits that no one has written in one place.
Learning that a competitor was approached before you were told damages trust that took years to build, and it is difficult to repair mid-campaign.
What to gather before any new outreach
- Each current sponsor's category, the assets or rights they hold, and the dates they run.
- Anything written about exclusivity, first refusal or renewal, with the document and its owner noted.
- Verbal promises made by past officers that have not been recorded, flagged as unconfirmed.
- The relationship owner for each sponsor and the last time they were consulted.
- Which of the current sponsors' rights apply to this event and which to other association activity.
Sequence for existing sponsors
- Build a register of current sponsors and their held rights from signed documents, marking anything undocumented as unconfirmed.
- Map the categories you hope to approach in new outreach against that register and flag possible clashes.
- Have the relationship owner tell each existing sponsor what is planned and invite their view on renewal for this event.
- Record their response as stated. A sponsor's goodwill is not a renewal until it is confirmed.
- Ask your legal adviser to read any exclusivity or first-refusal wording that could affect the new category.
- Only then release outreach to new companies in categories that do not clash.
Questions to put to the legal adviser
- Does any current agreement grant exclusivity in a category, a region or a type of asset, and until when?
- Does any agreement give first refusal on renewal or on new categories?
- What notice, if any, must be given before approaching competing categories?
- Which agreements cover this event, and which cover only the association's other activity?
If a clash appears
Pause outreach in the affected category, speak to the existing sponsor and decide with the commercial decision owner whether to hold, redefine the category or offer a different asset.
Do not resolve it by quietly offering the new company a narrower benefit. See preventing the same benefit being sold twice.
Worked example · Fictional example
A category clash caught before a single message
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration.
Persatuan Fiktif Pengurusan Tenaga holds a conference in October. Its register shows a fictional software company is the association's digital partner until the end of next year, and an old email from a past secretary suggests it was told it would be the only software sponsor.
The secretariat marks the exclusivity as unconfirmed, asks its legal adviser to read the signed agreement and asks the relationship owner to speak to the software company. Three other software firms stay off the outreach list until the answer comes back.
Use this yourself
Existing sponsor register
Complete before any new outreach. Take rights only from signed documents, and mark the rest unconfirmed.
| Sponsor and category | Rights held (source document) | Exclusivity or first refusal? | Dates | Relationship owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name and category | Asset list, with document name | Yes / no / unconfirmed | Start and end | Named person | Consulted / not yet consulted |
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- You have a handful of current sponsors, all with signed agreements you can find.
- One person knows each relationship and can speak to them before the campaign.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Rights are scattered across old emails, minutes and verbal promises.
- A new category could clash with an existing sponsor and nobody can say with confidence.
- You need the register, the consultation sequence and the legal questions organised before outreach opens.
Need the existing sponsor position pulled together?
Selling and relationship decisions stay with your organisation, and contract questions go to your legal adviser. An Event Blueprint can collect what each current sponsor holds, set the consultation sequence and prepare the question pack for legal, so new outreach starts from a position everyone agrees is accurate.
Questions organisers ask
Do I have to ask existing sponsors for permission before approaching others?
That depends on what their agreements say, which is a question for your legal adviser. As a courtesy and a risk check, tell them what is planned before it becomes visible.
What if I cannot find the original agreement?
Treat the right as unconfirmed, do not offer the same category to others, and ask the relationship owner and legal adviser to establish what was agreed.
Should existing sponsors get a discount for renewing?
That is a pricing decision for the commercial decision owner and must be applied consistently. See managing discount requests.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.