Music Funding 101
Periodic Reports For The Sponsor
People who spend money like to see what they’ve gotten (or what they will be getting,) and since the process of a sponsorship involves a lot of individual events (shows, radio stations, banners, etc.) instead of one big event, it becomes necessary to offer the sponsor a series of reports that show what is occurring at any point along the way. This applies especially to larger sponsorships, and sponsorships that include shows away from the hometown (i.e., touring). Matter of fact; the reason that all the sample sponsorships on TalentFunding.com are set up using a number of "weeks" instead of just "things" is that the sponsors (who are spending the money) need to see and feel that the process is moving forward every day and every week. If a band only proposed that "a bunch of things" were to be purchased for the band, and did not include a schedule of how and when these "things" were to be exposed to the public, then no sponsor would never go for it.
The basic concept of "reporting" is this: The Band should not do anything in a sponsorship unless it is going to put it into a report and shown to the sponsor. Reports, in the beginning, are actually more important than the actual sponsorship activities themselves. Later on, the sponsor will look more to the actual results. But to start, the reports will have to show everything.
Weekly reports are a good start at the beginning of a sponsorship, EVEN IF the band has not done any shows yet. This is because once a sponsor has spent his money, he feels better knowing that the sponsorship is underway in the proper fashion, and that the band has not "disappeared" with the money. So the first few weeks may just be a report of the band designing some layouts or setting up some show dates. But by receiving these reports the sponsor will assure himself that the process is starting out correctly.
After a month or so, or after the sponsor has seen several shows completed, then shifting to one report every two weeks might work. But each report should still show what happened each week; the sponsor will not feel good if he thinks that there is a week going by with nothing going on. Nevertheless it should be agreed to in the beginning, between the band and the sponsor, what the report schedule should be.
For smaller sponsorships, a simple report would mostly say what the results are for each show: the name and address of the venue, the time the show occurred, the number of fans there, the number of CDs or other items sold, and most importantly, a picture of the banner and other items that are displayed (maybe taken during the set up of the show), along with a picture of the fans when they are at their most active. The pictures should be attached to the report and sent to the sponsor, and two copies of the whole thing (including pictures) should be saved for when the sponsor says he never received his report, and for when the bands wants to prove to a future sponsor that reports will happen (and that the band does have fans!)
For larger sponsorships, the reporting process is going to get a bit lengthy and time consuming. It might take a full three hours every week just to document what happened. These reports can include: signed reference letters from every venue manager or promoter; copies of any print ads; radio playlists; radio charts; radio airchecks (audio); live club recordings (audio); paid invoices/contracts for any and all sponsorship-related items; and again, pictures!:
Pictures of the fans looking at the banners; pictures of the money (maybe in a glass jar) from the purchase of CDs and merchandise; pictures of a band member wearing the shirt in the crowd; pictures of fans wearing the shirts; pictures of posters in the windows; pictures of street signage; pictures of the band with radio or music business personnel, etc.
A note about pictures: They should be saved in two versions: nice color printouts (which can be included with printed reports or with proposals to future sponsors), and digital "small versions" (100k max) which can be emailed easily and printed out on regular size paper without having to resize or edit anything. If nobody in the band knows how to resize and crop photos digitally then someone MUST be hired to do this; it is critical. Matter of fact, the whole reporting process is so important that someone might have to be assigned to it, permanently.
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