How to Acquire Money From Sponsors for a Baseball Little League

Youth sports programs such as Little League can provide valuable recreation for youngsters and teach life skills such as teamwork, sportsmanship and perseverance. They also can be very expensive. Providing uniforms, bats, balls, insurance, field maintenance and umpires for a league normally involves selling sponsorships for each team in the league.



Assuming you already calculated the expenses of your league and know how much money you need to raise, following certain guidelines will help you and your league secure the sponsorships required to make your organization a success.

Things You'll Need

  • Sponsorship agreement
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Instructions

    • 1

      List prospective sponsors in your community. These can be retail businesses, manufacturing plants, real estate and insurance agencies and service organizations such as Rotary, Optimist, Jaycees and Lions clubs. Avoid businesses whose product or service is not in the best interest of youths, such as smoke shops, liquor stores and adult-oriented businesses.

    • 2

      Set an appointment to discuss sponsorship with each prospective sponsor. Contact the businesses by phone first, and ask to speak with the person in charge of the community involvement programs. Get an appointment for one or two league officers to meet with them about the project.

    • 3

      Tell each business representative about your league when you meet. Explain the league's history, how many youths will benefit from the program and how many it has helped in the past. If your league is already well established, point out some community leaders who played in the league as youngsters as examples of the program's benefit.

    • 4

      Ask for the sponsorship donation with confidence. Use expressions such as, "Will you help us by supporting (league name) and investing in the future of our community?" Explain that the main reason for sponsorship should be community involvement, but point out that sponsors also receive free advertising by having their name on the back of the players' jerseys. If your area's newspaper publishes results of your league, the sponsor also receives a free plug when the scores are published because its name usually becomes a team's name.

    • 5

      Finalize each sponsorship by putting the agreement in writing. If your league is affiliated with Little League International, use the official sponsorship agreement, which is linked in the Resources section. If your league is independent, draw up your own agreement, pointing out what the sponsor does or does not receive in exchange for support.

    • 6
      Thank the sponsor for supporting your community's youth.

      Provide each sponsor with a plaque, certificate or other memento at the end of the season in recognition of its support. Sponsors like to place these in their place of business to show customers that they are involved in the community. This will make it much easier to secure renewal of their sponsorship for the next season.