Writing a sponsor appreciation letter is an important way to thank those individuals and organizations who have supported your cause or project. It’s also an effective way to build relationships with a sponsor for future collaborations.
The process of writing a sponsorship appreciation letter can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! In this blog, we’ll provide tips on how to craft the perfect sponsor appreciation letter, as well as seven easily customizable, thank you letter templates that you can use as starting points. With these tools in hand, you’ll be able to easily create heartfelt messages of thanks that will make those who offer you a sponsorship feel appreciated and valued.
Securing sponsorship for an event, project, or organization is an accomplishment to celebrate. However, the work doesn’t stop once a sponsor commits funds or resources. One of the most important follow-up tasks is writing a letter of appreciation to thank your sponsor for their generous support.
A thoughtful, well-crafted letter goes a long way in strengthening the relationship with a sponsor over the long-term It shows that you value their contribution and reinforces why supporting your cause matters With some effort and creativity, your appreciation letter can turn a one-time sponsorship into an ongoing partnership.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover tips for writing the perfect letter of appreciation, from crafting an opening that grabs attention to closing with a call to action. Follow these best practices to make sponsors feel truly appreciated.
Know Your Audience
The first step is getting familiar with the sponsor you’re writing to Do your research beforehand to understand their company, brand values, and past giving history This will allow you to personalize the letter based on what motivates them rather than sending a generic form letter.
Highlight shared passions and priorities between the sponsor’s mission and yours. Call out specific ways their contribution furthers causes they care about. This shows you took time to understand what makes them tick rather than dashing off a template.
Open With Enthusiasm
An impactful opening paragraph grabs the sponsor’s attention right away. Clearly state what you are thanking them for and convey genuine enthusiasm for their support. Share how excited you felt to get the news and give a warm welcome to the donor family.
Short opening lines like “On behalf of our organization, I want to express my deepest thanks for your generous sponsorship” get right to the point. You can also use this paragraph to establish the relationship, such as by saying “It’s partners like you that allow our mission to thrive.”
Provide Meaningful Details
The body of the letter is where you provide meaningful details on how the sponsor’s funds were used and the impact their support made possible. Get specific by including dollar amounts event names number of people helped, or other quantitative data.
Tell a story that illustrates the tangible difference the sponsor has made. For example, share a testimonial from a beneficiary expressing how the program you funded changed their life. Use vivid descriptions to paint a picture of how the donor contributed to your mission’s success.
Extend Future Invitations
Once you’ve covered the importance of past contributions, look to the future relationship you hope to build. Let the sponsor know about upcoming initiatives where their involvement would be impactful. Extend personal invitations to experience your work first-hand through site visits, volunteer days, or other immersive experiences.
Plug ways the sponsor can offer continued support through recurring donations, fundraising campaigns, in-kind gifts, or collaborating on new projects. Share opportunities at their desired giving level. Make them feel like an essential ongoing partner.
Close With Gratitude
End your appreciation letter by bringing it full circle to gratitude. Reinforce how valuable their generosity has been and reiterate your organization’s sincere thanks. Let the sponsor know their support will fuel continued growth and impact for the cause.
Sign the letter personally as the head of your organization or program lead rather than a generic group name. Add a handwritten postscript to further personalize it. This heartfelt closing will leave the donor feeling genuinely appreciated.
Choose the Right Format
Along with crafting the words, pay attention to formatting that elevates your letter:
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Use letterhead: Print your letter on official organization letterhead showing your logo and contact information. This lends credibility.
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Open with the date: Put the date at the top to record when it was sent for your own tracking.
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Address formally: Use a formal greeting like “Dear Ms. Smith” to show respect.
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Organize text: Break text into concise paragraphs for ease of reading.
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Close appropriately: Sign off with “Sincerely” or “With Gratitude” before your name.
Make it Visually Appealing
Look for small ways to add visual interest to your appreciation letter:
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Fonts and formatting: Use fonts/styles like italics or bold for emphasis.
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High-quality paper: Print on card stock or parchment paper for a premium feel.
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Color: Add pops of color through your organization’s logo and letterhead.
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Images: Include photographs or illustrations showing donor impact.
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Handwriting: Start with a typed letter then add a handwritten note or signature. This personal touch means a lot.
Time it Thoughtfully
When you send your letter also requires thought:
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Right after donation: Send an immediate acknowledgement of the gift.
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With project results: Share outcomes and impact once initiatives are complete.
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On a holiday: Send wishes and thanks during holiday/awareness periods.
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On anniversary: Note donation anniversary and progress since initial support.
Crafting the Perfect Letter: An Example
Here is an example incorporating the above tips:
Date
Dear Ms. Smith,
I was absolutely thrilled to receive news of your $5,000 sponsorship for our upcoming 5K fundraiser benefiting childhood literacy programs. Welcome to our organization’s donor family! Partners like you allow us to transform young lives through the power of reading.
Thanks to your generosity, we can now provide a full year of books and reading tutors to 25 at-risk elementary school children. Sara, one of our program participants, said, “Having a tutor who reads with me every week has made me love books!” Stories like this are possible because of sponsors who believe in our mission.
Ms. Smith, your sponsorship means the world to me and the youth we serve. Thank you for your compassion and commitment to helping the next generation thrive. I look forward to building our partnership in the months ahead.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe
Executive Director
Helping Hands for Literacy
P.S. Thank you again for everything you have done to empower students through the power of reading. Our work would not be possible without you!
Make Appreciation Last
A thoughtful sponsor appreciation letter is just the first step in a mutually beneficial partnership. Back up your words by continuing to recognize and engage your sponsor:
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Send handwritten thank you notes for major gifts
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List sponsors prominently on your website and materials
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Invite sponsors to participate in special events
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Share stories and photos showing donor impact
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Provide regular updates on how funds are used
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Solicit feedback on how to improve programs
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Collaborate on new initiatives matching sponsor interests
The time invested in cultivating sponsor relationships pays dividends. By writing from a place of genuine appreciation and making donors feel valued, you transform a simple transaction into an enduring sponsorship.
Why it’s important to thank sponsors
As a nonprofit, odds are high that you rely on the financial resources and support of donors in order to move your organization forward and to have the impact on the world that you hope and strive to. Due to this, having good relationships with all of your sponsors is crucial.
By leaving a positive impression on those who you interact with, whether it’s thanking them for a generous monetary donation, or just expressing that you are grateful for them investing their time and money into you, they will be extremely thankful for the fact that you took the time to reach out to them and thank them.
Not only will this build a bit of comradery between you and your sponsors, but it will also make them more likely to be a sponsor in the future. If you can build long-term relationships with those who are supporting your cause, you lower overall costs incurred within your business.
More specifically, it’s a well-known fact that retention is significantly cheaper than garnering a new customer or donor. When you try to acquire a new donor, there is a litany of costs incurred that you do not have to deal with when you retain donors.
Imagine you are choosing between two brands of toilet paper. Brand A is the brand you’ve historically chosen. It’s plush, absorbent, and feels nice. You know a bit about the backstory of the brand, and they’re a humanitarian organization that donates part of its profits to homeless children.
Brand B, on the other hand, is a cheaper toilet paper that you’ve never used, and know nothing about.
Most of you reading would pick Brand A to keep purchasing – you know the product, the brand, and you feel comfortable in sticking with the company and their product, even though it is a more expensive option. The same fundamental rules apply to the non-profit industry.
If you, for example, as a non-profit, have done your due diligence and have spread your brand’s message far and wide, and have simultaneously taken good care of your current donors, you can be sure that the same result will happen in your favor.
This one should be a bit simpler to understand.
When you’ve already acquired a sponsor, there are minimal things that you need to do to retain them. If you keep the sponsor informed about where their donations are going, thank them for their generous support, and ask them for feedback, most people will tend to stay with your organization.
But to get a new donor? First, you have to build out lead-finding campaigns, whether that’s through Google Ads, hiring a specialist, or creating posts on social media. Then, you have to contact those leads through a variety of various contact methods – email, social media, handwritten nonprofit direct mail – and hope that one of those methods will grab their attention. Once you have their attention, you need a person with sales experience to convince the potential sponsor that your project and your brand is the one they should be donating to. Even still, there are tons of different types of people who may donate to your cause, and trying to market to all of them is a very difficult task.
At the end of the day, it should be quite intuitive to understand that getting a new person to sign up to provide a donation is a lot more difficult than having someone who has already donated do so again.
This slightly ties into our last point, but any sort of marketing or advertising that you conduct has zero effect on those who have already donated to your brand. The point of setting up a social media campaign is to reach a wider audience, to get new customers and sponsors, not to re-engage with old ones.
If you invest a bit of time and effort into creating a better customer experience for people who have already donated, you can worry less about setting up perfect marketing and advertising campaigns since there is a higher return on investment for returning donors.
What is a sponsor appreciation letter?
A sponsor appreciation letter is exactly what it sounds like – it is a letter that you, as a non-profit organization, send to a sponsor or donor. A thanking letter to a sponsor can be sent for a litany of reasons – gratitude for a large donation, thanking them for being a long-term, recurring donor, or other reasons.
Many non-profits struggle to understand the benefits of consistently reaching out to donors and thanking them for their investment of time and money. Similarly, many also struggle to craft well-written, concise letters.
So, let’s break down these points one by one, starting with the importance of thanking your sponsors for their donations.
How to Write A Sponsorship Letter Step by Step | Writing Practices
How do I write a sponsorship letter?
Proper Addressing: The Sponsor’s name, the business or item that has been supported at your event, must always be highlighted in the letter. The Sponsor must be properly acknowledged in your letter. Provide your Name or Event Name: Start the letter by emphasizing the name of your event and, if it’s an academic sponsorship, your entire name.
What is a sponsor appreciation letter?
A sponsor appreciation letter is exactly what it sounds like – it is a letter that you, as a non-profit organization, send to a sponsor or donor. A thanking letter to a sponsor can be sent for a litany of reasons – gratitude for a large donation, thanking them for being a long-term, recurring donor, or other reasons.
What is a sponsorship thank you letter?
As the name suggests, sponsorship thank you letter is a document addressed to a sponsor, thanking them for their generous and kind support. Whether you are a business owner, a student, or any other sponsorship beneficiary, sending out these letters is very critical in maintaining the relationship between you and the sponsor.
How do I write a letter of gratitude for event sponsorship?
Here are some guidelines to bear in mind when you draft your letter of gratitude for event sponsorship: Proper Addressing: The Sponsor’s name, the business or item that has been supported at your event, must always be highlighted in the letter. The Sponsor must be properly acknowledged in your letter.
