The plumber's board is still up, three years on
Your club's sponsorship income is a patchwork of local businesses. A plumber has a board on the main pitch. An estate agent sponsors the under-12s' shirts. A pub puts on a match ball each season. The builders' merchant sponsors the first team shirts on a three-year deal agreed with the chair two chairs ago. Each was negotiated by someone at the club, often over a drink, often on a handshake.
The plumber's board has been up for three seasons, but he paid for one. Nobody asked him to renew; nobody took the board down. The estate agent's deal ran out, and the under-12s are about to need new shirts, but nobody knows whether the agent wants to renew. And the builders' merchant's contact has moved on, so when their deal ends, there is nobody at the club and nobody at the firm who remembers why it started.
Why sponsor deals drift
- Deals are agreed informally, and the terms live in someone's memory or email.
- Renewal dates are not recorded, so nobody asks at the right time.
- The club does not track whether it delivered what it promised (logo on the website, social media thanks, programme ad).
- The volunteer who handles sponsors changes, and the relationships go with them.
- Invoices for sponsorship are raised late or not at all.
What drifting sponsorship costs
Income, directly: boards up without payment, deals that lapse without anyone asking to renew. Relationships with local businesses, who are often also parents or former players, and who notice if the club forgets them. And shirts or kit that need replacing with no sponsor lined up to pay for them.
There is a reputational side too. Local businesses talk to each other. A sponsor who paid for a board and never got the promised thank-you post, or who was invoiced twice, or not at all for two seasons and then suddenly for three, tells people about it. The next business the club approaches may have heard. Handled well, the same relationships can grow: the sponsor who is thanked properly and sent a photo of the under-12s in their shirts is the one who says yes to the new minibus appeal.
A sponsor list that keeps the club honest and on time
For a small club, this can be a well-structured shared spreadsheet with reminders, and we will say so if that is enough. Where sponsorship is a bigger part of club income, we build a small sponsor tool.
- Each sponsor is recorded with a contact, a history of their deals, and who at the club looks after them.
- Each deal lists what the sponsor gets (board, shirts for a named team, programme ad, website logo, social media posts) and when it starts and ends.
- What the club has to do for each deal becomes a small checklist, such as put the logo on the website, thank them after a match, get the board printed, so it is delivered and recorded.
- Invoices are raised through Xero, QuickBooks or your accounts tool from the deal, and payment status shows on the sponsor record.
- The sponsorship volunteer is reminded ahead of each renewal, with the deal history and the season summary ready.
- Each sponsor gets a short end-of-season summary: photos of their board or shirts, posts thanking them, the team's season.
| Sponsor asset | What the club records | Renewal prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Pitch-side board | Sponsor, position, paid until | Before the season ends |
| Team shirt sponsor | Team, kit cycle, deal end | Before new kit is ordered |
| Programme or website ad | Size, season | Before the new season |
| Match ball or man of the match | Games covered | Each season |
Sponsorship season, afterwards
The sponsorship volunteer gets a reminder in the spring listing deals that end this season, each with a summary to send the sponsor. Boards come down if a sponsor does not renew, or go back up with a fresh invoice. The treasurer sees sponsorship income due and received. When the volunteer hands over, the new one inherits a list of every sponsor and what they were promised.
Do your sponsor deals look like this?
- Sponsor deals are agreed verbally or by email.
- Pitch-side boards are up for sponsors who no longer pay.
- Nobody knows when each deal ends.
- The club has forgotten to deliver something a sponsor paid for.
- Sponsor relationships leave with the volunteer who made them.