Newsletter: Tomorrow: The Sponsorship Work That Starts Before the Ask 🤝 ; The Best Marketing Doesn’t Always Start with You 🦝 ; AI Visitors May be Your Best Visitors 🤖

Many nonprofits assume companies make sponsorship decisions a few weeks before an event.

The reality? Many large companies have already started planning for next year.

Budgets are being discussed. Priorities are being set. Internal champions are beginning to make their case.

So what should your organization be doing now?

Join Larry Weil (The Sponsorship Guy) and me as we discuss how to get ahead of the sponsorship planning cycle. We’ll cover:

• How large companies really plan sponsorships

• Why understanding the approval process gives you an advantage

• The marketing assets every sponsorship team should have ready

• How to get on a company’s radar before making the ask

• Whether online sponsorship applications are worth your time

If you’re planning to approach sponsors this fall—or even next spring—the work starts now.

👉 ​Click “Attend” on LinkedIn to get a reminder​

✍️ Partnership Notes

Two partnership insights that matter.

🤝 ​Your next corporate partner may already be doing business with you​.
An interesting session at this year’s Engage for Good conference featured Kate Spade New York and payments company Adyen. Instead of starting from scratch, the two organizations transformed an existing business relationship into a broader social impact partnership focused on women’s mental health. Their message: some of the best partnerships don’t begin with a cold pitch—they grow out of relationships that already exist.

Joe’s Take: This is a mindset worth stealing. Most organizations spend all their time chasing new partners while overlooking the companies they already work with every day—technology vendors, banks, agencies, payment processors, consultants, even landlords. Those relationships already have trust, shared experience, and regular communication. Before you build a list of 100 new prospects, take a fresh look at the companies already in your ecosystem. Your next great partnership may already be on your vendor list.

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

One move you should steal.

🦝 ​The best marketing doesn’t always start with you​.
When a raccoon named Jimothy unexpectedly went viral, brands didn’t create the moment—they reacted to it. Several companies and creators joined the conversation by selling Jimothy-themed merchandise, ultimately raising more than $58,000 for wildlife rehabilitation. The story is a fun reminder that some of the best marketing opportunities begin with paying attention, not broadcasting.

Joe’s Take: There’s a lesson here for nonprofits. We spend a lot of time trying to be a megaphone—pushing out more content, more campaigns, more messages. But the organizations that attract partners become magnets instead. They create ideas, stories, and communities that people naturally want to join. Companies are constantly looking for what’s already capturing attention because audiences tell them what’s relevant, popular, and valuable. Instead of asking, “How can we get our message out?” ask, “How can we create something people want to gather around?”

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

Find your next adventure.

🤝 Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, ​YMCA of the USA​, Raleigh, NC

🤝 Director, Development and Partnerships, ​United Nations Foundation​, Washington, DC

🤝 Associate Director, Corporate Sponsorships, ​The ALS Association​, Remote, Pacific Northwest

🧠🍌 Brain Food

One thing that is feeding my thinking.

🤖 ​AI visitors may be your best visitors​.
A new analysis of 97 Google Analytics 4 accounts (29 million sessions and 364,000 conversions) found that visitors arriving from AI tools like ChatGPT converted into high-intent leads at three times the rate of traditional website visitors. AI still accounted for less than 1% of all traffic, but that number is almost certainly understated because AI Overviews and some AI apps are difficult to track accurately.

Joe’s Take: If these findings hold up, they’re another sign that AI isn’t replacing your website—it’s changing how people find it. The organizations that win won’t be the ones publishing the most content. They’ll be the ones publishing the most credible content. AI tools reward clear expertise, strong case studies, original insights, and trustworthy sources. And if you want AI to recommend your organization to potential partners, make sure you have a strong partnership webpage (see the ​Partnership Proof Flywheel​) filled with proof points, partner testimonials, case studies, and impact metrics. In the AI era, your website isn’t just for human visitors anymore—it’s also for the machines that decide who gets recommended.