What a great day in Marshall! We had a nice size group meet for the networking lunch surrounding the topic of business/corporate sponsorship of nonprofits. Although every nonprofit may define sponsorship a bit differently, one thing was unanimous — local businesses are tapped while also seeing an increase in requests for nonprofits. And while that may be discouraging, after sitting in on the morning’s webinar about sponsorship (which was fantastic) I came away energized and believing there is definitely an opportunity for nonprofits to create unique, win-win sponsorship opportunities — even in a down economy. I’ve mentioned it before, but I love this topic and could go on and on… I won’t do that, but would encourage anyone who has even the slightest interest in boosting revenue through any type of partnerships with businesses (even if it’s $250…) to consider participating in a repeat of the sponsorship webinar on September 16.
Speaking of the participating in webinars: prior to the networking lunch MCN and Bremer Bank, one of MCN’s cost-saving partners and sponsors, did a test run of webinar technology at the Bremer bank meeting room in Marshall. The idea is to offer the webinars at Bremer in the future and make them open to nonprofits to attend.
MCN webinar fees are paid per connection, meaning if several people come together to help pay the fee, the cost is lower for everyone. And with a group coming together around a common topic, the webinar might feel a bit more like an “in-person” workshop, giving those who participate a chance to linger after a bit and discuss the topic further.
As of now, the first “open-to-all” webinar is slated to be “Getting Your Nonprofit on Board with Blogging, Facebook and Twitter” on May 25. Stay tuned for more details (like cost and how to register), but if you have questions in the meantime, free to contact Lois Schmidt, Nonprofit Resource Specialist for Bremer Bank at 507-537-0273.
The next Marshall nonprofit networking lunch will be Thursday, May 13. We are hoping to have one or two nonprofits who are actively using social media locally attend and share their experience — if you know of a group, I’d love to hear from you.
