Car dealerships, real estate companies, long distance companies, soft drink bottlers, and every other kind of company that doesn't have it's own retail space would love to sponsor some Wells...all you have to do is show them the opportunity. Car dealerships seem to be the most eager sponsors.

A used car dealership in Dayton, Ohio offered to sponsor up to 200 Wells to be placed for area charities. With plans like this, the charities receive 100% of the income, and the dealership gets to display their message on the lower half of the sign. Everybody wins!

Other industries that make great sponsors are the suppliers of brand-name products which are sold in the stores where you want to place Wells. For instance, if you want to place a Well in a grocery store, contact one of the breakfast cereal companies, soft drink suppliers, or pet food companies and ask them if they want to be a sponsor. But the easiest way to find a sponsor is to look in the newspaper or at local billboards and see who's already spending money to get their name out in the public view.

Another sponsorship source is local community foundations. Many cities have depository foundations where wealthy individuals and corporations donate large amounts of money to be used for community purposes. In Dayton, Ohio where our corporation headquarters is located, there is such an organization called, "The Dayton Foundation". In our Yellow Pages directory, it is listed in a section called, "Foundations--Educational, Philanthropic, Research, Etc." If you have a listing like that, you stand a good chance of finding a sponsor by making some phone calls and asking "if they have any donors that might want to help raise money for your charity by sponsoring Spiral Wishing Wells that will be placed in stores and restaurants where they will also give very positive public relations for the donor..." Many of these donors are very interested in using these funds to benefit local charities and to generate positive image for their corporation at the same time. They understand the concept of an "endowment fund" that generates investment income. The Spiral Wishing Well is fantastic at generating much greater returns than it costs. That's the kind of language to use with community-minded philanthropists.

How to Get a Sponsor

The first step is to get a Well placed. A prospective sponsor absolutely must be able to see how much fun people have with it. They want to make sure that people aren't feeling "solicited" so they will have nothing but warm feelings about the corporate sponsor. The only report we've heard about successfully getting a sponsor before a Well is placed is when there is already one in the community such as at a museum or zoo where the sponsor can observe it in action. Certainly, after you have at least one Well in a prominent retail location, you can line up several corporate sponsors for other locations using that first Well as your "demo."

Most sponsorship arrangements are for $1500 the first year (or at least enough to pay for a Well) followed by $1,000 for each year therafter. There is plenty of room on the bottom-right area of our generic sign for their message. They will gladly make the artwork for you to slip into the sign frame. They'll want their logo and a message such as, "Sponsored by John Doe Ford" or, "Made possible by your friends at Tri-City Chevrolet." If they want to distribute peel-off coupons from the sign, you can offer to keep the coupon pads full each time you collect the money.

If you want to place several Wells throughout your city, we recommend that you offer a car dealership the exclusive chance to sponsor all the Wells you plan to place in that city. Car dealerships are very eager to have good will with their community, are locally-owned, and therefore are very likely to make a fast decision in your favor.