A Framework for the Analysis of Strategic Approaches Employed by Non-profit Sport Organisations in Seeking Corporate Sponsorship

Despite a continually growing body of literature that investigates the nature of corporate sponsorship of sport from the perspective of the donor, it is suggested that very little is known about how sport organisations are positioning themselves in their efforts to attract sponsors. Additionally, we argue that there has been limited effort in relating the sponsorship endeavours of sport organisations to the broader strategic management literature. This paper develops a framework that highlights the primary factors that underpin the ability of non-profit sport organisations to generate funding from the corporate sector. The analysis is based on data obtained from semi-structured interviews with marketing personnel in thirty-four Canadian national sport organisations (NSOs). Analysis of the data reveals two key environmental factors that appear to contribute to the ability of NSOs to raise sponsorship funds: media exposure and participation rates. The framework classifies sport organisations as belonging to one of five categorisations, based on their relative levels of these two factors. The discussion of the results provides an assessment of the ability of NSOs to influence these primary sponsorship success determinants. We suggest ways in which the framework developed here could be used in the future to further our understanding of the strategic nature of sponsorship acquisition.