This is part of a series of blogs which address diversifying your income and raising funding for your creative business or company of one.
1. Your Cover Letter to a sponsor/ funder
Your cover letter - a page, max 3 saved as a pdf and emailed/ printed.
Add your logo and website to the top right and your business/ home address if appropriate.
Address the letter to a specific person not sir/ madam.
1/2 a page
Your profile and a photo of you
Key projects/ awards/ milestones
Quotes about your work x 2
Online following/ audience/ engagement
1/2 a page - a page
The project idea and it's overall budget
Who the project will benefit and how
Ways for people to get involved in the project
Your ambition for other funding asks
How you'll display funder logos and where eg on your website project pages, on print - how many...
Wrap up paragraph
Your financial ask and next steps for the person reading
Quotes about your trustability
How do you want to be contacted and by when
2. Is it clear? Really clear?
Ask at least 3 colleagues and a family member to read your ask. We often thing we know what we mean but others are confused. Ask them to check for clarity of explanation and typos.
Have you done your homework and found our how the project might serve a funder/ sponsor? If it's for the local authority have your read their cultural strategy and quoted it in your letter?
3. Send out multiple offers to multiple people at once
You might find it helpful to log your emails/ letters - aim for at least 20 asks for one potential yes! You might not hear back from some, you might get some no thanks or some not right now but perhaps in the future. Keep these people up to date with your work. Ask if you can add them to your mailing list or send them updates another way?
Other things to consider...
Linked in is a great way to keep your CV up to date online - you can link to your profile in the letter
Your website and social media presence matters - are you working hard to keep it clear and engaging to visitors?
Is it the right time in your business to manage expectations of funders and sponsors - what work is involved for you? Perhaps you have to put on an extra invite event or a preview?
Do you have any other questions on asking for match funding? Come and chat in our facebook group!