Who will invest in, sponsor, donate or pay for your project?
individuals: clients, people buying tickets for a concert: people buying your deliverable
Ask yourself: What is in it for them? What is their gain?
investors: friends/family/yourself/collaborators/partners
Ask yourself: What is in it for them? What is their gain? How can I compensate them?
sponsors: companies, institutions or organisations that want to improve their public image
Ask yourself: what is in it for them?
funds: governments or charities with a goal or mission to support art/music.
What is the profile or particular mission of this fund?
Ask yourself: how will your project help the fund to accomplish this mission?
Some funds support the social and participatory aspects of the arts in particular. Other funds have a strictly regional function (for example fostering the art of playing the church organ in the small Dutch city of Kampen).
How to deal with parties that are willing to invest?
Agree on how and when to pay back or compensate. This can be in money (“when my apple trees bear fruit, you as an investor will receive (part of) the money I made by selling apples”) or ‘in kind’ (“when my apple trees bear fruit, you as an investor will receive a full basket for five years in row”)
How to deal with sponsors?
Understand what is in it for a sponsor. What does the sponsor want in return?
Can you deliver what the sponsor wants in return?
What is the balance between what the sponsor is paying and what the sponsor wants in return? How much does your offering to the sponsor cost?
Is what the sponsor wants in return a match with what you can offer? If, for instance, the sponsoring company wants to offer hundred tickets of your concert to international relations, but your recital is entirely sung in the Dutch language, will you change the language in which you sing?
How to deal with patrons?
Even the most generous patron/maecenas has expectations. Can you, as the receiver of their charity, live up to them?
How to set up a crowdfunding campaign?
Crowdfunding not only helps you to finance your project, it also helps you to engage people and build a community. You can find a quick guide to crowdfunding in Appendix 1.