Click to zoom / Public domain image
Continuing the analysis of my Solar Racing Basics Poster (see this tag), the cost of logistics, and of building a car, mean that sponsorship is critical. There are three main kinds:
- Cash sponsorship from companies
- In-kind sponsorship (free or reduced-price products and services) from companies
- Crowdfunding (donations)
Major cash sponsors are often acknowledged in the name of the team, e.g. Vattenfall, Agoria, or Top Dutch (the latter is a marketing campaign for the three northern provinces of the Netherlands). Alternatively, major cash sponsors can be acknowledged in the name of the car, e.g. Covestro Sonnenwagen from Sonnenwagen Aachen, thyssenkrupp blue.cruiser from Bochum, or Unlimited (Western Sydney University motto) from Western Sydney Solar Team.
In-kind sponsors often appreciate positive media coverage of the product or service, or photographs of the product or service in use.
Crowdfunding can be particularly promising when a team effectively represents a nation, region, or state, e.g. Agoria (Belgium), EcoPhoton (Malaysia), STC (Thailand), Hyadi (Mexico), or Top Dutch (three northern provinces of the Netherlands).
Click to zoom / Image credits: Anthony Dekker (Agoria’s sponsor logos on the side of their car and Western Sydney’s Unlimited 3.0 painted in their university’s colour)
To read more, see these posts from from team Arrow:
- How to ask for sponsorship money – and get it! (Part 1 of 3)
- How to ask for sponsorship money – and get it! (Part 2 of 3)
- How to ask for sponsorship money – and get it! (Part 3 of 3)
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