In-Kind Sponsorship: How Local Businesses Support Events Without Writing a Cheque
Not every business has spare cash to sponsor a community event, but most have something else to offer. Here is how in-kind sponsorship actually works and how to ask for it well.
Published July 2026When a small charity approaches local businesses for sponsorship, the conversation defaults to cash almost automatically, and that default costs organisers support they could otherwise have. A printer who cannot spare two hundred pounds might happily print your banners for nothing. A hotel that has no marketing budget this quarter can still offer a function room for a planning meeting or a raffle prize of a night's stay. In-kind sponsorship — goods, services, space, or time given instead of money — often costs the giver far less than the equivalent cash value and is correspondingly easier to secure.
What counts as in-kind support
Printing, signage and banners are the most common starting point, since most towns have at least one print shop that already does this kind of work and can produce it at close to marginal cost. Venue space follows closely behind: a pub function room, a village hall, a hotel lounge, or a business's own car park for overflow parking on the day, all have real value to an event without costing the business much beyond the inconvenience.
Professional services are worth asking for directly rather than assuming they are off the table. An accountant who audits your annual accounts for free, a solicitor who reviews a contract, a photographer who covers the event without charging, or a local IT person who sets up your online donation page — these save a small charity real money and are exactly the kind of contribution many professionals are glad to make, particularly if they get visible credit for it.
Raffle and auction prizes are the most familiar form of in-kind giving and the easiest ask, since most businesses already budget informally for this kind of local goodwill. A meal for two, a haircut, a case of wine, a spa treatment — these cost the business roughly their marginal cost rather than the retail price and are correspondingly easy to secure in reasonable numbers if you ask early enough in the year, before other charities have already been round.
Making the ask
Be specific rather than vague. "Would you consider supporting our event" invites a business to think about cash they may not have. "Would you be able to print fifty A3 posters" or "could we use your car park from 5pm to 9pm on the day" gives them something concrete to say yes or no to, and a concrete request is far more likely to get a concrete answer.
Approach businesses with something to offer them in return, even if it is modest: their logo on printed materials, a mention from the stage, a link from your event page, or simply the goodwill of being seen to support a well-regarded local cause. Most small businesses value local visibility more highly than the cash cost of what they are giving, which is precisely why in-kind sponsorship works so well — it plays to what actually motivates a local sponsor rather than treating them as a cash machine.
Timing matters
Many businesses set aside a modest annual allowance for community sponsorship and allocate it on a first-come basis rather than reviewing every request against every other. Approaching a business in January for an event in September, rather than in July for the same event, dramatically increases the chance of a yes, simply because the budget has not yet been spent elsewhere. Keep a simple record of who you approached and when, so you are not caught out asking the same business twice in a season by different volunteers who don't know the other has already been.
Recording the value properly
In-kind gifts still need to be recorded, both for your own accounts and for saying thank you properly. A rough market-rate value against each donated item or service gives trustees an honest picture of total support received, even though no cash changed hands, and lets you report a more accurate total impact figure at the end of the year. It also means that when a business's contribution is genuinely significant — free venue hire worth several hundred pounds, say — you can acknowledge it at that scale rather than underselling it as a minor favour.
Saying thank you properly
A public thank-you carries more weight for an in-kind sponsor than for a cash one, because visibility is often the actual return they were hoping for. Photograph the printed banners in situ and send the photo to the printer who made them. Mention the venue by name from the stage, not just in a programme footnote. A short, specific note of thanks after the event, describing exactly what their contribution made possible, tends to secure the same support again next year far more reliably than a generic form letter.