A new playground provides nearly endless benefits — whether building one for your shopping mall, museum or hospital, you can provide kids with an educational, fun and adventurous space that supports learning and growth. However, cost is a major concern for most businesses interested in creating play spaces. Between zoning, equipment and other aspects, playground projects can quickly become expensive.

Fortunately, businesses can tap into many financing options to fund their play areas, including playground sponsorships.

What Is Brand Sponsorship?

In brand sponsorship, a company financially sponsors a product, project or event. In exchange, the sponsor receives marketing exposure and brand activation. Each party benefits — the sponsored company can boost its funding, and the sponsor can promote its brand to a targeted audience. Sometimes, sponsors will donate materials or equipment instead of money.

For playgrounds, brand sponsorships typically take the form of advertisements. For example, say an adventure park wants to build a new play area for young kids. This adventure park could secure funding from other local businesses and organizations and, in return, put their logos and branding on signage surrounding the new play area. This type of collaboration drives new customers to the local businesses, increasing brand awareness and engagement.

Types of Sponsorship Models for Playground Projects

Understanding the types of sponsorships that are most suitable for playgrounds can help you choose the best option for your project. While financial support is the most well-known form of brand sponsorship, businesses building play areas should also explore in-kind sponsorships. Compare the two below:

1. Financial sponsorship: A sponsor donates financial support and receives brand recognition and promotion in return. The level of financing varies — it may be a more modest amount for a new slide or a large sum to invest in new surfacing and seating. Depending on the support offered, the recipient may implement the sponsor’s logo and details in different ways.
2. In-kind sponsorship: If a sponsor can donate free services or products in lieu of funding, they may do so in the form of an in-kind sponsorship. For example, a construction company may donate free building materials, and a printing company might offer to print promotional playground fliers and brochures for no charge. In return, the play space will highlight their brands.

Either form of playground financing can help businesses offset the expenses required to make their playground plans a reality.

How to Find Brands for Playground Sponsorships

If sponsorship branding sounds like a good fit for your play area build, you’ll want to know the most effective ways to locate sponsors. Here are a few ways to identify potential brand partnerships:

1. Get in Touch With Local Businesses

The best place to start is by contacting businesses and organizations in your local area. These are highly valuable potential sponsors that are likely interested in supporting community projects and reaching local audiences. The key is to connect with brands that have similar missions and goals to your own business. For example, a family-friendly restaurant or an education nonprofit may be an ideal fit for sponsoring a play area for kids. Reach out to community brands to make a connection, learn about their needs and propose your idea.

2. Ask Contacts for References

Do you have several industry contacts from a business conference or trade show you attended? Consider sending them an email or setting up a call to discuss your idea and inquire about businesses they might know that could be the right fit. Many companies are happy to offer assistance and access to their networks. By simply asking, you may be able to open up doors to perfect brand sponsorships you wouldn’t have been able to find otherwise.

3. Consider Your Existing Network

Don’t overlook your existing network! Sometimes, the best sponsors are companies you’ve worked with in the past. For example, maybe you previously partnered with a sports retailer to put on an event. This brand could be the ideal sponsor for a play area, potentially donating sports equipment like balls and safety gear or financing a small court. If it makes sense to work with them for your business’s play area, try reaching out and giving them some information about your project.

Extra Tips for Maximizing Playground Sponsorship Efforts

As you consider working with brand sponsors and start looking at partnership options, it’s important to keep a few key elements in mind to drive success:

• Create a clear proposal: A straightforward, detailed proposal should be at the heart of your playground financing endeavors. Include information about the project, what you want to achieve and how sponsors will benefit. For example, if you’re installing a play space inside, emphasize that you’re looking for indoor playground financing. This way, brands will know your goals and how the partnership might work overall.
• Vet potential sponsors: As you look into sponsorships, note that not every business you find will be the right fit. Even if a brand comes to you and asks to sponsor your play area, you want to vet them thoroughly and ensure they make sense for audience alignment, mutual value and other aspects.
• Maximize your resources: While several brand sponsors can have a big impact on your funding, their contributions may not be able to finance your entire play area build. If you’re limited on funding, try to get creative and maximize your resources, such as installing multifunctional equipment or building in phases.
• Keep your own brand in mind: Consider your own business’s mission and goals as you look for brand sponsors. The partnerships you choose should complement your brand. If you aren’t sure whether a sponsor is a good fit, it may be best to look into other options first.
• Remember your audience: Not every brand you get funding from needs to speak directly to your audience, but you do want to think about which companies can help you give your audience enjoyable experiences. This is particularly important when accepting in-kind donations.

Explore Outdoor and Indoor Playground Financing With Soft Play®

Through brand sponsorships, businesses of all types can gather funding to support creating innovative, exciting play areas that benefit kids. However, brand sponsors are just one source of playground financing — businesses should look into all their options to make the most of their plans and lead a successful project.

Soft Play, the global leader in contained playground equipment, can help you finance your playground. We understand that building a play area can take considerable funding, time and effort, and we want to support you in creating an exciting, educational space.

When you choose us for playground financing, you get access to various equipment types and playground experts in one convenient place. In addition to financing options, our team can help brainstorm ways to offset costs through branded activations and partnerships.

Learn more about our financing options and how they can benefit your business by contacting us today!