Reporting to Sponsors M-9

The one who lies (exaggerates) will not be believed.

If you are perplexed about how to report one of your sponsors, something is wrong. You probably skipped an essential step in program planning or program management. Read on, however, and you should be able to clarify your concern as well as determine how to prepare a specific report for a particular sponsor.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

When you finish this module you should be able to:

1. Discuss how "marketing programs" and "program planning" are closely related to reporting to sponsors.
2. Outline an oral or written report for a specific sponsor.

HAVE A MARKETING STRATEGY

This module is closely related to module M-7 which tells you how to develop a marketing strategy. If you have a well developed marketing strategy you will know your own organization, what it has to offer, and what the sponsor expects from you. Your end-of-program report or progress report will come directly from your marketing strategy. You may wish to refer back to module M-7 now or after you have read through this module.

In your marketing strategy (if you have one) you identified what your sponsor wanted. That sponsor gave you some kind of support based on the expectation of some specific return (even if that return was something intangible like "a positive public image"). Focus your report on the overlap between what you offered the sponsor and what the sponsor expected as a result of the support given to your organization.

HAVE A PLAN

Even without a great marketing strategy, if you have a well-written plan which your sponsor has agreed to support, you may still be able to prepare an effective report for that sponsor. Look at the objectives for your plan. Look also at the goals of your sponsor. By comparing these two lists you should be able to identify overlap. Focus your report on this common ground.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What has been our relationship with this sponsor (how long, based on what common interests, current expectations)?

2. Do we have any formal agreement?

3. Why did this sponsor agree to support us?

4. What have we accomplished that would interest the sponsor?

5. What have we done for the sponsor?

6. Why should the sponsor continue supporting our organization?

7. Does this sponsor have a preferred format for reports?

8. Can we get copies of previous reports that may help us with the format or content of this report?

OUTLINE THE REPORT

If the sponsor has a specific form or format for the report, review it and follow it carefully. If not, use the following outline:

1. Purpose of the report (i.e., "this is a final report since the program ended last month"; or "this is a progress report because some new opportunities have arisen and we would like your input on some proposed changes in our program").

2. Background (i.e., "we have been working together for the past five years and you have supported two other major programs of our organization which include . . . ."; or "according to the proposal which you funded we agreed to . . . ."; or "the objectives of our program which you have been supporting are . . . .").

3. Summary of Accomplishments (brief overview of highlights).

4. Inputs (what your organization contributed to the program in terms of time, money, materials, services, expertise).

5. Review of Activities

6. Results (reported according to the objectives with at least one paragraph for each objective).

Who participated?

What were participants' reactions to the program?

How did the participants change their knowledge, skills, attitudes or aspirations?

What did participants do as a result of the program?

What long term impact did the program have on the participants or on the community?

How did the sponsor benefit from this program?

7. Lessons Learned

8. Future Plans

9. Summary and Conclusions (review highlights and tell how sponsors support was essential to the program activities or results).

EXERCISE: