Stop Renting Your Sponsors: How to Turn Annual Sponsors into Long-Term Partners

Same sponsor. Same check. Same hole at the golf outing. Every single year. That’s a sponsorship, and it’s not the same as a partnership. Dan Drucker says most nonprofits are great at the first and have barely touched the second. Dan spent 35 years on the corporate side of these deals, so he knows what companies want once they’re past the logo placement. Your 2027 sponsor conversations are about to start. Before they do, Dan joins Trevor to show you how to turn the companies already supporting you into partners who bring their people, their skills, and their networks, not just their checkbook. By 12:30, you’ll know: How to tell which of your current sponsors are ready to become partners, and which are happy right where they are What to say on the first call that isn’t a renewal ask What companies can offer besides cash, and how to match the ask to the company How to make your event the most valuable networking room your sponsor walks into all year How to grow a one-time sponsorship into a multi-year partnership, one step at a time Meet Dan Dan Drucker is the founder of Philanthropy Fuel, where he helps small and mid-size nonprofits build deeper corporate partnerships. He spent 35 years in corporate B2B sales and marketing leadership, including more than 15 years running national sales and marketing for a division of Canon. After moving into the nonprofit sector, he found that most organizations know how to land a sponsor but not how to keep one growing, and he built his practice around closing that gap. He writes a weekly newsletter for nonprofit leaders, volunteers at a dog shelter, and will take a Zoom call with just about anyone in the sector.