ALL ABOUT Chapter Sponsorships!
What’s a sponsorship?
A sponsorship is a mode of fundraising where businesses or families support your DECA chapter! Sponsorships are a great source of funding because all they require is your effort to reach out. There are a variety of ways you can get sponsors (described below). We recommend trying all of these as generally a combination of these will provide you with the most output. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They say no?
Getting Started
Reach out to your ASB, CTE and school organizations.
Your DECA chapter is tightly connected to your school, it’s both a co-curricular activity which means it oftentimes can be categorized in different ways and can receive funding form a variety of sources. While you read this, remember, not all schools have the same system for their internal organizations so make sure to check with your school’s policies on each of these.
Your School’s ASB
Your School’s ASB
Your school’s Associated Student Body or Student Government is a very important part of your school and also plays a big role in funding extracurricular activities. While not true for all schools, oftentimes ASBs have extra funding that can be spent by those who need it. Generally talking directly with someone involved is best for more information.Your School’s CTE Department
Your School’s/District's CTE Department
All schools in the state of Washington are required to offer CTE credit classes. Most districts or schools have some department to manage the classes that count for CTE. These departments generally get individual funding and sometimes have extra funding for events like DECA. Contact your district’s CTE director or talk to your advisor to get more information.
Other School Organizations
Other School Organizations
Some schools have other organizations like Parent or Alumni organizations that could be interested in helping support your DECA chapter. Oftentimes these groups have pools of money to support students but few student organizations request this money. If you ask, these groups would likely be happy to support!
Contacting Businesses
Businesses local to your school are often very excited to support students! The best way to work with businesses is to either use the connections within your chapter, eg. a member knows the owner of a restaurant, or simply email, call, or walk into their store. Because businesses operate to make a profit, sometimes they may want something else in return. There are a variety of ways you can give back to your sponsors. One common method is placing the business’s name on school DECA merch. Another great option is providing the business with marketing or hospitality along with any other skills you have learned from DECA!