The degree of donor credit is usually agreed upon when the donation is solicited/received. When I was producing dance, my proposals always described what we were prepared to offer in return.
Remember, it's all about problem solving -- yours and theirs. Your problem (as the producer) is thatyou need money or in-kind services. their problem (as the donor) is that they need. . .well. . .it depends on who they are.
If the donor is a foundation or a government funding agency, their problem is that they have to find the most effective way to distribute their funds (remember that for every dollar they have available, they have $10 -- or more -- in requests). They need to know (or at least think) that the money they give you will not be wasted, and in the case of government agencies, they may also need to know that certain geographical constituencies are being served). These funders usually include specific acknowledgement requirements as part of their grant guidelines.
Corporations need the good will they get by having their names associated with high-profile arts events (see the previous thread on
Phillip Morris, et.al.). Their acknowledgement requirements are more flexible, but the more you're prepared to give, the morely you are to get.
Example:
When Houston Dance Coalition was producing an annual adjudicated concert, one of the hard and fast rules was that the adjudicators had to be from outside the Houston metropolitan area. After 4 or 5 years, we had pretty much exhausted the pool of qualified adjudicators within Texas (and had used several more than once), yet flying them in from across the country was cost-prohibitive. Enter SW Airlines.
Now, in-kind donations of airfare are sometimes hard to come by --
everyone wants free airfare. We persuaded SW Airlines by offering them:
a full page ad in the program
an 8-1/2 x 11 lobby placard
credit in our large print ads ("
Dance Houston jetes with Southwest Airlines[/i]" -- or something like that -- in tiny print at the bottom)
thanks from the stage at both the adjudication and the gala performance (not a big deal -- I emceed the adjudication, which was an all-day affair; I needed
something to say between dances. At the performance, we had an announcer from our local NPR station -- as part of our media sponsorship deal -- and he included the acknowledgement in his remarks. It was low-key and in good taste.).
A comment in passing: SW Airlines does something that I think is very cool. All of their donations are in the name of specific long-time employees. in our case, it was in the name of a baggage handler at Houston's Hobby Airport.
<small>[ 08-11-2002, 18:14: Message edited by: Azlan ]</small>