For small businesses, supporting local charitable events is about much more than putting a company name on a poster, although that’s nice. It is an opportunity to give something back to the community, meet local people and play a small part in helping worthwhile organisations thrive.
At Alexika, we recently had the pleasure of sponsoring a barrel of beer at the Settle Victoria Hall Beer Festival in our local town in North Yorkshire. Managing Director, Mark Robinson, also volunteered at the festival, helping to pull pints, and had a very sociable time of it making sure that thirsty visitors were well looked after. The festival brings together local people and visitors for a weekend of good beer, live music and, importantly, fundraising for the Victoria Hall (the world’s oldest music hall, no less!) and The Principle Trust Children’s Charity. The Principle Trust exists to support some of Yorkshire’s most vulnerable children and their families by providing free, week-long respite breaksin their fully equipped respite homes.
For a small business, involvement in events like this can have several benefits. Sponsorship raises awareness of the business among people who live and work locally, helping to build brand recognition and goodwill. For businesses with a local client base, but also for those of us with clients nationally and internationally, it also provides an opportunity to meet people face-to-face in a relaxed environment, creating relationships that would be difficult to establish through traditional advertising alone.
Perhaps more importantly, though, local sponsorship is about being part of the community. Small businesses depend on their local communities, and those communities benefit when businesses are prepared to contribute their time and resources.
Events such as the Settle Victoria Hall Beer Festival don’t happen without the commitment of volunteers, organisers, sponsors and local businesses. Sponsorship helps provide the financial support needed to keep community facilities and activities going, while volunteering adds another valuable resource: time. We encourage even more small businesses to get involved next year!
So we highly recommend supporting local charitable and community events that bring people together. And, of course, if supporting the community occasionally means pulling a few pints along the way, that’s no hardship at all! To find out more, please contact us.