Corporate Perspectives on Festivals

Whether it’s just a small chunk of change from food sales at a local cultural celebration or it’s the industrial enterprise of running a major music event, many festivals in the US are designed to make money. Most science festivals, on the other hand, are much more concerned with community participation and change than making a quick buck. There are opportunities for science festivals to earn income, but most in the US are fueled in no small part by corporate donations. At the International Public Science Events Conference February 2014 we brought together four corporations involved in science festivals: Chevron, Dow Chemical, Time Warner Cable, Thermo Fisher Scientific. Representatives from these companies discussed their perspective with festival organizers. Here are some highlights of the conversation:

• Major corporations may receive asks for contributions several times a day, all for worthy causes. This is why corporations adhere to a specific giving strategy. Understanding each corporation’s philanthropic strategy will help you best frame whatever project you are asking to be funded. To paraphrase, “we’ve set our own corporate challenges for philanthropy. If you can teach us how to figure out our challenges that is a very good thing.”
• A good story can be as important as numbers and impact metrics. To paraphrase, “There are two kinds of things we are looking for: one is the metrics about numbers reached and impact, the other is to have such a compelling story that we would love to share it with our employees so that they know something memorable about what we are doing. It is great if you have the numbers, but every once in a while bring us a whacky idea for which we simply can’t say no.”
• Events are particularly good at involving employees as volunteers, and volunteer opportunities are more valuable to a company if they build a sense of identity for employees. For example, one volunteering employee was heard to say, “this is the first time I’ve felt like a real part of the company.” Festival organizers should work hard to create this kind of experience.
• Employee volunteers become advocates for the festival, but need to be sold on the concept. Try holding a small preview of the festival by coming onto a corporate campus in advance and doing activities with employees. During the festival itself make sure that volunteers have the chance to participate and enjoy the event.
• A single science festival event might be great, but the best arguments for giving are about how the festival makes a broader collective impact and encourages many collaborators to work together as a community. Seeing the overall quality of the festival and the involvement of partners increase every year is important. In the words of one panelist: “We want to feel like we are going somewhere.”

Fundraising is a well-established field, but there are unique fundraising opportunities inherent to events. We will be hosting a week-long online discussion about fundraising for events this coming April. To catch announcements about joining this discussion and others like it subscribe to Science Festival Headlines, or follow @ScienceFests.