A Sponsorship agreement is a valuable tool every online entrepreneur needs these days.
Are you working with sponsors promoting their products or services for money or other resources?
Or do you sponsor events or other activities?
Sponsorships are fantastic ways to earn money or receive free products and services as a content creator.
They are equally beneficial if you’re sponsoring someone’s event, as they provide valuable exposure and marketing opportunities.
However, many things can go wrong when working with a brand or if you are acting as a service provider.
That’s why using a clear sponsorship agreement is crucial to avoid legal issues.
As a business lawyer and entrepreneur, I have created a Sponsorship agreement template that you can easily use to protect yourself.
In this article, we’re focusing on working with brands to create sponsored content.
Whether you’re the sponsored individual or the sponsoring brand, we’ll cover everything you need to know to ensure a profitable, successful partnership and gain more visibility.
Table of Contents
What is a Sponsorship Agreement?
A sponsored posts contract (aka Sponsorship agreement) is an agreement between you and the brand/company that is sponsoring content on your website.
It protects you and your business from legal disputes that can arise.
This specific agreement is used when you receive goods, resources, money, or free products from a sponsor in exchange for promoting their product or service.
As a legally binding contract, it protects both parties as a mutual agreement for a successful partnership that benefits everyone.
Sponsorships can involve complicated legal terms and other elements that can make a sponsorship deal more tricky.
The terms of a sponsorship agreement vary depending on the nature of the sponsorship and the parties involved.
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Who Needs a Sponsorship Agreement?
Anyone creating sponsored content for brands needs a sponsorship agreement or contract.
Both the sponsor (brand) and the sponsored party (you for example) will need a proper sponsorship agreement.
When you’re exchanging money or other resources in return for promoting a business for brand awareness or educational purposes, things can get quite complex.
It’s important to protect each party’s sponsorship rights, abide by state laws, and designate an independent arbitrator to resolve disputes.
Maintaining a positive relationship with brands in such agreements is crucial for future collaborations, whether with the same brand or others.
My contract template here has helped thousands of entrepreneurs secure deals with brands safely.
Benefits of Sponsorship Agreements
Both sponsors and content creators will find benefits to using a sponsorship agreement such as:
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For businesses:
Sponsorship agreements are a valuable tool for businesses looking to increase their brand visibility and reach.
By partnering with another organization or individual, a business can gain access to new markets, increase brand awareness, and potentially boost sales.
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For event organizers:
Event organizers often rely on sponsorship agreements to secure funding and support for their events.
These agreements can help cover the costs of organizing an event, such as venue rentals, marketing expenses, and other logistical needs.
And if media coverage is involved, you’ll get in front of even more people.
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For athletes and artists:
Professional athletes and artists often enter into sponsorship agreements with companies or brands that align with their personal brand image.
This type of partnership not only provides financial support but also boosts their credibility and exposure.
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For non-profit organizations:
A nonprofit sponsorship agreement can be a crucial source of income for non-profit organizations, helping them fund their programs and activities.
By partnering with a corporate sponsor, a non-profit can also benefit from the company’s resources and expertise.
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For individuals or teams pursuing competitive endeavors:
Whether it’s an individual athlete training for the Olympics or a team competing in a regional tournament, sponsorship agreements can provide much-needed financial support to help cover expenses such as training, equipment, and travel costs.
Overall, a Sponsorship agreement protects both parties involved including their intellectual property, and builds better business relationships. It also ensures that both parties fulfill their end of the agreement.
The key is being a good sponsorship partner so you can continue to make money from sponsored content (whether writing, speaking, or more).
If you abide by the conditions of this agreement, you’ll be able to use that experience to find more sponsors.
All of this can lead to a very solid income stream that can make you money for years to come.
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Types of Sponsorships
There are four main types of sponsorships:
1. Financial Event Sponsorship:
This is one of the most popular types of sponsorship, in which an event organizer receives financial support in the form of a sponsorship fee in exchange for promoting the sponsor’s brand or providing other benefits.
2. In-Kind Sponsorship:
This kind of sponsorship provides services or goods instead of money and contributes more value to the event versus a financial sponsorship.
For example:
- Venue partner (example: sports teams offering their arena or stadium for events like music festivals or charity fundraisers)
- Food sponsors (someone provides food for an event or activity)
- Prize sponsors (someone sponsors prizes for an event)
- Digital sponsors (an individual or brand provides digital resources such as virtual event platforms, software, or online services)
3. Promotional Partners:
Promotional partners are individuals like bloggers and influencers with a large social media following who promote your event.
Social media is an excellent platform for brand promotion or for promoting events like summits or bundles.
Eighty-one percent of people are more likely to buy products from a brand they encounter on social media.
4. Media Event Sponsorship:
This type of sponsorship involves a brand promoting its event through media channels.
It’s particularly popular for any nonprofit organization with budget constraints.
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What to Include in a Sponsorship Agreement? (Key Clauses)
This sponsorship agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and potential sponsors and includes the following legal provisions:
- Contact information for both parties
- Services to be provided (What exactly you’ll be doing as well as the promotional material needed to render those services.)
- Confidentiality provisions
- Intellectual property rights, including use of sponsor’s trademarks, proprietary information, and content
- Clear payment terms
- Term and duration: The length of the sponsorship agreement should be specified, along with any renewal options.
- Termination clause (It defines how many days prior written notice and other things each party needs to end the contract.)
- A Force Majeure clause for events that are out of your hands like hurricanes, global health events like the COVID-19 pandemic, terrorism, etc.
- Legal compliance and FTC disclosures required for sponsorships
- The status as independent contractors for sponsored parties
- The key performance indicators to track if the goals are reached or not
- Respective signatures of both parties
- Dispute resolution: In case of any disputes or conflicts arising from the agreement, this section outlines how they will be resolved.
- and more!
The brand may have a proposed modification to the contract, and this is perfectly normal and part of the negotiation process, so don’t worry.
They may want to add something like an exclusivity clause that would restrict one or both parties from engaging in certain activities with a third party that may be a competitor of the sponsor.
Once the sponsor agrees and returns the signed document, congratulations; you have a legal contract for making money with sponsored content!
How to Write a Sponsorship Agreement Template in Minutes
Luckily for you, our sponsorship agreement template makes it super easy to create a sponsorship contract in minutes.
A sponsorship arrangement without a contract can expose you to legal liability, party breaches, hefty fines, and expensive attorneys.
With a detailed agreement, you’re covered in case an issue arises, such as a sponsor’s breach and loss of future payments and income.
A sponsorship agreement is the only way to collaborate in a way where you and the other party benefit and avoid sticky legal situations.
This agreement helps you follow the governing law of the state that will have the legal jurisdiction in case you need mediation to resolve a dispute.
This template allows you to monetize like a pro!
And what’s the best part? It’s totally affordable! There’s no need to break the bank on expensive lawyer fees.
Because I make money myself from sponsorships, I have included ALL the important terms you need.
Everything from payment to content usage rights, so you can focus on creating amazing sponsored content.
And get instant peace of mind and legal protection.
Our Sponsorship Agreement Template also comes with these helpful bonuses to boost your legal coverage:
- Sponsored Posts Disclaimer
- Mediation Agreement Template
- Late Payment Fee Legal Clause to encourage payment on time!
But running a business, whether it’s brick and mortar or online, requires more protection against expensive legal mistakes like these.
That’s why we designed our most popular legal bundle, the VIP Legal Bundle.
What’s even better is that you get legal agreements and contracts written by an attorney who understands entrepreneurship (yours truly).
The VIP legal bundle comes with 16 very important legal templates you need for business:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions Template
- Disclaimer Template
- Sponsored Posts Contract Template
- Guest Blogger Agreement Template
- Independent Contractor Template
- Design Service Agreement Template
- Confidentiality Agreement (NDA Template)
- Affiliate Agreement Template
- Media Release Agreement Template
- LLC Operating Agreement Template
- Sweepstakes (Giveaway) Terms and Conditions
- Consulting Agreement
- Coaching Agreement Template
- Consulting Agreement Template
- Partnership Agreement Template
- Website Sale Agreement Template
You’ll also get amazing bonuses that make this bundle one of the best legal resources you can buy (which you can learn more about here).
Investing in yourself now can save you tons of money and stress later down the road.
A well-drafted sponsorship agreement ensures that you and the other party are on the same page for a mutually beneficial and profitable partnership.
And the additional templates in the VIP bundle are much-needed legal agreements and templates to fully protect your business and financial interests.
Click here to grab the Sponsorship agreement template OR save more money and grab our VIP legal bundle (that gives you complete peace of mind!)
Different Names for a Sponsorship Agreement
As a business lawyer, I have been asked about the different names for a sponsorship agreement.
So you have heard of them as:
- Sponsored Posts contract
- Event sponsorship agreement
- Sponsorship agreement form
- Brand collaboration agreement
- Sponsorship contract
- Sponsor contract
- and more!
The key thing to remember is that they are all essentially the same thing – a contract between two parties outlining their sponsorship relationship.
The main difference may lie in which party is initiating the agreement.
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FAQs on Sponsorship Agreement
Below are answers to some more common questions I get on sponsorship contracts.
What are the 4 types of sponsorship?
We discussed these above but here’s a recap:
- Financial Event Sponsorship: Event organizers receive financial support in the form of a sponsorship fee in exchange for promoting the sponsor’s brand.
- In-Kind Sponsorship: Provides services or goods instead of money, such as venue partners (e.g., sports teams offering their stadium for music festivals), food sponsors, prize sponsors, and digital sponsors.
- Promotional Partners: Influencers with large social media followings promote your event, leveraging social media’s power for brand visibility.
- Media Event Sponsorship: In these types of sponsorships, brands promote events through media channels. This is often popular with any nonprofit organization with budget constraints.
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How to draft a sponsorship contract?
The best way to easily draft a sponsorship agreement is to use our sponsorship agreement template.
As a business attorney who has helped over 50,000 entrepreneurs, I drafted this template to include all the must-have legal provisions so you don’t have to.
Once you purchase the document, you can download it and follow the directions to customize the template.
Then, you’ll have a bullet-proof formal contract in 15 minutes or less. It’s that easy.
In case you’re wondering, no, you shouldn’t use a free legal contract.
They are often missing the most important legal provisions, meaning you won’t be fully covered.
If you don’t believe me, listen to these 50+ entrepreneurs who don’t trust free legal templates.
Here’s a helpful video on this topic as well. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to learn more!
Do you need a contract for a sponsorship?
Yes, you do!
Working with brands can be exciting, but little mistakes can trigger BIG problems with any partnership agreement.
Real Life Example of a Blogger Regretting Not Using a Sponsorship contract
Not too long ago (and this comes up during my consultation calls as well), business owners shared with me their regrets and mistakes.
Some I was able to help them with, some were a little too late.
One of the worst mistakes I’ve ever heard from a blogger or online business owner is not having any sort of agreement in place for sponsored content.
The blogger shared that they had been approached by a company to write a sponsored blog post promoting their product.
Excited about the opportunity and eager to please, the blogger quickly agreed without discussing any terms or signing a contract.
However, after writing and publishing the post, the company refused to pay the agreed-upon amount and even demanded changes to the post without compensation.
The blogger was left feeling frustrated and taken advantage of, but without any legal grounds to dispute the situation.
This is just one example of how a proper sponsorship agreement could have protected both parties and avoided a negative experience for the blogger.
By clearly outlining the terms and expectations of the sponsored post, such as payment, changes to content, and publication rights, this situation could have been avoided.
So, it’s important for you to learn from this mistake and always use a written sponsorship agreement to protect yourself in any future sponsored partnerships.
A done-for-you comprehensive sponsorship agreement makes you look like a pro and helps you avoid costly legal issues and stress when working with brands.
Note while I am a business lawyer and provide legal help, this is not legal advice.
It can be expensive to hire an attorney, but if you have a unique situation as a sponsored party, sign up for a consultation and get additional help and coaching.
This service is much less expensive and has no strings attached, so it’s not your typical attorney-client relationship.
I even have several content creators come to me to review their brand sponsorship agreement BEFORE they sign to make sure they are not signing away their legal rights.
See my customer Key for example:
Final Thoughts on a Sponsorship Agreement
In today’s world, sponsorship agreements are not limited to large corporations or professional athletes. They can benefit businesses, event organizers, non-profit organizations, individuals, and teams pursuing various endeavors.
Sponsorship agreements are essential for anyone creating sponsored content or collaborating with brands.
This is one of those partnership agreements that protects both parties, clarifies expectations, and ensures a successful partnership.
By using a comprehensive sponsorship agreement template, you can avoid legal issues, maintain positive relationships with brands, and maximize the benefits of sponsorships.
Whether it’s for brand awareness, educational purposes, or event promotion, remember that a well-drafted sponsorship agreement is key to building a profitable and sustainable income stream through sponsored content.
Get the Sponsorship Agreement here OR purchase our VIP Legal Bundle to cover almost every aspect of your business legally.
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