Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

My two cents worth...
By sponsoring, those companies will get brand affinity directly from its target market. If they have new products and you allow them to give away samples to kids during the event, then that's free sampling for them.
Such sponsorship also builds brand awareness like displaying of streamers and getting mentioned in the acknowledgements. That's a cheaper form of advertisement.
If you will bring this to newspapers and mention the sponsors' names in the press release article, that's media mileage for them.
When I accept sponsorships, what I have in mind is getting present to my target market. If the event allows booth set-up, I get a booth so I could prominently display my logo. Sometimes, I have streamers hanging at strategic locations so I can get brand recognition.
You may want to make your sponsorship package very attractive so that target sponsors will bite your offer.
Good luck!

If you get on the website of many of the toy manufacturers you will see they typically give sponsor dollars for education. They are very clear on the type of events they will be associated with. When you see a fit-- my advice is to ignore the online procedure-- call and set up a personal relationship with them. Otherwise, you are one of several requests they get each day.

Sponsors want to know "WIIFM" what's in it for me. They typically want exposure. I have done several events as you are undertaking. Create various levels of sponsorship-- with different levels of exposure. You can sell anything- from logos on their pencils to their backpacks. I worked on an international trade show where sponsors paid $25K to put their logo's on the hotel room pass.

I recently did some research for a literacy program. The State of AZ looks at 4th grade reading levels to influence the number of projected prison cells they need to build. Just an interesting fact that might be useful to you. Rewards for academic excellence happen thru life. My daughter is on an acedemic scholarship. And I receive little pieces of paper each month with my name on them.

Sell Well and Prosper tm

Maybe you should speak with a few people who are potential donors, not to convince them that this is something they should want to do, but to learn how they make these kinds of decisions and what it would take to get them to want to participate.

If you are genuinely in information-gathering mode, they would probably level with you and tell you what they look for in making sponsorship decisions. Don't spoil it by trying to make a sale too quickly. Listen to what they have to say, take great notes, and learn from them.

After you have spoken with 4 or 5 different people, analyze your notes and you'll have your answer. Every situation -- and every target audience -- is different, and you need to understand the factors at play in your specific situation.