Getting sponsorship out of companies: ideas

[leftie]

I support a local group who keep our village looking nice for the 'Britain in Bloom' type competitions. This year we have won the county nomination to be in the finals of the national next year, which tends to be expensive (planting bulbs and plants, getting the grass cut, having the roads swept, buying planters, restoring hedges, covering up the ugly bits with trees and plants, putting in bird boxes.We came prety close to winning the national title a few years ago, so want a special effort this year to win as it really galvanises the village when the competition is hot and all the social events revove around the organising committee fund raising events (BBQ, carol singing etc).


We have never had much in the way of corporate sponsorship.



To date we have asked for the cash, and got a few hundred quid from companies where staff live in the village and have twisted arms but I think it might be possible and easier to get support from a wider local audience via either goods (e.g. compost from the local garden centre or a sprayer/shreddeer from the local hire centre) or services (get them to pay directly for the roadsweeper, printing or for footpaths to be dug out).

If you were approached by such a group as a business, what would sway you to stump up a couple of hundred quid and what for? We cant put sponsorship signs up (spoils the idea of a pictuesque village of flowers)and although we have a web site I don't think the click through is exactly Amazon. We could do a few sponsorship pictures for the local media, invite the manager to our village socials.
Any ideas?