"Businesses play a significant role in supporting the APA community through
corporate and community relations, matching grant programs, or sales and
marketing departments. Approximately 2,300 APA nonprofit organizations out
there try to attract these funds.

IEG, Inc., the world's leading provider of independent research, training
and analysis on sponsorship says spending increased 8.7 percent in 2004 to
$11.14 billion! Unfortunately, the Asian market is still not recognized and
so the challenge for our non-profits is daunting.

Companies who give regularly to the Asian market are Anheuser-Busch, Inc.,
Allstate, AT&T, Citibank, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General
Motors, McDonald's, REmy Martin, State Farm Insurance, Wells Fargo and
Verizon. Prudential Financial, Wal-Mart, IBM and especially Mercedes-Benz
have shown increased activity in the Asian market recently, although it
isn't certain whether overall spending has increased. Those Fortune 500
companies that are reaching out to the black and Latino American markets
have been slow in paying attention to the Asian market.

""We are a small nonprofit with a small staff,"" says Christine
Sato-Yamazaki, President and Executive Director, Go For Broke Educational
Foundation. ""We must work extra hard to network and establish relationships
with corporate executives to have them understand our mission and purpose.""

Says Hung Nguyen, President, National Congress of Vietnamese Americans
(NCVA): ""Although we will be celebrating [our] 20th anniversary in 2006, in
the eyes of corporations, we look young since mainstream America is unaware
of us. Also, existing organizations are not eager to promote other
nonprofits who may possibly diminish funding for themselves.""

With the advice of some notable APA executive directors, here are my
guidelines for those nonprofit organizations seeking corporate
sponsorships:

Do your research. ""Both the corporation and the nonprofit organization need
to do their homework,"" says Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive
Director of National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC)
located in Washington, D.C. ""It needs to be a good match and there has to
be clarity on both sides of expectations.""

""Many times the biggest hurdle is contacting the right department or person
to present proposals to,"" says Mai Le, Sponsorship Manager of the San
Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. ""I know this is basic
but make sure you have the right title and correct spelling of the
executive's name and company. This shows respect and not doing so speaks
volumes about the organization. Also, expect your letter to be read and
handled by people in the corporation other than your corporate contact so
it is a good idea to include information on the relationship you have had
with the corporation.""

Keep track of news media coverage. Companies are attracted to projects that
receive positive media attention. ""We mention our sponsors as often as
possible to the public via interviews, references and press releases,"" says
Nguyen. ""We help to brand and paint the corporation in a positive light
because they help us with our programs that make measurable differences in
the community.""

Be creative. Also, provide a menu of ideas in your sponsorship proposals. A
majority of organizations reach out to corporate sponsors for their annual
fundraising dinner. Some sponsors expect complete exclusivity. Keep
corporate sponsors happy by being sensitive about competing corporations.
Place sponsors in different program areas to avoid conflict.

Be loyal. Sometimes a new company comes in and gives large donations to the
Asian market for that year and then disappears. It's a mistake to ignore
those companies that have been loyal to you for a while. Think of sponsors
like private donors that have been with you for a long period of time.

Communicate. ""Nonprofits should not be afraid to be candid with their
corporate partners when they feel the corporation is going in an unhelpful
direction either with a specific project or a business decision that may
hurt the Asian community,"" says Narasaki. ""The nonprofit should give its
corporate partner notice about a public statement or action that they
believe might be of interest or concern for the company.""

There is a lot of competition to get some of these dollars. Effective
nonprofits know that fundraising is 90 percent research and 10 percent
asking but for the Asian community, it's all about relationships,
relationships, relationships! It's essential to get to know the corporation
and the corporate executive in charge, and keep an ongoing conversation
throughout the year. I'm always shocked at how organizations do not do this
and only call when they want support for an event they are doing. The
corporation is not a bank.

""We invite corporate participation to our national advisory council and
seek to keep communications ongoing throughout the year,"" says Narasaki.
""We recognize companies who seek to support the community through awards
where appropriate and we send them information about the community that
they might find of ..."