CASE STUDY Sport Marketing Quarterly, 2007, 16, 49-59, © 2007 West Virginia University Volume 16 • Number 1 • 2007 • Sport Marketing Quarterly 49 Introduction Synchro Canada is the non-profit national governing body for synchronized swimming in Canada. It is one of 54 national sport organizations (NSO) supported by Sport Canada, the federal government agency respon- sible for amateur sport in Canada, and one of 39 NSOs that compete at the Olympic level. At the time of the study, Synchro Canada was run by a professional staff of nine individuals located in the national office in Gloucester, Ontario, and the National Coach and Team Manager located at the National High Performance Training Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario. The organization was guided by an eight-member national volunteer Board of Directors (see Appendix A). Synchro Canada offered programs and services in sport development, coaching, marketing, national team, and officials (see Appendix B). There were over 10,000 registered members with Synchro Canada, and it was estimated that there were an additional 10,000 participants in local programs. Synchronized swim- mers were 99% females, although it was believed that interest by male participants was growing (see Appendix B). Synchro Canada performed its sponsor- ship activities in-house, rather than contracting out to an external agency. The sport’s product had qualities that enhanced the likelihood of sponsorship success: Synchronized swimming is an Olympic sport, and Canadian swimmers have had a very successful inter- national medal record (see Appendix C). According to Sport Canada, Synchro Canada’s sponsorship activities were relatively successful in comparison to other national sport organizations, based on percentage of sponsorship budget actually attained in a given year. Indeed, Synchro Canada felt that its sponsorship ini- tiatives were moderately successful. It had secured commitment from several sponsors (see Appendix D), and attained 50 to 60% of its annual sponsorship budget at the time of the study. However, the organi- zation felt that it was involved with too many minor sponsors that were providing insufficient funds as a whole, yet requiring the same servicing requirements as major sponsors. Furthermore, existing sponsors were not leveraging the sponsorship agreements within their corporations, and sponsors were not proactively involved in the relationship; qualities deemed particu- larly desirable by Synchro Canada. The organization felt that some of its sponsorship agreements were more successful than others, but that it was necessary to maintain all sponsorships to ensure financial and in- kind resources. Synchro Canada believed that it was doing some things well, but was still struggling and dissatisfied with its sponsorship program. Using the strategic sponsorship process proposed here as a framework, identify the strengths and weak- nesses of Synchro Canada’s sponsorship activities. What did the NSO do well, and what did it not do well with respect to each stage of the process? Further, rec- ommend where and how the organization should address its sponsorship efforts, while noting any chal- lenges it may face in that process. What can Synchro Canada do, if anything, to increase the likelihood of its sponsorship success? Overview of the Sponsorship Process Public funding for many non-profit amateur sport organizations has been reduced, in some cases dramat- ically, over the past 15 years (cf. Berrett, 1993, Stier, 1999). Amateur sport and physical activity governing bodies at the national level in Canada are one example of non-profit organizations whose financial support from the government was substantially reduced in the 1990s (Berrett, 1993; Sport Canada, 1995). This trend is not unique to Canadian national sport organizations (NSOs), as similar reductions in federal dollars to ama- teur sport have been reported in Australia, Britain, Finland, and Poland (cf. Berrett & Slack, 2001). This financial reality has forced NSOs and other non-profit sport organizations to consider alternate funding sources in order to maintain and expand programs and services. Increased corporate sponsorship was one area to which these organizations turned in order to obtain additional funding for their operations (Berrett, 1993). Coinciding with the need for non-profit sport organ- izations to generate external funding, there has been a continual rise in sport sponsorship expenditures by corporations (e.g., Meenaghan, 1991, 1998; Shilbury, Quick, & Westerbeek, 2003; Stotlar, 2001). Although increasing sponsorship investments have not been lim- ited to the sport context exclusively, nor to amateur sport in particular, it is recently estimated that over two-thirds of sponsorship expenditures in North The Strategic Sponsorship Process in a Non-Profit Sport Organization Alison Doherty, and Martha Murray