The first step to planning a Not-For-Profit Web Fair is to find out what other organizations in the community are interested in helping not-for-profit organizations access and establish a presence on the Internet.

A brief brainstorming session among staff should be enough to generate a short list of key players.

Think big when exploring co-sponsors. An ideal co-sponsor is recognizable by everyone in the community. This is particularly important if your organization is not yet a household name.

Take into account the prior working relationship with each organization. The Not-for-Profit Web Fair is a good opportunity to reach out to an organization that you have not worked with before. A successful web fair may form the foundation for a solid working relationship.

Consider whether or not your first Not-for-Profit Web Fair is an appropriate place to work with an organization with which you have a strained relationship. If you decide to wait for a second or third web fair, still meet with the organization now to open communication regarding the web fair concept.

Once the short list of potential co-sponsors has been generated, choose a staff member to make the initial contact. The best person is someone who has a prior relationship with the organization. The second best is a name that the organizational leadership will recognize.

• Arrange for a one-on-one meeting with each potential co-sponsor at their location. Going to their turf communicates the willingness to share ownership of the event.
• Be prepared to share at the meeting what your organization hopes to achieve through the co-sponsorship. Define your expectations of the co-sponsor as narrowly as possible so that there is no misunderstanding. Some possibilities include:
  • Publicity
  • Technical support
  • Space
  • Equipment use
  • Staff/ Volunteer time
• Also consider what the potential co-sponsor will gain by partnering with your organization. Some possibilities include:
  • Publicity
  • Furthering the common goal of connectivity

Establishing co-sponsors is the first step to organizing a Not-for-Profit Web Fair. The earlier that the co-sponsors are on board and committed to the event, the better. If you are having trouble getting in touch with a potential co-sponsor, be persistent. Even if you are not able to reach them in time for your first Not-for-Profit Web Fair, opening communication may lead to co-sponsorship in the future.

For our Not-For-Profit Web Fair 1998, we identified Community Connection as a potential co-sponsor. Community Connection is a web-based database designed to make information about human services easily available to people. At the time, it was a new project being developed by the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) and the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension. Even though Community Connection was in its initial stages and relatively unknown, its founders, OSEDA and University of Missouri Outreach and Extension, were high-profile organizations.

Since Community Connection and the Not-for-Profit Web Fair shared the common goal of helping not-for-profit organizations gain a presence on the Internet, we approached OSEDA to see if we could work together.

At a meeting with OSEDA, we discovered that the structure that they planned to use to register organizations with Community Connection was similar to that which we envisioned for our Web Fair. Like us, they planned to bring representatives from organizations together at computer labs to enter their information. We decided that partnering to co-sponsor the event was the best approach for both of us.

We gained the high-profile names of OSEDA and University of Missouri Outreach and Extension that will draw attention to our event and they benefited from our outreach and coordination of the event. We agreed that Community Connection staff would conduct workshops on Community Connection at the Not-for-Profit Web Fair.