Charities and their Role in the Music Festival Industry.

Given the awareness of modern-day issues being addressed by numerous charitable organisations music festival event goers are increasingly concerned that the event embraces charitable causes. Such is the connection between music festivals and charities that many commercial event organisers have switched from a business to charitable status. 

Any modern-day music festival seemingly has links to selected charities that fit the overall theme and ethos of a particular festival. For the charity associated with a music festival they benefit in various ways both financially and in terms of branding and marketing.

The financial arrangements between music festival organisers and their selected charity can be complex depending of what the organisers are prepared to give up and how demanding the charity is. The organisers may be prepared to give up a small percentage of ticket sales revenue and/or provide a zero cost pitch space for the charity's onsite presence. In addition, the festival organisers will usually provide access to free branding opportunities online and onsite and may work with numerous external organisations to source volunteers.

Most festival organisers prefer to pick just one or two key charitable organisations that they want associated with the event where there is a good fit. For charities it can be a competitive market to get a relationship with a large well-known festival. The alternatives for some charities is to work closely with government sponsored events that specifically cater for charitable organisations. If the charity is well funded and large enough, they may even host their own music festival and these can be just as successful and popular as commercially funded events. 

For music festival organisers there is an inherent link between the charities they select to collaborate with and the likely corporate sponsorship deals they can secure. One of the key factors that any corporate sponsor looks for in any potential music festival deal is the arrangements they have with particular charities. For the corporate sponsor considering a specific music festival they want a full understanding of the PR and branding association opportunities they can get with the selected charity. A corporate sponsor will not be particularly interested in a music festival that has no charity association and just wants the sponsorship income. For this reason, it is important that music festival organisers select their charitable association early on in the planning process prior to pitching for sponsorship deals from corporate sponsors. In addition, it is vital that the selected charity and corporate sponsor can work together and have similar objectives, if the relationship is not good and there is no synergy the organisers should reconsider a more appropriate mix. 

Using an event management software platform like FestivalPro music festival organisers get all the functionality they need to plan their event. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The FestivalPro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features for managing the entire event including specific modules for sponsors, artists, venues, volunteers, contactless ordering and ticketing. The sponsor module allows for contract logging and is supported by a comprehensive and secure CRM system.  

Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels

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