About The Sponsorships

Sonoma County Tourism (SCT) has a mandate to promote Sonoma County as a destination, with an emphasis on incremental room night generation.  To encourage Sonoma County event producers to join us in that mandate, SCT established a Special Event Sponsorship program.  The program provides funds for eligible Sonoma County projects that demonstrate the ability to draw visitors to Sonoma County including overnight stays.

Eligible Events

  • Organizations, both for profit and nonprofit, that are producing events in Sonoma County during the eligibility period, that advance the stated Sonoma County Tourism mandate.
  • Organizations that have a track record of producing the named event at least once in the past 3 years.
  • Individuals, via a Fiscal Sponsor, who have submitted the signed Fiscal Sponsor Commitment Form as part of the application.

Ineligible Events

  • Organizations that have received SCT Sponsorships for 3 consecutive years.  These organizations will be eligible again after one SCT Sponsorship cycle has been completed for which they did not apply.
  • Individuals without a Fiscal Sponsor.
  • Sonoma County Chambers of Commerce and Visitors Bureaus.  (These entities are funded through a separate Sonoma County Tourism program.  Please reach out to Tanya Rainey at trainey@sonomacounty.com.)

Grant Awards

The total funding for any application will not likely exceed $15,000.  Typical awards will range between $5,000 and $10,000.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Anticipated Marketing, Advertising and Promotional ROI

a. Value of media activities (paid, earned, owned) to Sonoma County as a destination for the event.

      1. Paid media is defined as any advertising or promotional materials that are purchased/paid for.
      2. Earned media is defined as unpaid editorial coverage via both traditional and nontraditional channels e.g., magazine, radio, television, etc.
      3. Owned media is defined as any promotional activities that occur on organizational owned media (websites, social media sites, etc.)

b. Clearly articulated marketing and advertising plan

2. Tourism Impacts

a. Potential to drive visitors to Sonoma County including overnight stays
b. Number of attendees, anticipated ticket sales, visitor origination, etc.
c. Clearly articulated description of how this data is collected and tracked

3. Seasonal Emphasis: Special consideration will be given to events that:

a. Occur between November 1 and April 30
b. Are held midweek (Monday-Thursday)

4. Need: Impact of SCT sponsorship funds

a. Need will be measured based on applicant’s demonstrated ability to maximize the potential impact of SCT funds on the overall success of the event – for the current year and potentially years to come.
b. Regardless of the size of the producing organization or the event, all applicants must demonstrate that they have support through anticipated or secured attendees, financial backing from other sources, etc.

5. Mission Alignment with SCT: Demonstrated and tangible marketing benefits that will accrue to Sonoma County Tourism, the Sonoma County tourism sector, and Sonoma County generally by virtue of its association with the event.

a. Opportunities for SCT in event-related PR activities, particularly those with major outlet or national media coverage
b. Other promotional opportunities as available from Applicant.

6. Capacity: Demonstrated ability to produce the event effectively.

7. Completeness and Clarity of Application

 Promotional Partnership

Awardees will be required to provide name and logo recognition to Sonoma County Tourism on all physical and digital materials for the event.  Additional promotional opportunities that are not required, but appreciated include:

  • Creation of a Sonoma County landing page with destination information, links to lodging partners, etc.
  • 1 or more post-event communications with customer/attendee list with a message encouraging return visits to Sonoma County, written in partnership with Sonoma County Tourism.
  • Complimentary tickets for qualified travel media, influencers, writers, and other VIPs
  • Other as conceived by Applicant.

Event And Budget History

Applicants will be asked to provide a copy of the entity’s full organizational budget (Revenue/Expenses) for the most recently completed Fiscal Year.  Additionally, Applicants will be asked to provide the Revenues and Expenses totals for the most recently completed event, if different than the organizational budget. A line-item breakdown is NOT required for past history.

Timeline

The timing for this sponsorship program is in transition. As a result, applications for Calendar Year 2027 will be open, with a due date that may fall before an awardee has completed its Calendar Year 2026 event. Applicants WILL be eligible to apply for sponsorships in Calendar Year 2027 even if their Calendar Year 2026 event is not complete, unless their 2026 funding is their 3rd consecutive year of funding from SCT.

FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2026 ONLY

Application Opens:  September 5, 2025
Applicant Workshop (attendance is optional):  Week of September 15th TBD
Submission Deadline:  October 3, 2025
Award Notification:  Week of December 12, 2025
Award Period: January 1 – November 30, 2026
Final Report Submission Deadline:  Within 60 days of event completion

Contracts, Payments, Final Reports

Sponsorship funds will be sent to awardees within thirty (30) days of receipt by SCT of signed agreements and a Purchase Order or Invoice from awardees.

Final reports forms will be required of awardees to be submitted within 60 days of completion of the sponsored event.  Failure to complete and submit a final report will render awardee ineligible to receive future sponsor awards.

How To Apply

Completed applications may be submitted by filling out the form below. Submitted forms must be received by OCTOBER 3, 2025, at 11:59 pm.

Handwritten and incomplete applications will not be accepted.

For More Information Contact:

Robert McGuigan
Design Marketing Manager
rmcguigan@sonomacounty.com / Phone: 707-522-5825

Special Event Sponsorship Application

Special Event Sponsorship Application 

Individuals, via a Fiscal Sponsor, must submit their signed Fiscal Sponsor Commitment Form as part of the application.

Contact Information

Special Event Sponsorship Request

 

Definitions:

  • Paid media is defined as any advertising or promotional materials that are purchased or paid for. 
  • Earned media is defined as unpaid editorial coverage via both traditional and nontraditional channels e.g., magazine, radio, television, etc.
  • Owned media is defined as any promotional activities that occur on organizational owned media (websites, social media sites, etc.)

b. Please answer the following questions based on your most recently completed event. 

Tools to help gather this information are provided directly on some social media platforms (Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights, X Analytics) and on Google Analytics. Data should be for a full calendar year. If you are not sure how to gather this information, please contact Robert McGuigan at RMcGuigan@sonomacounty.com.

c. For the questions below, please go to your social media account(s). Provide data for all that apply to your main account page. Note, data range should be for a full calendar year.

d. Optional: Number of Social Media Click-Through-Conversions via your social media’s account page – i.e., how many ticket purchases and/or event registrations occurred due to a link clicked on your social media sites. (If you have access to this data, please include and also list the source of the data which might be third-party data analytics software.)

3. Tourism Impacts. Please quantify the tourism impacts of your event by:

a. Anticipated attendees, based on zip codes of prior year ticketed attendees:  If you have not previously captured zip code data, please identify how you are estimating your attendees; origination locations.

Finances

COMPANY/ORGANIZATION Budget History.  Please list the following figures for your company or organization for your last three fiscal years.

EVENT Budget History.  Please list the following figures for the proposed event from each of its past three occurrences (if applicable).  

Event Budget

Please detail your anticipated revenues and expenses.

Event Revenues: 

Other Sources that will be applied to this project, if any:  i.e., admission sales, sponsorships, cash on hand, etc. Please specific source and amount:  Other sources of revenues are not a requirement for funding.

Project Expenses (equal to your requested amount above) 

ADDITIONAL REQUIRED INFORMATION

  1. Income Statement – please provide a copy your organization’s budget (P&L) for your most recently completed Fiscal Year.
  2. Marketing Plan: Limit 2 pages
  3. Media Coverage of prior year’s event(s): Limit: 3 pages
  4. Supporting Documents and/or Screenshot(s) of Marketing Owned Efforts: Either website analytics and/or social media analytics.
  5. If applicable Fiscal Sponsor Commitment Form

Agreement

By checking "I Agree", I as a representative of the applicant organization, agree to furnish the services as specified and in accordance with this application and the Terms of Sponsorship exhibit which is incorporated herein.