What should be included in a sponsorship agreement?

The parties, term, a schedule of benefits and deliverables, fees and payment terms, exclusivity, brand use and intellectual property, cancellation and force majeure, make-goods, liability and insurance, and termination.

What is a make-good in a sponsorship agreement?

A make-good is a substitute benefit of comparable value that the organizer provides when a promised benefit is not delivered, for example extra digital placements when a printed sign was missed.

Is a sponsorship agreement legally binding?

A signed agreement is generally a binding contract, which is why it needs to be accurate and reviewed by counsel. Whether a particular clause is enforceable depends on the law that governs the agreement.

Do I need a separate agreement for each sponsor?

Most organizers use one master agreement for every sponsor and attach a separate benefits schedule to each, so only the deal-specific details change.

Sponsorship Agreement Template: Key Clauses

What a Sponsorship Agreement Template Should Cover

A sponsorship agreement turns a package from your prospectus into commitments on both sides. Most disputes between organizers and sponsors come from something promised in a sales conversation and never written down: a logo on the lanyards, category exclusivity, a speaking slot. A sponsorship agreement template that lists every benefit, every deadline and what happens when something slips prevents most of them.

Clauses a sponsorship agreement should include
Clause	What it settles	Common gap
Parties	Legal names, addresses and signatories for both sides	Signed by someone without authority to commit
Term	Which event or events, and when the agreement starts and ends	Multi-year deals with no renewal or price terms
Benefits and deliverables	Every benefit in a schedule, with who delivers what and by when	A package name with no detail behind it
Fees and payment	Amount, currency, deposit, installments, due dates, late payment	No consequence for a missed installment
Exclusivity	Whether the sponsor is the only one in its category, and how the category is defined	A category too vague to apply
Brand use and IP	Permission to use each party's name and logo, and approval rights	No approval step for co-branded material
Cancellation and force majeure	What happens if either side cancels, or events outside their control intervene	Only the sponsor's cancellation is covered
Make-goods	How undelivered benefits are compensated	Refunds demanded where a substitute would do
Liability and insurance	Responsibility for people and property, and required coverage	No insurance requirement for sponsor activations
Termination	When either side can end the agreement and what is owed	No right to end for non-payment or misconduct

The Benefits and Deliverables Schedule

Keep the main agreement the same for every sponsor and put the deal itself in a schedule attached to it. The schedule lists each benefit with what the organizer delivers, what the sponsor must provide, and the deadline. When a sponsor misses a logo deadline, the schedule shows the benefit lapsed for lack of a file, not through any failure of yours.

Example benefits and deliverables schedule
Benefit	Organizer delivers	Sponsor provides	Deadline
Booth	A [SIZE] booth, number [BOOTH], with [INCLUDED SERVICES]	Booth staff names and booth graphics	[DATE]
Logo placement	Logo on event website, mobile app, signage and [OTHER]	Vector logo and brand guidelines	[DATE] for print, [DATE] for digital
Session sponsorship	Recognition at [SESSION] and a [NUMBER]-minute introduction	Presenter name and approved remarks	[DATE]
Complimentary registrations	[NUMBER] full registrations	Registrant names	[DATE]
Email inclusion	A mention in [NUMBER] attendee emails	Copy and link	[DATE] before each send
Attendee data	[WHAT DATA, ON WHAT BASIS]	Use only as the privacy terms allow	[DATE]

Be careful with attendee data. If a benefit involves sharing contact details, say exactly what is shared, how attendees agreed to it, and how the sponsor may use it. Lead retrieval, where attendees choose to have their badge scanned at the booth, is often simpler to defend than a list. Build packages from your sponsorship levels so each schedule starts from a known list of benefits.

Fees, Payment Terms and Exclusivity

Fee: the total in [CURRENCY], what it includes, and whether taxes are added
Payment schedule: commonly a deposit on signing, with the balance due a set number of days before the event
Late payment: the organizer's right to withhold benefits, such as logo placement or booth access, until payment arrives
Refunds: whether the deposit is refundable, and on what timeline
Exclusivity: the category defined in plain words, for example the only bank sponsoring at any level, and whether it covers exhibitors or only sponsors
Exclusivity limits: what you cannot control, such as attendees wearing competitor branding or a competitor's staff registering as attendees
Right of first refusal: whether the sponsor gets first chance to renew the same package next year, and the deadline to accept

Exclusivity has a price for you as well as the sponsor. If you promise that no competitor will exhibit, write down the category list you will check new orders against and turn away exhibitors in that category consistently. If you cannot police it, do not offer it.

Brand Use, Liability and Insurance

Both parties need permission to use each other's names and logos. The usual approach is a limited license for the term of the agreement, for promoting the event and the sponsorship, with the sponsor approving how its logo appears and the organizer approving any sponsor material that uses the event's name.

Logo files: supplied by the sponsor in the formats and by the dates in the schedule, and used unaltered
Approval: a set number of business days to approve co-branded material, after which it is treated as approved
After the event: whether the organizer may keep sponsor logos on recap material, and for how long
Activations: sponsor-run activities, giveaways and food sampling follow venue rules and the event's code of conduct
Insurance: the sponsor carries general liability coverage of [AMOUNT] and provides a certificate of insurance before move-in
Liability: each party is responsible for its own staff, contractors and property, with indemnities and limits as counsel advises

Cancellation, Force Majeure, Make-Goods and Termination

Sponsor cancellation: a sliding schedule, for example the deposit retained after signing and the full fee due inside [NUMBER] days of the event
Organizer cancellation: a refund of fees paid, or a credit toward a rescheduled or future event, at the sponsor's choice
Force majeure: events outside either party's control, such as severe weather, venue closure or government orders, and whether the event may be rescheduled, moved online or cancelled
Postponement: whether the agreement carries over to new dates, and the sponsor's right to withdraw if the new dates do not work
Make-goods: if a benefit is not delivered for reasons within the organizer's control, a substitute of comparable value agreed in writing before any refund is considered
Termination: either party may end the agreement for a material breach not fixed within [NUMBER] days of written notice, and the organizer may end it for non-payment or conduct that harms the event

Make-goods are where sponsor relationships are saved or lost. Track delivery of every benefit as the event happens, with photos and screenshots, so a missed item is caught early and offered a fair substitute rather than discovered in the sponsor's own recap.