Sponsorship and partnerships

Major change

Guildford Museum provides educational opportunities and services to the local community, and schools and visitors from Surrey, Hampshire, South London and further afield. With major audience development and outreach programmes being put in place in conjunction with our Heritage Lottery Fund bid, now is the time to get involved in partnership.

Local focus

We are interested in hearing from local businesses, societies and individuals whose products or services reflect the same quality label and community standing as the Museum service. Partnerships will benefit both sides in raising awareness of services in new markets and improving product perception by association with respected brands. The educational and intellectual focus of the Museum service will help business initiatives and allow products and services to benefit from a perceived quality by association.

Branding

The Museum distributes advertising literature regularly to Guildford leisure venues and could incorporate your brand on its flyers. We also target arts societies, libraries and educational establishments in our advertising and reach the general public through visits to our sites and events.

Sponsorship area

Guildford Museum Service cares for many of Guildford's key heritage attractions including Guildford Museum, Guildford Castle, the Undercroft and Wanborough Barn. It also provides a range of services for the community and visitors to the town, attracting over 42,000 visits, 50,016 web pageviews and 6,000 enquiries each year (06/07). History is, more than ever, hugely popular with young and old so it's a great area for sponsorship, offering you the opportunity to get your message across directly to your customers and potential customers.

Guildford Museum prides itself on:

• A portfolio of unique historic buildings in and around Guildford.
• A wealth of historic artefacts from the earliest archaeological evidence of settlement in the area to Victorian toys and 'oral history' recordings of people's memories of the 1950s.
• Thriving education programmes including the popular Victorian Schoolroom session for school groups; adult lecture series run in conjunction with Royal Holloway, University of London; group talks and lectures and the Museum's children's club, Pastfinders.
• A lively programme of temporary exhibitions and events, such as Ancient Gods: Prehistoric and Roman Religion in Surrey, A Night at the Museum and the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
• Staff expertise in a range of areas including local history, archaeology and costume, textiles and care of historic objects.

Sponsorship benefits

The Museum's varied programmes of exhibitions, events, educational programmes, community projects and heritage conservation activities offer many great opportunities for sponsorship and brand association with a respected and well used Museum Service. These include:

• Sponsor identity linked to specific educational programmes, exhibitions and projects.
• Sponsor recognition in promotional literature distributed to leisure information points, arts societies, libraries and educational establishments.
• Sponsor recognition in press releases, private view speeches and spin off PR opportunities, photo calls.
• Guest invitations for Museum private views with the opportunity to gain access to other decision makers and business leaders.
• Sponsor involvement in the Museum Service's special events.
• Specialist tours and talks to your own audience by expert Curators.
• Use of Museum buildings and galleries for corporate events and promotion.

Target groups

The Museum caters for residents and visitors to the town, drawing equal proportions of those from within Guildford Borough, Surrey and further afield. The main audience comprises 'Flourishing Families', 'Prosperous Professionals' and a high number of elderly pensioners and single people. We can segment target audiences into family groups, through education programmes and the Pastfinders Group; special cultural interest groups, through lecture programmes and events and other market segments through linkage to specifically themed exhibitions and activities.

Average price range

The cost of a sponsorship varies from £300 - £10,000+. Example opportunities include:

• £300 to support a Lecture Series.
• £500 for creating a new loan box of Museum handling items and information, for use by teachers in the classroom.
• £300 - £1,000 for a teachers' pack to support school use of Museum displays or temporary exhibitions.
• £1,000 - £5,000+ for supporting the creation or hire of a temporary exhibition for the Museum gallery or other Museum Service building.
• £1,000 - £5,000+ for conservation of a Museum object in need of specialist treatment.
• £2,000 for a major family or community event.
• £8000 for an oral history project recording local people's memories of Guildford in the 1970s or 1980s.

We would be happy to discuss any ideas you have so we can form a mutually beneficial partnership that will meet both our business needs.

Community benefits

Your sponsorship has the power to provide demonstrable benefits to the community. For example, expanding and extending resources available to local schools, enabling the creation of family friendly exhibitions and events to help parents during school holiday periods. As well as ensuring the preservation of important artefacts or information for the appreciation and interest of present and future generations and providing lifelong learning opportunities for a range of people including the retired.

Contact Guildford Museum to find out more.