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There are several references in these pages to sponsorship so to make the 'bid' more formal, this page sets out information about Ilex, the branch and the sort of sponsorship opportunities there are - along with what they will probably entail in hard cash.
The Institute of Legal Executives (Ilex) is the professional body representing over 22,000 members and is a leading provider of legal education. Legal Executives are qualified lawyers who specialise in a particular area of law and Ilex is recognised as the third branch of the legal profession alongside solicitors and barristers.
Individual members of Ilex may join their local branch which offers members various social events, professional support and locally based training. The Bournemouth & District Branch, fairly obviously, covers mainly the Bournemouth & Poole conurbation but also has members from Southampton, New Milton, Christchurch, Swanage, North Dorset and beyond.
At present the branch has about 100 members and around 150 on its mailing list (the latter including recent past members and 'information' contacts). The majority of the members are student members that is to say they are undertaking training at local colleges or by way of correspondence. Many students are already working in the legal industry and pretty well all of them are either actively seeking employment or are open to offers! Those already in employment are, by a small majority, women in secretarial or assistant roles. Qualified members are employed in all the main areas of legal work but predominantly conveyancing.
The branch receives a small annual grant from Ilex itself but otherwise relies on nominal subscriptions (between £2.50 and £7.50 per annum) and on each event being self-funding and/or profit making. The availability of additional funds would enable larger events to be contemplated and/or subsidised for members thus encouraging membership and attendance.
Opportunities for Sponsorship
A list of the facilities and/or events regularly operated by the branch appears below. Many are presently 'low key' with a budget to match and so offer an opportunity to reach a specialist audience for a relatively small outlay.
The first 3 are broadly speaking 'Global' in the sense that they are in continuous operation and are availabel to all (or most of) the membership (and sometimes the general public) all the time. Sponsorship payments would cover a full year (which for the branch runs from March to February).
The remainder relate to individual events which take place during the year. The majority of these events will be reported in the Ilex Journal (a national publication sent to all Ilex members) and the larger events will also be reported in the local press.
Some ideas of how the sponsor could communicate are given but these are by no means the only possibilities and we will be happy to consider any suggestions the sponsor has and work with them to achieve the best outcome for all concerned.
It should be noted however that, while leaflets or letters etc. may be included in branch mailings, the branch cannot agree to release membership lists or other details directly to any sponsor.
Web Site
The format and contents of the site are (hopefully) readily apparent. What will also be apparent is that we are presently squatting on someone else's site. As the branch secretary maintains both sites, we can get away with it at the moment but not forever and it is also taking advantage of the goodwill of the ISP, yMonda to run what amounts to 2 sites for the price of 1.
What we really would like to do is to have our own dedicated site. yMonda will do this for us at a discounted price but they cannot in fairness do it for nothing hence we need a little cash, some £300 or £400 per annum.
The obvious sponsor benefit would be the incorporation of logos and/or web links etc.
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Membership Cards - this has been covered for 2006/07 and 2007/08
A pocket sized card is given to each member giving branch committee contact details, useful dates and telephone numbers and summary of branch activities. One page of the card is devoted to sponsor's details. This costs about £200 per annum.
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Newsletter
Regular emails are circulated to around 75% of the members and various'information' contacts including representatives of other local branches of the legal profession (e.g. Young Solicitors and Trainee Solicitors). As the availability of email increases and we are now trying to put newsletters directly on this site rather than circulate them individually, the disparity between email and non-email members grows.
What we would like to see here then is an amount sufficient to enable us to send out hard copies of the newsletters to all non-email members on a regular basis. To do so, say, quarterly, would cost around £200 per annum assuming plain paper. Larger sums could allow the newsletters to be printed more professionally.
Again, logos may be applied to paperwork or web pages and leaflets etc. included in the mailings.
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Annual Dinner
The 'main event' of the branch, this is a black tie dinner for over 300 guests held shortly before Xmas. It is a highly prestigious event regarded locally as one of the main legal social functions of the year and is always heavily over subscribed. It is attended by many national figures including the President and CEO of Ilex as well as by most local firms of solicitors (if they can get tickets!). Judges, Barristers, members of other professions (Banking, Estate Agents, Accountants etc.) and the local media are invited as guests.
Tickets, place cards and menus may be endorsed with logo etc. but we have previously refused requests for banners or stands as we do not want to over-commercialise the event.
This is an expensive function so the minimum level of sponsorship needed is around £1,000 but this may be divisible between different sponsors.
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House of Commons
Lack of funds has prevented this runing consistently but we have previously managed to arrange a coach trip to London for a pre-arranged tour and meeting(s) with local MP(s) which provides a valuable and enjoyable trip which is educational for students and even those who are qualified!
Itineraries etc. may be prepared in advance and endorsed with logos etc. while there is a captive audience with nothing to do save read your leaflets etc. during the journey!
The total cost is around £500 and all members will be offered information with there being room for some 50 to go on the day.
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Annual General Meeting
This is the principal administrative branch meeting which is held in February each year. For the last 2 years we have run a Quiz (with all proceeds going to charity) and buffet supper immediately after the formal meeting. This has proved to be very popular with attendances topping 80 all either students or from local firms of solicitors. in addition, the AGM is usually attended by either or both the President and CEO of Ilex.
As with other events, notices or flyers may be endorsed with logos etc. and leaflets made available on tables at the event. Notices of the AGM are sent to over 500 people (all members of Ilex within local postcode areas) and leaflets could be included.
The event costs between £500 and £800 to host (owing to the buffet) but even a contribution would be helpful to ease what is, in real terms, one of our most epxensive events (as it is the only one where there is no ticket price or other fee which we keep).
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Others
Throughout the year, various events take place. These are mainly social (bowling, skittles, meals etc.) but may also include seminars etc. so the usual options of logos on flyers and other materials will be available. Most of these are relatively small with perhaps 20 to 40 attendees following notice to all branch members so sponsorship amounts would be equally small; say £100
or perhaps simply some prizes.
To enquire about sponsorship of any of the above or any other aspect of the branch which we may not have thought of, please contact the branch secretary, Nick Hanning, by email, nhanning
rwpslaw.co.uk. Alternatively, you may write to him at 48/50 Parkstone Road, Poole BH15 2PG (DX 07650 Poole).
c/o RWPS LLP, 48/50 Parkstone Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 2PG