What we can learn from the Antiques Roadshow about Partnership & Sponsorship Value
As a former pom, I grew up watching The Antiques Roadshow. If you’ve ever watched it, you’ll know the drill.
A nice lady queues for several hours to see the jewellery expert. She’d inherited a rather old-fashioned brooch from her grandmother which the family had dubbed, rather dismissively, the "big blue blob." Believing it to be mere costume jewellery, she wore it on her wedding day for sentimental reasons. She’d been told by amateurs that it was inconsequential and made of paste. However, upon bringing it to Antiques Roadshow, expert John Benjamin revealed that the brooch was over a hundred years old, was the largest sapphire he’d ever seen and was surrounded by real diamonds. He believed it would fetch at least £50,000 at auction.[1] Her reaction? Priceless!
Meanwhile, another guest turns up with a grotesque figurine, convinced it’s worth a fortune. The ceramics expert gently delivers the bad news - while it might’ve fetched £20,000 back in the ’90s, its popularity has plummeted. These days, you'd be lucky to get £3,000. The market has spoken.
So, what’s the lesson?
The item’s age, sentimental value, or how much it originally cost, doesn’t determine its worth.
Value is determined by demand, rarity, relevance - and most importantly, the market.
It doesn’t matter what you think it’s worth. You need an expert to assess it, and even then, it all boils down to one thing: What someone’s willing to pay.
There’s no magical “value god.” Value lives in the eye (or wallet) of the beholder – the buyer.
What’s this got to do with corporate partnership and sponsorship?
A lot. At BePartnerReady.com®, we see non-profits fall into the same trap repeatedly:
They create a campaign, program or event and say, “This is so impactful, so well-run, it must be worth $100K to a sponsor!”
Or, more commonly, they have incredible assets that they’ve invested in over many years but give them away to corporates like a bit of costume jewellery. Because they don’t know their true worth and don’t know how to actually value them.
In a tough economic climate, corporates aren’t backing passion - they’re backing value.
And not just warm-and-fuzzy value. Measurable value.
So, the way to value your assets is to ask the market.
How DO YOU value assets?
This month, students in our program are working up their Assets Inventory - one for their organisation and one for a major event that they’re keen to secure a sponsor for. The Assets Inventory framework includes physical assets, marketing & fundraising assets and more. Then using the ‘Ph Formula’, students will be able to assign a real dollar value - based on market forces - to each one.
The Ph Formula is named after Sally Phelps, Head of Media at the ABC and creator of the innovative DIY formula. Sally, with a 20+ year career in media, agency, advertising & marketing, understood that assets don’t speak for themselves - they need context, clarity, and commercial framing.
The Ph Formula gives you that. It’s your Antiques Roadshow expert - but for your partnership and sponsor offers. Better still, you don’t have to queue up for hours to meet the expert because Sally has developed a DIY formula so you can place the values on your assets yourself - when it works for you. And once you’ve learned this, you’ll be able to value assets for the rest of your career. Fancy that? It’s like having an Antiques Roadshow expert on your shoulder at all times!
It’s not about pulling numbers out of thin air or hoping a sponsor sees the value. It’s about showing them the value - clearly, confidently, and backed by quantifiable metrics.
Reach out if you’d like to learn more about the Formula.
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
[1] Big Blue Blob segment - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0726550
