CREATING AND SUBMITTING YOUR AGREEMENT

Once you have concluded the negotiations and you have a willing sponsor, you will need to draw up a contract. The Union has its own specifically designed sponsorship contract template that you should use in most instances; this should make the whole process quicker and easier. Some companies may draw up their own contracts; this is fine, however be sure to read the entire document carefully upon receipt and question anything you did not agree to.

KEY INFORMATION: Only approved staff and officer trustees of Imperial College Union are authorised to enter into contracts or agreements on behalf of the Union. Individual students, including student members and representatives of Clubs and Societies, do not have the authority to sign or commit to any contracts or agreements in the name of Imperial College Union.

THEREFORE… Any contract or agreement signed by an individual student on behalf of the Union will not be recognised as valid or binding. The Union reserves the right to take appropriate action to nullify any such unauthorised agreements.

Some key points to consider in the contract are below:

• Ensure the dates of the agreement and date(s) the contract is signed are in line with each other.
• Ensure the Imperial College Union address is used where appropriate.
• Ensure the date of the agreement does not go into the next academic year; the latest a contract can run until is the 31st July.
• Ensure that you do not sign any contracts yourself – reach out to us if you have any concerns!

Drafting your agreement

You can download the template contract in your resources folder on SUMS.

The information you need to fill out is in red.

Submitting your agreement

Once you’re ready, you can submit the agreement here:

(Student dashboard > Overview Dashboard > Sponsorship Form Submission)

Remember to:

• Not sign the contract yourself.
• Check all of the terms – are they legal and what you agreed with the sponsor?#
• Are the dates and addresses correct?
• Submit the document as a Word document.

FINALISING THE AGREEMENT

Once you have submitted your draft contract via the form, the activities team will review it and either:

• Ask you to make some changes and re-submit it, or
• Approve it and send you the signed contract.

Once you receive the signed contract from the team, you can send it to the sponsor to sign!

We don’t need to see it again after this.

Once the sponsor has signed the contract, you can raise an invoice for the funds.

You will need to create a sales invoice from the Union in order to get the money from the company. Ideally you should get a purchase order number from the sponsor to quote on the invoice to ensure quick payment. Ensure that you code the income currently for VAT - sponsors from outside the UK will be under 0% VAT at VAT Code SN, while sponsors in the UK will be at 20% VAT at VAT Code S1.

Only a fully signed contract will be sufficient evidence for a sponsorship sales invoice. This means the contract must be signed by both the Union and the sponsors.

Allow 30 days for the sponsor to pay the invoice. If the invoice is still outstanding after this time contact the sponsor and chase them for payment, if they haven’t paid after 60 days make contact with the Union Finance Team to seek advice upon what to do next.

Maintain the relationship

Keep in regular contact with your sponsors. Report back, let your sponsors know how everything is going and what their money has achieved for the Club, Society or Project.

However, if things go wrong be prepared to the return the money if the planned activity does not ahead.