Race sponsors are one of the most important revenue sources for any race. From local businesses covering the cost of post-race refreshments to larger partners securing prime logo placement, a well-managed sponsorship program can make a real difference in your event’s bottom line. RunSignup’s Sponsor Management is designed to take the friction out of managing those relationships — from adding a sponsor for the first time to sending a professional invoice and tracking payment — all in one place, and completely free.
Setting Up Race Sponsor Levels (Optional, but Recommended)
Before adding your sponsors, it’s worth taking a few minutes to set up Sponsor Levels — especially if you plan to offer tiered sponsorship packages. Think Gold, Silver, and Bronze, or whatever naming convention fits your event’s brand.
To create levels, go to Sponsors > Set Up > Levels on your Race Dashboard and click to add a new level. For each level, you’ll enter:
- Name — The tier name (e.g., Platinum, Gold, Silver)
- Description — The features and benefits included at that level (logo placement, email inclusion, on-course signage, etc.)
- Level — The rank or order of the tier
- Cost — The dollar amount associated with that sponsorship level.
Once saved, these levels will be available to select whenever you add a new sponsor, making it easy to segment sponsors by what they’ve committed to and what they receive in return. Levels are also displayed on your race website, giving participants a clear picture of who’s supporting your event and at what tier.
Sponsor levels are completely customizable — get creative and tailor them to what makes sense for your race and your sponsor relationships.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Donation Levels for Sponsors
It might be tempting to manage sponsors through your donation levels instead — but we strongly recommend against it. Donation levels and sponsor levels are built for different purposes, and using donation levels for sponsorships comes with some significant limitations:
- Reporting is combined. Sponsor payments processed through donation levels will show up alongside your regular donations, making it harder to separate fundraising revenue from sponsorship revenue in your financial reports.
- Taxability settings are limited. If a portion of a sponsorship payment is taxable — for example, a sponsor table that includes meals — the donation level setup doesn’t give you the option to split out taxable and non-taxable amounts. The sponsor invoicing system does.
- Less information collection. Donation levels aren’t designed to capture the kind of contact and commitment details that make sponsor management useful, such as commitment status, payment status, and sponsor-specific contact information.
- Fewer visibility and display options. Sponsors added through the Sponsor Platform get dedicated display options on your race website, in emails, and inside RaceJoy. Donation levels don’t connect to those features.
The Sponsor Management was purpose-built to handle the full lifecycle of a sponsorship relationship — from tracking commitments to invoicing to on-site visibility. Using it as intended will save you headaches down the road, especially at tax time.
Getting Started: Adding Race Sponsors
All sponsor settings live on your Race Dashboard under the Sponsors tab. Navigate there and open the Manage section.
If you haven’t added any sponsors yet, you’ll see a prompt to “Click here to add your first sponsor.” If you already have sponsors set up, then simply click Add Sponsor.
When adding a sponsor, you’ll fill out the following fields:
- Sponsor Name — The name that will appear on your race website and in emails.
- Sponsor URL (optional) — If provided, the sponsor’s logo will become a clickable link directing visitors to the sponsor’s website.
- Sponsor Description — A brief overview of the sponsor. Great for giving participants context on who your sponsors are.
- Sponsor Logo — This is the main visual representation of your sponsor on your RunSignup website. Upload a .png, .jpeg, .jpg, or .gif file that is at least 75 x 75 pixels. Every sponsor must have a logo — if a sponsor doesn’t have one (for example, a family or individual sponsor), you’ll need to create a simple placeholder image to upload in its place.
Event organizers can also use the invite sponsors link to share with sponsors to input their sponsor information on their own. Sponsors can input the company logo, contact info, etc., and then the event organizers still has the ability to invoice them.
Optional Settings When Adding a Sponsor
Sponsor Levels
If you’ve already set up Sponsor Levels (found under Sponsors > Set Up > Levels), you can assign a level — such as Gold, Silver, or Bronze — right during the creation step. Levels are a great way to differentiate sponsors by their commitment type and investment amount, and they’ll automatically display in a tiered format on your race website.
Commitment Status
You can flag each sponsor as either Committed, Tentative, or Not Committed — useful for keeping track of where conversations stand as you build out your sponsorship roster.
Payment Status
If a sponsor has already paid at the time you’re entering their information, you can mark Sponsor has paid right from the setup screen.
Contact Information
Add the sponsor’s Contact First Name, Last Name, Email, and/or Phone so you have everything you need in one place.
Advanced Options
Under the Advanced Options section, you can choose to hide a sponsor from your race website if you’re not ready to display them publicly yet — handy for sponsors that are committed but whose assets or branding aren’t finalized.
When everything looks good, click Add Sponsor to save.
How to Invoice a Sponsor
Once a sponsor is added to your dashboard, generating an invoice is straightforward. Navigate to Sponsors > Financial > Invoices, then click Create an Invoice.
Fill out the invoice details:
- Bill To Name & Email — The contact person or organization receiving the invoice.
- Address — The billing address for the sponsor.
- Invoice Amount — The total amount you’re charging.
- Processing Fee — Choose whether to absorb the fee yourself, pass it on to the sponsor, or split it 50/50.
- Due Date — Set a clear deadline for payment.
- Invoice Details — Use this field to spell out exactly what the sponsorship includes (e.g., logo placement on race website, inclusion in confirmation emails, sponsor table at the expo, etc.). The more specific, the better.
RunSignup also handles sales tax automatically, calculating, collecting, and remitting it on your behalf. If a sponsorship is entirely a donation, you can note the full amount as such. If part of the sponsorship is taxable (for example, a sponsor table with meals), you can break out the taxable and non-taxable portions.
Once complete, click Send Invoice. The sponsor will receive an automated email with a link to view the invoice and submit payment online via credit card. If you accept offline payments (check, bank transfer, etc.), you can add instructions for that as well.
Tracking and Managing Invoices
After sending an invoice, you can monitor its status — Pending or Paid — from the invoice management screen. From there you can:
- Resend the invoice if a sponsor hasn’t responded
- Record an offline payment if the sponsor pays by check or another method outside the platform
- Delete the invoice if needed
- Copy the invoice URL to share directly
There’s also a Financial Reporting section under your Sponsors tab where you can view all payments and outstanding invoices at a glance, making it easy to see exactly where each sponsor relationship stands.
Bonus: Sponsor Visibility
Once sponsors are added and active, RunSignup automatically displays them on your race website. You have full control over where and how they appear:
- Include sponsor logos on the event website
- Include sponsor watermark on photos
- Feature sponsors in emails using the Sponsor Grid
- Showcase sponsors inside the RaceJoy app with banner ads and progress alert recognition
Sponsors on event website
Sponsor watermark on event photos
Sponsors on event email
Sponsor logos on RaceJoy
As you update sponsor information or levels in your dashboard, your website updates in real time — no manual edits required.
Renewing Sponsors Year Over Year
At the end of your race cycle, RunSignup makes it easy to renew sponsors for the following year. The renewal page lets you quickly carry over your existing sponsors and update their commitment and payment status flags all at once, saving significant time as you kick off your next sponsorship cycle.
Sponsors invest in your race because they believe in your community and want visibility with your participants. RunSignup’s Sponsor Platform helps you deliver on that promise — and makes sure you get paid for it. If you have questions about getting started, reach out to your account manager or email info@runsignup.com.