Put rural Hill Country students on the stage.
Hill Country Venture Fest gives sponsors a visible role in the night rural students are taken seriously as entrepreneurs. Your support keeps the event free for students, families, and schools while putting your name beside local ambition, practical business learning, and the future workforce of the Hill Country.
Visible support, real community value.
Sponsorship turns goodwill into something people can see: students on stage, sponsor names in the program, and local businesses visibly backing the next generation.
What sponsors fund
Because 2026 grant channels are effectively closed, the event is sponsor-funded. Sponsorship covers the practical pieces that make the student experience real: the venue, student prizes, production, signage, printed programs, mentor support, and post-event reporting.
What sponsors receive
Every sponsor gets defined recognition before, during, and after the event, plus a post-event Impact Report showing what their support made possible. No one should wonder what their sponsorship bought.
Choose your place in the program.
Every level is designed to make the sponsor's support visible, useful, and easy to understand. Choose the role that fits how your business wants to show up for students.
Presenting
Best for the business that wants to be visibly associated with the whole night.
- Presented-by recognition in event language
- Top logo placement on website, program, and stage banner
- Brief stage recognition or award moment
- Four VIP reception seats
- Media partner interview + press release opportunity
- Post-event Impact Report
Gold
Best for banks, co-ops, regional employers, and partners who want prominent recognition.
- Logo on website, program, and stage banner
- Spoken recognition from stage
- Two VIP reception seats
- Townie newsletter recognition
- Media partner interview + press release opportunity
- Post-event Impact Report
Silver
Best for local businesses that want clear visibility and a concrete role in student success.
- Logo on website and printed program
- Social recognition
- One VIP reception seat
- Goodie-bag insert opportunity
- Self-written press release credit opportunity
- Post-event Impact Report
Community Partner
Best for Main Street businesses, mentor/coaches, and neighbors who want to be counted.
- Name listed in the printed program
- Grouped community sponsor recognition
- Goodie-bag insert opportunity
- Eligible mentor / coach sponsor path
- Self-written press release credit opportunity
- Post-event Impact Report
How sponsors can use the moment.
Sponsorship is strongest when it gives your business a simple, authentic story to tell before, during, and after event night.
Invite your people
Bring customers, employees, family, or board members to see students pitch and to connect at the reception.
Tell the story
Use the sponsor recognition, photos, and Impact Report to show your business backing rural students in a visible way.
Coach the room
Mentor sponsors can help a student team think through real pricing, customers, supply, competition, and risk.
Clear deliverables, no fog.
Cash, in-kind, mentor, judge.
In-kind partners
Some of the most useful sponsorships are practical: student prizes, food and beverage, lodging for out-of-town guests, AV support, printing, signage, photography, media, or hospitality.
When an in-kind contribution meaningfully reduces the event budget or improves the student experience, we match recognition to the value of the gift whenever possible.
Mentor / coach sponsors
Students benefit most when they get to test their ideas with people who know real customers, real costs, real suppliers, and real risk. Local business owners can sponsor the event and serve as practical mentors for student teams.
Mentor / coach sponsors begin at the $250 Community Partner level. The role is simple: help a student think like a business owner before they step onto the Odeon stage.
Minimum commitment: one early conversation or support session and one dress-rehearsal pitch review before event night.
Simple sponsor timeline.
What your sponsorship did.
By November 1, every sponsor receives a written recap they can keep, share, or use in their own community updates.
Help hold the stage.
Contact Katie Milton Jordan to confirm your sponsorship level, recognition name, invoice/payment path, and any in-kind or mentor role.
Katie will reply personally with the right level, what we need from you, and the next clean step.