Three ways
to work with us
Every engagement starts with a conversation, not a proposal. We work with the people who fund and commission gatherings — not the gatherings themselves. That independence is the point.
Most corporate event sponsorship portfolios are assembled over time — some from old relationships, some from competitive habit, some from genuine enthusiasm. Very few are ever measured against actual strategic objectives.
The result is spend that's hard to defend, partnerships that have outlasted their usefulness, and missed opportunities in categories where your organization should be present and isn't.
The Sponsorship Worth Audit is a structured, independent review of your current event sponsorship portfolio. We examine what you're spending, what you're receiving, and whether any of it is actually serving the goals your organization has on paper. The findings are ours to stand behind — they are not shaped by the festivals or events being assessed.
This engagement suits organizations spending above $100,000 annually on event sponsorships, drawn from marketing, community investment, communications, or HR budgets.
- Portfolio inventory — a complete map of current commitments, spend, and tenure
- Strategic objective mapping — clarifying what the portfolio is actually meant to achieve
- Audience and alignment analysis — who each event reaches, and whether that matches your objectives
- Comparator review — how your portfolio compares to peers in your sector
- Gap and opportunity identification — where you are over-invested and where you are absent
- A prioritized set of written recommendations
A written Worth Audit document, typically 20–30 pages, delivered with a debrief session. Findings are not shared with or cleared by the events being assessed.
Primarily desk research and internal interviews, completed remotely. One in-person working session available if preferred. Completed within 4–6 weeks of engagement.
Most event sponsorship portfolios are never measured against the objectives they were built to serve.
This is not a failure of intent. It is a failure of infrastructure — the absence of any agreed framework for evaluating whether a sponsorship relationship is earning its place. The Worth Audit builds that framework from what you already have.
Festivals receive significant public investment — municipal grants, provincial funding, destination marketing budgets, corporate underwriting. They almost never receive independent scrutiny.
The economic impact studies that do exist are almost always commissioned and controlled by the festivals themselves. This produces numbers shaped by the interests of the organizations producing them. It is not a scandal — it is simply how the system works. But it means funders rarely have an honest picture of what their investment is producing.
The Festival Impact Brief is an independent assessment of what a specific festival or event is actually generating for its funders and community — and, critically, what a better-designed version could generate instead. We are not engaged by the festival. Our findings are yours.
This engagement suits municipal economic development officers, destination management organizations, arts councils, community foundations, and government funders evaluating existing or prospective festival investments.
- Review of all existing impact data and measurement methodology
- Assessment of the festival's design relative to its stated community purpose
- Stakeholder interviews — funders, organizers, and community representatives
- Comparator analysis against peer festivals in comparable markets
- Design alternatives — what structural changes could materially increase community value
- A written set of findings and recommendations
A written Festival Impact Brief, typically 15–25 pages, delivered with a presentation session. Findings are not shared with or cleared by the festival being assessed.
Desk research, public data analysis, and stakeholder interviews. Site visits available where relevant. Completed within 6–8 weeks of engagement.
The economic impact studies that exist are almost always commissioned by the festivals themselves. Funders rarely have an independent picture of what their investment is producing.
The Festival Impact Brief is designed specifically for the people writing the cheques — not for the organizations receiving them. Independence is not incidental to this service. It is the service.
Most gathering design decisions are made by precedent, logistics, and the constraints of what last year's venue allowed. The strategic question — what is this gathering actually for, and what would it need to look like to achieve that? — is rarely asked before the decisions are already half-made.
The result is events that feel fine. Attendees leave without a clear sense of why they came. Organizers repeat the format because changing it requires a conversation no one has had.
The Gathering Strategy Session is a focused half-day working session that asks the right question at the right moment — before the design is locked. We come prepared with a briefing document and a clear agenda. You bring the right people into the room. By the end, you have a clear statement of purpose, a set of key design decisions, and a written summary to carry into your planning process.
This engagement suits leadership teams, boards, and organizing committees planning a significant gathering — an annual conference, a strategic retreat, a civic event, a campaign launch, or a donor convening.
- A pre-session briefing document from Resolute & Gather, framing the key strategic questions
- The working session — 3 to 4 hours, up to 8 participants
- Objective clarification — what is this gathering actually for?
- Design options and tradeoffs — format, audience, atmosphere, structure
- Key decisions — agreed and recorded during the session
- A written post-session summary with conclusions and recommended next steps
The session — up to 8 participants — plus a written brief delivered within five business days, containing the key conclusions, decisions, and recommended next steps.
In-person strongly preferred; virtual available. No long-term retainer required. Can be arranged within 2–3 weeks of a confirmed engagement.
The strategic question is rarely asked before the design decisions are already half-made.
A gathering designed around a clear purpose looks different from one designed around precedent — in its format, its invitation list, its venue, and the conversations it makes possible. The session exists to make that distinction before it's too late to act on it.
Every engagement starts with a conversation about the problem — before we discuss which service applies.
Our approachHow we work
Every engagement, regardless of type, follows the same underlying logic. We start by understanding the problem, stay independent, and deliver something written you can use.
A conversation first
We don't propose a service before we understand your situation. Every engagement starts with a brief, no-obligation conversation to establish whether we're the right fit — and which service, if any, makes sense.
Agree on the question
Before work begins, we agree on what we're actually trying to answer. A clear question is more valuable than a long brief. Most engagements disappoint because the question was wrong, not because the work was poor.
Work independently
Our findings are not shared with, or shaped by, the organizations being assessed. This independence is the point — and why the work is useful to the people who commission it.
Deliver and debrief
Every engagement ends with a written document and a live debrief. The document is yours to use as you see fit. The debrief is often where the most valuable conversation happens.
We work with the people who fund gatherings. Not with the gatherings themselves.
Resolute & GatherEvery engagement starts the same way — with a short call to understand the problem before we discuss which service applies.
There is no obligation and no pitch in that first conversation. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so.
If you have a specific challenge in mind — a sponsorship portfolio that isn't working, a festival investment you're unsure about, or an event that needs clearer purpose — that's exactly the right place to start.