Community Support form

To see the sponsorship policy, please click here.

Cruise Whitsundays is committed to ‘giving back’ and supporting the community it works within.  As such, a comprehensive and generous community sponsorship program is undertaken throughout the year to support activities which have both a community and commercial aspect.  Our policy statements below cover how Cruise Whitsundays makes a decision to become involved as a sponsor, prize donor or otherwise part of an event, program, charity, community group or other request.

Cruise Whitsundays will consider:

• Requests for prizes for raffles, auctions, or other similar fundraising pursuits – where the prize is used to raise funds for the group raffling/auctioning it off;
• Requests for prizes for competitions;
• Requests for ‘in kind’ sponsorship of events, fundraisers, or similar – where Cruise Whitsundays cruises are donated in lieu of cash, and sponsorship benefits are provided in return;
• Other requests for support in various forms.

In considering requests, assessment will take into account the:

1. Impact for the good for the community in areas relevant to Cruise Whitsundays operations (eg. Reef and eco sustainability, boating safety, marine life);
2. Impact for the good of the community in educational organisations that are readily accessible to the general public, particularly with a focus on marine and environmental matters;
3. Impact for the good of the community on children and young people in the community;
4. Impact for the good of the general community through sport and charitable works;
5. Any profile and positive exposure that Cruise Whitsundays may gain for its involvement and the necessary resources to be committed by Cruise Whitsundays to the request;
6. The legal status of the organisation or group making the request, with preference for companies limited by guarantee and incorporated associations whose constitution has a not for profit basis where surpluses are barred from redistribution to members;
7. The taxation status of the organisation of group making the request, with preference for those with deductible gift recipient status;
8. The level of requests already received and accepted by Cruise Whitsundays from that group or other groups at that time;
9. The cash cost to Cruise Whitsundays of involvement in the request;
10. Any potential risk to the reputation of Cruise Whitsundays through involvement in the request;
11. The demand for Cruise Whitsundays’ services by the normal fare paying public.

When considering requests, Cruise Whitsundays will also give preference on a geographic basis in the following order:

1. Local events, fundraisers, charities, groups, or similar – Local is defined as the Whitsunday Regional Council area;
2. Regional events, fundraisers, charities, groups, or similar – Regional is defined as the Mackay, Isaac and Townsville Regional Council areas;
3. Events, fundraisers, charities, groups or similar causes that are not local but may have a local impact (a clear link or benefit to the local Whitsundays community or environment must be shown);
4. Non-local events, fundraisers, charities, groups, or similar – where sponsorship benefits give Cruise Whitsundays a profile in relevant target markets;
5. Non-local events, fundraisers, charities, groups or similar.

Cruise Whitsundays’ preferred form of sponsorship, support or prize donation is the provision of in-kind support by donating cruises.

HOW TO APPLY FOR SUPPORT

If your charity group, event, fundraiser or community group would like to apply to Cruise Whitsundays for support, here’s how to do it:

1. Read the policy statements above and check your group fits within our preferred categories.
2. Complete the application for support form and submit.
3. Please don’t respond with one or two word answers – we actually read all of your answers and we’d actually like to know about your event/fundraiser/group and why this fundraising will be so valuable.
4. Submit the form AT LEAST TWO WEEKS PRIOR to your event. The earlier notice the better chance you have of securing our support (because this means you have longer to promote our support).
5. Await a response from our team. A final decision will be made within 7 days of a complete application being lodged.
6. If you do not hear from us, then, unfortunately, we are unable to support your request at this time.

TIPS FOR YOUR APPLICATION

• Read our sponsorship policies carefully and ensure you identify how your request fits within our priorities and preferred charities/benefit areas.
• Be specific about what you are applying for. (eg. a trip for two to the Great Barrier Reef from Airlie Beach for two adults to be offered as the major raffle prize at your event).
• Provide detailed but clear and specific information about the event/fundraiser and where funds raised from our prize/donation/sponsorship will go (eg. funds raised will go directly to the charity you are fundraising for; or funds raised will go towards building a new shaded area for spectators at your sporting ground).
• Think carefully about how you will acknowledge/promote Cruise Whitsundays as a sponsor and outline those benefits clearly in your application.
• The earlier you apply the better – if you are offering sponsorship benefits to Cruise Whitsundays in return, then obviously the longer those benefits can be offered, the better return on investment for us as a sponsor.
• If Cruise Whitsundays has sponsored your event/group previously, include evidence of how you have acknowledged/promoted Cruise Whitsundays in the past.