Sponsoring in context: Conference on the Chances and Compliance-Risks in Sponsoring

On the December 9, 2015 the Alliance for Integrity hosted a conference themed ‘Sponsoring in the context of Principle 10 of the UN Global Compact: Taking Chances, Minimising Risks.’ Over 70 participants were present, representing a broad variety of stakeholders, from global banks and large German and international companies to prominent NGOs and other institutions.

The Director of the Alliance for Integrity and representative of the German Global Compact Network, Noor Naqschbandi, gave an introductory speech, in which he emphasised the importance and relevance of sponsoring. In the following panel, the new guideline developed by the Sponsoring working group of the German Global Compact Network, titled “Sponsoring: Taking Chances, Minimising Risks” was presented and discussed. The panel comprised of Dr. Jürgen Janssen, Coordinator of the German Global Compact Network; Inka Müller-Schmah, Managing Director of VSA Vereinigung Sportsponsoring Anbieter e.V; Ulrich Rothfuchs, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of DEKRA SE and Josef Stadtfeld, Managing Director of S20-The Sponsors’ Voice e.V.

The focal point of the panel discussion centred around the fine balance between seizing opportunities and taking unjustifiable risks, whilst highlighting the potential benefits of sponsorship to all parties to such an agreement. The presented guideline combines the expertise of all sponsoring stakeholders and was designed as a comprehensible and practical guide.

Following this, three simultaneous workshops took place targeting the following themes: Prevent, Detect and React.

Finally, the stage was given to Dr. Arnout Geeraert, an expert on Sports Governance and employee of the Catholic University of Leuven in order for the audience to also gain an academic perspective of the topic.