Minecraft Forums

Welcome to my guide! As you can probably tell from the date of this post, I posted this a long time ago, but over the months it has become the de-facto standard for sponsorship posts in this section (and I thank everyone for their continued support) c:

As of August 2014, I have released Version 2.0 of this guide. It features completely re-written sections, changes corresponding to the new EULA, and (most importantly) a new FAQ!

And again, as always, if you have any questions at all about anything in this guide (or just feel like chatting with me), feel free to shoot me a PM! I try to respond to every PM I get, and I usually answer all questions pertaining to sponsorships.

Also, if you like the stuff I have here, why not take a little time and write a little thank-you note below? It'd be much appreciated.

Table of Contents:

Templates
Professionalism
What Hosts Want
Why did my application get rejected?
Frequently Asked Questions
Thread Credits



These are templates that I’ve created to facilitate the process of getting a sponsorship. They include everything you need to address, and if you address everything well enough, you’re pretty much good to go

The entire point of these is to go forth and use these templates for your own posts. Nobody’s making you pay for using these. If you've been redirected to this post from a message someone put on your thread, feel free to put the filled-in template in your own thread. It'll help.

Oh yes, and having said that, please do NOT post your applications in this thread! This is NOT a application collection thread, and nobody will look at your application if posted here.

If the proposed server DOES NOT exist (yet):
What fits into this category:
- Nonexistent servers of all types
- Personal servers that you’d like to transfer to a host.

If the proposed server EXISTS:
What fits into this category:
- Large servers that already have a very strong community

If you are looking for a YOUTUBE sponsorship:
What fits into this category:
- YouTube channels with over a thousand subscribers (maybe more)

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The key to anything in life is professionalism. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to get into the circus or looking for a free server on the forums. Professionalism is the key. If you aren't professional enough, nobody will take you seriously.

However, this begs a question - What is professionalism?

That's a really good question, a question that I've been trying to figure out the answer to for the past five-to-ten years. There are three main ideals that you should follow when being professional, and they are:

Ideal #1) Grammar is the key


Ideal #2) Remember who and what you're dealing with.


Ideal #3) Know EXACTLY what you want and what you are going after.

If you follow all of these ideals when writing a request for a sponsorship for an awesome idea for a server you have, you will most likely receive a sponsorship. It's been proven many times.

If you need a real-life example to follow, check out TheKiwiHead's post here: http://www.minecraft...lock-community/ . It is a prime example of what you should be doing. Your thread doesn’t need to look that fancy, but the content has to be of that quality.

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This list is by no means the complete list of everything hosts want. There are many, many, MANY more possibilities than these few. These are only a few examples that have been proven to work in the past. It's up to the host. If you think you're eligible for a sponsorship, by all means, go ahead and ask on the forums! Nothing's gonna stop you.

What Hosts Want:
These points are ordered from what hosts absolutely love and will be jumping over themselves to sponsor to something that might not get sponsored if you're unlucky. The ones that hosts love are towards the top of the list.

An already-existing server with a very strong community or a lot of traffic.

An already-existing server with lots and lots of donations.

A non-existent server with an original (and plausible) idea and/or perks that no other server has.

A deal in which the applicant has some sort of useful skill to give back to the host.


What Hosts Do Not Want:
These, like the points of the section above, are listed from the ones that nobody will accept to the ones that are just a bit implausible and might actually get accepted if you are lucky. The ones that nobody will accept are near the top, and the slightly implausible ones are towards the bottom.

Absolutely nothing in return (or something worthless for what you're asking)

A co-owner position on your server (or something like that)

A server whose idea has been used at least a hundred times already and has no perks to make it different.

Youtube Sponsorships

100% of donations from a nonexistent server

A banner/mention/advertisement on a nonexistent server's website

Advertisements on the Forums

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There are many reasons. I'll quickly go over the most common:

You were being too unrealistic / seeming like you were lying.

You were being unprofessional.

You were giving nothing / very little in return.

Your idea was not original enough.

You didn’t include enough information, or you didn’t give more information when asked to.

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TL;DR

What is a sponsorship? Is a sponsorship really “free”?

Help! Where do I post my application?

Can you host my server? You’re a nice moderator, aren’t you? c:

Okay, if you’re not going to host my server, then who will?

My parents don’t want me to have a server for [insert reason here], but I want one! Should I ask for a sponsorship?

What do you mean by “be realistic”

So how much RAM should I ask for?

A host asked for more information than I provided in my application. What should I do?

Who are you, anyway? What qualifications do you have to write this guide?

Will you play on my server?




kokiboki for helping me to write version 2.0 of this thread. Much love!
Xirian for helping to write version 1.0 of this thread.

timoffex for pressuring me to improve the "what hosts want" section.

And all the hosts of this section for making this thread official. I love you all! ^__^