GBAC SOAR CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS

Invest in Birmingham’s Future.

Connect with Birmingham’s Auburn Community.

SOAR Corporate Partners invest in Birmingham-area students while building meaningful connections with Auburn alumni, fans, families, business owners and professionals throughout Greater Birmingham.

Corporate partnerships begin at $500.

1 IN 6

Approximately 1 in every 6 new Auburn students comes from Greater Birmingham.

1,000+

Birmingham-area students enter Auburn each year.

35,000+

Auburn alumni, fans and families in our email audience.

20+

Birmingham-area students supported annually.

More than a sponsorship.

A SOAR Corporate Partnership brings together philanthropy, community engagement and access to one of Birmingham’s largest Auburn audiences.

Companies can support scholarships, build relationships within the Auburn Family and create meaningful visibility among Auburn alumni, fans and families throughout Greater Birmingham.

SCHOLARSHIP IMPACT

Help create opportunities for Birmingham-area students attending Auburn University.

AUDIENCE REACH

Reach more than 35,000 Auburn alumni, fans and families through SOAR and GBAC communications.

BUSINESS CONNECTIONS

Build relationships with Auburn alumni, professionals, business owners and families throughout Greater Birmingham.

COMMUNITY VISIBILITY

Demonstrate your company’s commitment to education, workforce development and Birmingham’s future.

Choose how your company makes an impact.

From local businesses supporting the Auburn Family to transformational investments in Birmingham’s future workforce, SOAR partnerships can be tailored around your company’s goals.

COMMUNITY PARTNER

Starting at $500

Support SOAR and join Birmingham’s Auburn business community.

NETWORK PARTNER

$10,000–$49,999

Reach Birmingham’s Auburn audience and build lasting business relationships.

FOUNDATIONAL PARTNER

$50,000–$100,000+

Make a major philanthropic investment in Birmingham’s students and future workforce.

COMMUNITY PARTNER

Starting at $500

Support Birmingham students. Join Birmingham’s Auburn business community.

  • Company name/logo and link on the SOAR Corporate Partners webpage
  • Welcome and periodic social recognition
  • Invitation to SOAR business and networking opportunities
  • Opportunity to provide an exclusive SOAR member benefit or discount
  • Proud SOAR Corporate Partner digital badge
  • Opportunities for SOAR to promote approved member offers through SOAR communications

A good fit for local restaurants, retailers, professional services, Auburn-owned businesses and other Birmingham companies.

NETWORK PARTNER

$10,000–$49,999

Reach Birmingham’s Auburn community. Grow meaningful business connections.

Network Partners sit at the centre of the Auburn Birmingham Network — the community of alumni, fans, families, professionals and business owners GBAC and SOAR reach across Greater Birmingham.

REACH

  • Featured placement on SOAR corporate web properties
  • Regular recognition in SOAR and GBAC communications
  • Opportunities to reach our 35,000+ email audience
  • Dedicated or integrated email campaigns featuring approved partner messaging
  • Geographic targeting, including ZIP-code-focused campaigns, where available audience data supports it

TELL YOUR STORY

  • Focused social media campaigns highlighting the business, services, people and Auburn connections
  • Business profiles and corporate storytelling
  • Auburn alumni employee/owner feature opportunities
  • Scholarship and community-impact storytelling

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS

  • Opportunities to promote special offers to the Auburn community
  • Approved partner messaging distributed through SOAR and GBAC communications

CONNECT

  • Meet-and-greets with Auburn alumni, fans and families
  • SOAR business-networking opportunities
  • Opportunities to participate in appropriate GBAC and SOAR events

THE AUBURN AUDIENCE

Reach 35,000+ Auburn alumni, fans and families.

GBAC and SOAR have built an expansive communications network across Greater Birmingham. Corporate partnerships can include email campaigns, social media content, special offers and targeted communications — customized around geography, business objectives, audience and desired frequency.

EMAIL & TARGETING

Reach a 35,000+ Auburn audience through dedicated or integrated SOAR and GBAC email campaigns. At appropriate partnership levels, communications can be focused toward selected areas of Greater Birmingham where available ZIP-code and audience information supports geographic segmentation.

SOCIAL & STORYTELLING

Build visibility through focused social campaigns designed around your company’s story rather than generic sponsor recognition. Potential topics may include:

  • services and products
  • company history
  • Auburn connections
  • leadership
  • employees
  • community involvement
  • SOAR member offers
  • scholarship support

DIRECT ENGAGEMENT

Meet Auburn alumni, fans and families directly through networking gatherings, meet-and-greets and selected SOAR and GBAC programs. Possible opportunities can include:

  • SOAR business-networking gatherings
  • partner-hosted events
  • scholarship-related programs
  • Freshman Send-Off
  • Scholarship Scramble
  • Distinguished Awards Dinner
  • other appropriate GBAC/SOAR activities

Opportunities are customized based on partnership level, timing and availability.

FOUNDATIONAL PARTNERS

Invest in Birmingham’s most promising student talent.

$50,000–$100,000+

Every year, Greater Birmingham sends many of its most capable students to Auburn University — a nationally recognized academic institution and one of the strongest talent pipelines our region has.

SOAR Foundational Partners make transformational investments in that pipeline, helping provide scholarship opportunities for Birmingham-area students and developing the professionals, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators and community leaders who will carry Birmingham forward for decades to come.

A year-round partnership in Birmingham’s future.

PREMIER RECOGNITION

  • Highlighted recognition across appropriate SOAR events
  • Premier corporate recognition on SOAR web properties
  • Recognition in regular SOAR and GBAC communications
  • Prominent social-media recognition
  • Scholarship and impact communications
  • Annual partnership and impact recognition

IMPACT STORYTELLING

  • Scholarship-impact content
  • Student-success stories where appropriate and available
  • Scholarship milestones
  • Corporate philanthropy stories
  • Workforce-development messaging
  • Co-branded SOAR Impact content

At the highest level, partnerships can include SOAR Impact presented by the Foundational Partner.

AUBURN MADE. BIRMINGHAM STRONG.

Put your Auburn people at the center of the story.

Many Birmingham companies already have compelling Auburn stories inside their organizations. SOAR partnerships can feature Auburn alumni employees, executives and business owners — how Auburn prepared them, why they built their careers in Birmingham, and why their company is investing in the next generation.

THEIR AUBURN STORY

How Auburn helped prepare them for their career.

THEIR BIRMINGHAM STORY

How they are contributing to Greater Birmingham today.

THEIR COMPANY'S IMPACT

Why their company is investing in Birmingham-area students.

Your investment should have a story.

A logo on a page tells people your company gave. An impact story shows them what that gift made possible — and that is what people remember, share and associate with your business.

Potential SOAR Impact content may include:

  • scholarships awarded
  • student-success milestones
  • scholarship-fund growth
  • Freshman Send-Off impact
  • Auburn alumni stories
  • corporate employee involvement
  • community engagement
  • workforce-development stories

Larger partnerships can include recurring co-branded SOAR Impact content distributed across web, email and social media. For Foundational Partners, recurring or presenting-level recognition can be customized.

Build relationships beyond the inbox.

Digital reach is only part of the opportunity. Corporate partners can also build direct relationships with Birmingham’s Auburn community through selected events and experiences.

SOAR BUSINESS NETWORK

Connect with Auburn professionals, executives and business owners.

FRESHMAN SEND-OFF

Engage incoming Auburn students and families.

SCHOLARSHIP SCRAMBLE

Build relationships with alumni and business leaders while supporting scholarships.

DISTINGUISHED AWARDS DINNER

Participate in one of GBAC and SOAR’s signature philanthropic events.

Exact event participation, recognition and hosting opportunities are customized according to partnership level, timing and availability.

CREATE A LASTING LEGACY

Endow a Scholarship.

A partnership makes an impact today. An endowed scholarship can make an impact for generations.

Companies, families and individuals may also explore opportunities to establish a named endowed scholarship benefiting Birmingham-area students attending Auburn University. An endowed scholarship creates a lasting source of student support and permanently connects your company, family or legacy with future generations of Birmingham students.

Endowment opportunities are customized and subject to applicable SOAR and Auburn University requirements.

Three ways to partner.

COMMUNITY PARTNER

Starting at $500

Support SOAR and join Birmingham’s Auburn business community.

NETWORK PARTNER

$10,000–$49,999

Reach Birmingham’s Auburn audience and build lasting business relationships.

FOUNDATIONAL PARTNER

$50,000–$100,000+

Make a major philanthropic investment in Birmingham’s students and future workforce.

Let’s build the right partnership.

Whether you’re a local business looking to support Birmingham students, a company seeking deeper connections with Birmingham’s Auburn community or an organization ready to make a transformational investment in our region’s future, we’d like to talk.

Frequently asked questions

Community Partnerships begin at $500. Network Partnerships range from $10,000–$49,999, and Foundational Partnerships begin at $50,000. Larger relationships can be customized.

Yes. Depending on partnership level, opportunities can include email campaigns, social media, geographic targeting, special offers, networking, meet-and-greets and event engagement.

At appropriate partnership levels, geographic targeting may be available using ZIP-code and other audience information available to SOAR.

Yes. Corporate partnerships can include opportunities to promote approved business messages and special offers through SOAR and GBAC communications.

Yes. Event participation, sponsorship recognition, networking and engagement opportunities can be incorporated into larger corporate partnerships.

Yes. Network and Foundational Partnerships can be customized around philanthropic goals, audience, geography, marketing objectives, employee engagement and desired community involvement.

Yes. Contact the SOAR Executive Director to discuss opportunities for establishing a named endowed scholarship benefiting Birmingham-area Auburn students.

Corporate audience campaigns are distributed through SOAR/GBAC-controlled communications channels. Audience targeting and segmentation are subject to available data and permissions.