A national hire network is a slightly misleading description. On paper it is one company with branches across Australia. On the ground it is dozens of local operations, staffed by people who live in that town, supplying the sites and events within an hour's drive.
That geography is the whole reason community involvement is more than a marketing line. The branch supplying a regional show is generally staffed by people who attend it.
Two kinds of support, and one of them matters more
Community support from a hire business tends to take two forms.
Cash sponsorship is the visible one: a name on a jersey, a sign at a ground. It is useful and it is easy to understand.
Equipment support is the one that actually moves the needle, because infrastructure is usually the line item that breaks a community event's budget. Perimeter fencing, crowd control barriers, portable toilets and ticket boxes are what convert a paddock or an oval into a functioning event. They are also expensive, unglamorous, and the first thing a volunteer committee tries to do without.
Doing without usually means improvising, and improvised crowd separation at a well attended event is exactly the scenario nobody wants.
Who TFH backs
The current list runs across grassroots and community sport, regional festivals and motorsport:
- Queensland Rugby Referees Association, supporting officials rather than players
- University of Queensland Rugby and Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club
- Wynnum Seagulls and Burleigh Bears
- Central Queensland Rugby League and the Capras, extending well beyond the south east
- Sunshine Coast Lightning, backing elite women's sport
- Flame BBQ and Music Festival with Logan City Council at Jimboomba
- Queensland Raceways and Experience Gold Coast
The full list sits on the community sponsorships page.
Beyond sponsorship: the events that need infrastructure
Most community involvement never gets called sponsorship at all. It is a school fete that needs a perimeter, a council carols night that needs toilets, an agricultural show that needs several hundred metres of fencing for three days, or a charity fun run that needs a finish chute.
These jobs are small, seasonal and time critical. They are also the ones where a local branch is genuinely useful, because the organiser can talk to someone who knows the ground rather than a call centre.
Larger civic projects
At the other end of the scale, the same equipment supports civic infrastructure. TFH supplied fencing and barriers to the HOTA arts precinct on the Gold Coast, and was the Official Supplier of Security Fencing for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The naming of the TFH High Performance Centre at Parkwood sits in the same category: support that leaves a facility behind.
Organising something in your community
If you are running a community event, the two things worth sorting early are the perimeter and the amenities, because both are harder to fix late than any other part of the plan.
Request a quote with your dates and expected numbers, or get in touch with the branch nearest you. If you are after sponsorship rather than hire, the community sponsorships page is the place to start, and there is more detail in our guide to how TFH backs local causes.