You’ve got 5 minutes to MAKE YOUR PITCH so make it GREAT!
Whether you are the founder, a volunteer or a donor, if you are going to be the representative to pitch funding your organization, you need to know what you do and how you do it. In a matter of five minutes you’ve got to be able to tell what you do, what kind of impact you make and what you will specifically do with the money given to you.
The women sitting in this room have come and are committed to 100+ Women Who Care – Madison BECAUSE of their ability to make a difference and the camaraderie of seeing all the great work in Dane County. Use the time you have given to make a huge impact. Even if you aren’t chosen as the benefactor for the night, you have had the audience of change makers in Dane County…..use it wisely.
1) Know the facts!
Practice your elevator speech so you can passionately, but concisely, tell the story of the work your organization does in under one minute. People get lost easily by drawn out explanations.
Write down what you do, how you do it and who is affected. Wrap this information around a few sentences and voila! you’ve got your pitch.
If an organization is selected, but you don’t feel confident to be able to clearly and concisely convey the message, find a volunteer in your organization to assist or lead the presentation so you can make a solid pitch.
2) Tell the HEART story!
Be sure to think of a way to tie in a personal story of those you impact with the work you do so that the group has a very clear understanding and can make a connection to that work.
As you prepare, write down WHY you are involved. Why does it matter to you and who/what have you seen change in the times you have been involved that have mattered to you? If it matters to you, it will probably matter to someone else. Write down a short story of how the work of the organization directly made a change and time it…get it under one minute and PRACTICE it.
3) Show them the MONEY!
Where will the money go? The people in the room are ready to make a wise choice about where they donate. Organizations that struggle to define where the funding will go will have a more difficult time convincing the audience for their vote. This should not be detailed financial statements, but rather a strong description of what the funds will be supporting.
Explaining how the funding will benefit the organization and the community will pay off in the long run and will give you the confidence to make your pitch to the group. If you don’t explain this in your allotted presentation time, it will likely be asked in the Q&A person so be prepared with answers either way.
Talking points to include in your presentation:
Making your case for support in the five minutes that you are allowed takes some planning. Here are some talking points you might want to incorporate into your presentation.
- Introduce the name of the charity, yourself and your connection to the organization.
- Share what the mission of the organization is.
- Describe the program that you would like to be funded. Provide some background information, if possible.
- Include engaging facts, e.g., “75 women in our community are involved in a domestic violence dispute every month…”
- Identify how many people and describe who the funds will impact.
- Explain how essential this program is and what our community will miss if this program does not get funded.
- Share how this donation will make a difference for our community.
- End with a heartfelt ask and a thank you.
Thanks to 100+ Women Who Care – Bloomington, IN for inspiring this list of talking points.