The Pitch

Module 2 * Part 2

Step 1: Greet the funders / investors

It is important to make a good impression on your audience. Since you are there to look for ways to improve on your proposal and/or funding for your project, you want to make a good impression on people:

  • Stand up and greet your audience
  • Shake hands and smile
  • Ask your audience how they are doing
  • Show that you are glad to have the audience
  • Be passionate, humble and genuine

    Step 2: Present proposal

    Then it is time to present the proposal. The presentation should consist of the following parts:

    • Part 1: The Greeting – formally greet the audience members. Have a catchy slogan or a memorable question that stimulates the audience’s curiosity
    • Part 2: The Story – relate an experience (either your own or someone else’s) that clearly illustrates the problem you have identified.
    • Part 3: The Solution – describe the solution and how it solves the problem you have just outline in your story
    • Part 4: The Benefits – how all the stakeholders be benefited
    • Part 5: Implementation – how exactly will the proposal be carried out? By whom and to what effect
    • Part 6: The Call to Action – ask your audience member to support your proposal; ask directly for support and/or for funding

    Step 3. Q&A

    Once you have conducted your pitch, your audience is going to ask you some questions regarding the details:

    • Expect some difficult questions
    • The audience would likely want to know more about the inspiration to the problem and solution
    • They also want to know more about how exactly your solution will be implemented
    • Be patient; you might need to explain some of your concepts since your audience has only heard this and may need some time to digest what you have said
    • Answer questions directly
    • If you don’t know something, you should be honest about it
    • Keep your answer short; the Q&A should last no more than 5 mins (unless your audience wants more)

      Step 4. Receive feedback

      After the entire process, your audience member is likely going to give you some feedback:

    • While most funders / investors are nice, some can be very straight forward and tell you that your proposal does not work. If so, ask for specific reasons so you can improve on your work
    • Most will want to know more about the implementation, so create meaningful dialogue to talk about how the implementation might go wrong and what can be done to fix the issue
    • Occasionally you will get feedback on the performance itself, so you can also take note of that
    • Ask about the feasibility of resources during the feedback. This is the most valuable because you can learn what, from the point of view of the funder, the main concerns are
    • Don’t expect to get resources; funders have a duty to be fiscally responsible; explore different ways of collaboration