6a pitching and friendraising with notes

Teacher’s Guide for Implementation III: Pitching and Friendraising

Notes Here:

Every PresenTense workshops starts with a pre-

exercise. This one is a game that demands a bit

more involvement. The Instructor asks

everyone to close their eyes, and then walks

around the room, picking one person to give a

‘secret password’ to (it can be anything.

“Candy?” Your call). Then the Instructor returns

to the front of the room and tells people they

can open their eyes – and they should start

speaking with one another. The goal of the

participants is to meet each other, ask them

about themselves, find out what they value –

and see if they can give them some information

or an idea the other person values. If a person

who has the password is given an idea or

introduction or a piece of feedback they value,

they can tell the person who gave them that

value the password.

After the time is over, the instructor calls “stop”

and asks people to sit down, then asks the

original person with the password to raise their

hand, and then everyone else who got the hand, and then everyone else who got the

password to raise their hands.

(This workshops is built in such a way that it

can take 1.5hrs, or 3hrs, depending on the time

allotted. The big different in time comes from

the workshops. An instructor should adapt this

presentation based on the time for the session

before going to teach it. This slide could take in

total: 5 or 10 minutes, depending on how long

this workshop is to last. Total time of Pitching

and Friendraising Workshop: TKTK mins)

1


Notes Here:

The exercise is an example of pitching and

friendraising. If the group was successful, most

of the room would have their hands up. The

point of it is that every body wins. The people

who have their hand up have the password

because they were able to provide value to

someone else. In other words, what we’re

talking about today is how to provide value to

people quickly, steadily and repeatedly so that

everyone will share in the good. (Time =3 mins)

2


Notes Here:

When seeking to raise resources, there are four

types of capital to keep in mind. First are

introductions – this is social capital. Those

introductions can lead you to other resources.

Second are insights – this is intellectual capital.

These ideas can help your project advance

more effectively and efficiently. Third are

financial investments – this is financial capital.

You use money to buy other things, so this is

important but not critical. Last is an investment

of time – this is human capital. Time is the

most important thing one can seek, because it

can be used in the most varied ways, and builds

community around an idea. The key for an

entrepreneur is to know how to get people

interested in giving their capital. (Time = 3

mins)

3


Notes Here:

Pitching is a way to get people interested. It is a

chance for you to get people to know what you

do. (Time = 1 mins)

4


Notes Here:

And there are three core elements to a

successful pitch. First, a quick description of

what the problem is that you’re trying to solve.

That problem needs to be defined in simple

terms that enable a person to relate to them.

Second, a description of the solution to that

problem – which is what the venture is trying

to do. Last, a description of what a person can

do to help. And this should be an easy way to

help and get involved – a simple thing they can

do right away. (Time = 3 mins)

5


Notes Here:

Let’s workshop this. Take a minute to jot down

some notes, find a partner in the room, and

pitch them in three minutes. Try to keep each

section less than a minute long – partner, time

them. (Instructor, give them 8 minutes for this

– then ask someone to pitch the group, and get

people’s reactions. Did they understand the

problem? Believe in the solution? Do they

know what they can do about it?) (Time = 15

mins)

6


Notes Here:

But what if you’re stuck in an elevator, and you

have 45 seconds to tell someone what you do

and how they can get involved? Let’s try that

out. Take a minute to jot down some notes,

find a partner in the room, and pitch them in

45 seconds. Try to keep each section less than

15 seconds long – partner, time them.

(Instructor, give them 4 minutes for this – then

ask someone to pitch the group, and get

people’s reactions. Did they understand the

problem? Believe in the solution? Do they

know what they can do about it?) (Time = 10

mins, but can be 15-20 minutes if the session is

longer. In the longer case, go around the room

and have each person (but no more than 10

people) pitch the room in 45 seconds)

7


Notes Here:

And what if you’re walking up to someone in a

conference and you want them to get to know

you? What then? Well you have 15 seconds.

Let’s try that out. Take a minute to jot down

some notes, find a partner in the room, and

pitch them in 15 seconds. Partner, time them.

Go back and forth until you get it right.

(Instructor, give them 4 minutes for this – then

ask someone to pitch the group, and get

people’s reactions. Did it get their attention?

Do they know what the person wants from

them? Do they understand the problem?

Believe in the solution? Do they know what

they can do about it?) (Time = 10 mins, but can

be 15-20 minutes if the session is longer. In the

longer case, go around the room and have each

person pitch the room in 15 seconds – and

have people go more than once if they want to

improve it while others pitch)

8


Notes Here:

Once you’ve got people interested, you need to

know how to answer the ‘Now What?’ and for

that, we have a few suggestions. This is a five

tiered system for getting people involved, each

according to the level of interest and depth of

history you have with people. We’ll review it

quickly here, then go into each of them more

in-depth. First, the Board is a traditional vessel

that people use to get very involved people to

take formal responsibility. Second are Steering

Committees – smaller groups with less formal

responsibility over the whole organization, but

who can lead specific processes. Third is the

general mass of volunteers, who are individuals

who want to help, don’t exactly know how, but

are willing to do a task or two here or there to

help out. Fourth are partners from other

organizations or causes that are willing to help

you while you help them. And last are donors,

individuals who love what you’re doing, will not

volunteer with tasks, but are willing to give

money. Let’s go into each one individually.

(Time = 3 mins)

9


Notes Here:

A board is a set of devoted supporters who take

personal responsibility for the life of the

organization and trust one another to work like

a team. Boards should be composed of people

who have shown that they are committed to

the organization, and want to make it one of

their top priorities with their time. These

individuals are thereby willing to take on what

is known as “fiduciary responsibility”: legal

responsibility for the organization, how it runs,

and more. It is because of this responsibility

and commitment that many boards are

composed of donors or investors: they are

personally committed to giving the organization

the resources it needs to survive. But that

doesn’t need to be the case. Board members

can give any of the three W’s to help the

organization gain resources: Wealth, Wisdom

and Work. To maintain this devotion, however,

we recommend keeping the board manageable

and small, with 5-7 people at its core. (Time = 3

mins)

10


Notes Here:

Steering Committees are for those individuals

who are more willing to commit, but do not

have a long history with an organization. These

are individuals who are willing to give regular

time to the organization, and are willing to start

taking on strategic responsibility for particular

sub-goals of the organizations. (for example,

recruiting volunteers, planning a trip, etc).

Steering Committees should be action-case

specific, focused on a certain type of activity or

responsibility that is reoccurring so they can

grow their feeling of ownership and become

leaders in the organization and its cause. The

more well defined the zone of responsibility is,

the more Steering Committee members will be

willing to go above and beyond and lead the

charge. You can help this by clarifying also the

structure of their involvement. Do they meet

weekly? For how many hours? What is their

specific job description? The more structure

you give, the more freedom they’ll feel to give

back. (Time = 3 mins)

11


Notes Here:

Volunteers are individuals who are interested in

the organization, devoted to the cause, but

can’t commit. Generally, people will start as

volunteers, then get more involved on a

Steering Committee, and possibly join the

board. In other words, this is the ticket into the

organization. Use it well! Make sure you ask

them for an ‘atomic task’: a very specific,

achievable task that is time bound and provides

a sense of accomplishment. This sense of

accomplishment cannot be overplayed:

volunteers do not owe you anything. They are

helping because they care about the cause, and

if they work through you that’s your blessing.

The more personal benefit you can provide

them from contributing through your

organization, the more likely they will be to

remain and continue to help. So get to know

them – they are the most valuable assets you’ll

raise. (Time = 3 mins)

12


Notes Here:

Not everyone needs to get involved with the

organization to help the organization, of course,

and recruiting partners can help the

organization solve a lot of its challenges

without having to do everything on its own. Get

to know potential partners through an

environmental scan. Complements and

Collaborators are the most likely to help. Find

out what they need, and build opportunities for

mutual benefit. The more you highlight benefits

from your partnership to your partner and to

the rest of the world, the more people will hear

about both of your organizations and get

involved. The bigger the pie, the more

everyone eats. (Time = 3 mins)

13


Notes Here:

And for those individuals who have more

money than time, and would like to give but

can’t afford to give their time, you can give

financial opportunities. The key to speaking

with donors about what you need is to

recognize how much they think they can give –

and give them the opportunity to help you at

that level. Think of this just like giving hours: if

someone has only one hour to give a month,

make it possible for them to give that hour and

see the accomplishment. Tell them how much

they helped. And if they can’t give much, but

are willing to tell others that they should give

to the organization, then you’ve helped your

funder become a fundraiser. (Time = 3 mins)

14


Notes Here:

All of this is to say that the lifecycle of any gift

always requires patience. The more patience

you have, the more long-term payoff you can

get. Let people work through you, see the

effect of their actions, sense how they had

impact – and over time they will give you much

more of their time and money than if you

started off with a bang. (Time = 2 mins)

15


Notes Here:

16


Notes Here:

So let’s go into a few online platforms that can

help you with this process, because these tools

can cut your time and let you work with many

more people than otherwise possible. We

chose a few tools to help – but there are many

more out there that you should explore. First

there is Change.org, a site that enables people

to start petitions and let others know about

their cause. This is a wonderful way to get to

people and spark their awareness of their

problem. It’s also great to use in a pitch (for

example, “27,000 people agree that…”).

Getting the word out lets you start to get

people involved. (Go online if you can, ask the

group for a cause, and start a campaign right

away) (Time = 7 mins)

17


Notes Here:

As people get involved they’ll want to identify

more with your cause – and Causes is a great

platform to help them do so. It connects

directly into Facebook, and has been one of the

more popular apps in Facebook for a while.

Causes enables people to donate their birthday

wishes to the cause, get involved in projects,

and raise money. (Take a moment and set

something up around one of the projects in the

group) (Time = 7 mins)

18


Notes Here:

Then, as people get more involved and you

want to get them to take on additional financial

responsibilities, Network for Good can help

build relationships and a giving network. It has

a lot of tools for nonprofits and donors alike,

and is well worth while to develop and build.

(Time = 2S mins, 7L) (Instructor, if you have

time and this is a longer presentation, take

another 5 minutes and show them the site and

how easy it is to set up).

19


Notes Here:

Finally, make sure your venture is listed. Charity

Navigator is a great tool to build credibility –

and there are a few other such services that

provide third party information and ratings to

donors. You can only get listed if you are a

registered charity, so for some ventures this

may not help. For social enterprises there is the

B-Corporation, and other tools are developing

by the day. The key is to find a way to get

validation externally – so you can say, “Don’t

take my word for it…” (Instructor, ask them

about a Not-for-profit organization they know

and search with them for it and its statistics

(Time = 5 mins)

20


Notes Here:

All of these online tools, however, will never be

a replacement for trust. People invest in

people. (Instructor, ask if anyone here gave

time or money in the last month, and why. Ask

who it was that asked them to give it, and how

they asked). The key is to take this

understanding into the world: be a good

person, and do good for people. The more

good you do, the more good there will be. And

so we’ll take a five minute break here, and

practice how we can be more effective at

reaching out and engaging people.

(Time = 2 mins)

21


Notes Here:

Now, let’s try this out with a series of

workshops, to build out your networking

skills. Here are some key values and

instructions for a one-on-one conversation

(Instructor, ask the participants to read

these out, one person per number. Then

get two volunteers to come up to the front

of the group, and show how they can put

this into action. Instruct them to take two

minutes to network, with one of the people

role playing the entrepreneur, and another

person the potential friend or funder. Let

them play it out. Give them positive

feedback. Ask for feedback from the group

with the focus on – did they live up to the

first four rules? How can they follow up?

Once the two people are done role-playing,

as the room to break up into pairs – to find

someone in the room they haven’t had as

much contact with, and to play it out. Give

them 5 minutes to have one person role

play the entrepreneur and the other the

friend/funder, and then switch). (Time = 10

mins)mins)

22


Notes Here:

Now let’s say you’re at a meeting or a panel

discussion and it lets out. What do you do

to meet people in the room ? Here are

some key values and instructions for a

Lightening Networking (Instructor, ask the

participants to read these out, one person

per number. Then get two volunteers to

come up to the front of the group, and show

how they can put this into action. Instruct

them to take 30 seconds to network, with

one of the people role playing the

entrepreneur, and another person the

potential friend or funder. Let them play it

out. Pay attention to body language. Did

they seem inviting? Are they smiling? Are

they giving enough personal space but not

too much? If you feel comfortable with

scenarios such as “two on one” or “one on

two” play them out [i.e. scenarios when one

person interrupts two people already

networking, with the entrepreneur as the

person in the networking, or when the

entrepreneur tries to get into a conversation

with two people speaking.] Give them with two people speaking.] Give them

positive feedback. Ask for feedback from

the group with the focus on – did they live

up to the first four rules? How can they

follow up? Once the two people are done

role-playing, as the room to break up into

pairs – to find someone in the room they

haven’t had as much contact with, and to

play it out. And once they’re done, try to cut

into another group’s conversation. Give


play the entrepreneur and the other the

friend/funder, and then switch). (Time = 10

mins)

23


Notes Here:

Now let’s say you’re at a conference booth

– how do you meet people, have them

remember you? Here are some key values

and instructions for conference networking.

(Instructor, ask the participants to read

these out, one person per number. Then

get two volunteers to come up to the front

of the group, and show how they can put

this into action. Instruct them to take 30

seconds to network, with one of the people

role playing the entrepreneur standing at a

conference booth, and another person the

potential friend or funder walking around

the room. Let them play it out. Pay attention

to body language. Did they seem inviting?

Are they smiling? Are they giving enough

personal space but not too much? If you

feel comfortable with scenarios such as

“two on one” or “one on two” play them out

[i.e. scenarios when one person interrupts

two people already networking, with the

entrepreneur as the person in the

networking, or when the entrepreneur tries

to get into a conversation with two people to get into a conversation with two people

speaking.] Give them positive feedback.

Ask for feedback from the group with the

focus on – did they live up to the first four

rules? How can they follow up? Once the

two people are done role-playing, as the

room to break up in half – half

entrepreneurs at booths, half people

walking around to check things out . Give


play the entrepreneur at a both and the

other the friend/funder, and then switch).

(Time = 10 mins)

24


Notes Here:

Finally, for every day things, we have

casual, relaxed conversation. Don’t forget

this is the most important part – and this is

how you follow up any quick and light

connection up with. (Instructor, ask the

participants to read these out, one person

per number. Then get two volunteers to

come up to the front of the group, sit facing

each other as they might in an office or

café, and show how they can put this into

action. Instruct them to take 3 minutes to

talk, with one of the people role playing the

entrepreneur following up on a connection

at a conference, and another person the

potential friend or funder interested but still

not sold. Let them play it out. Pay attention

to body language. Did they seem inviting?

Are they smiling? Are they giving enough

personal space but not too much? Give

them positive feedback. Ask for feedback

from the group with the focus on – did they

live up to the four rules? How can they

follow up? Once the two people are done

role-playing, as the room to break up into role-playing, as the room to break up into

pairs to try it out. Give them 5 minutes to

have one person role play the entrepreneur

at a both and the other the friend/funder,

and then switch). (Time = 10mins)

25


Notes Here:

Great work everyone – remember, practice

makes perfect. The whole point of this is to

build connections with people, learn about

them, and help them do good. Our key

takeaway is: Be authentic, gracious,

and courageous. Remember, everybody needs somebody--you can help! (Time = 3 mins)

26

6a pitching and friendraising with notes

Documents

friendraising pitching

total time of pitching

investment of time

time allotted

friendraising workshop

example of pitching

person values

original person