Practice your elevator speech. This is your first minute of your presentation. You need to be able to tell the story of the work your organization does in under one minute. Drawn out explanations lose people easily. Write down what they do, how they do it and who is affected. Then wrap that around a few sentences and voila! You’ve got your pitch. Don’t lose out on this opportunity for your charity as you don’t know when they will be drawn again.

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 hopefully a connection to that work. As you prepare, write down WHY you are involved or passionate about this charity? Why does it matter 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.

Where will the money go! The people in the room are ready to make a wise choice about where they donate. Those that struggle to define where their hard-earned money will go once they write that cheque will find it hard to vote for that charity.

We’re not talking about detailed financial statements but rather a strong description of what the funds will be supporting. It could be general operating budget to help grow a new local organization; it could be for materials to distribute as a part of the program’s work or it could allow them to hire a summer student.  Taking the time to find out where the money will go pays off in the long run and will give you the confidence to stand up and make your pitch to the group.