Nonprofit Presentation Guidelines

When you are selected to present at a 100 Women Who Care quarterly meeting, you will be allotted five minutes to present to the group. Making your case for support in the five minutes that you are allowed takes some planning. The following includes some guidelines and talking points to help you make the best use of your time so each member can make an informed decision on how to vote.

Presentation Guidelines

You only have a handful of minutes so make your pitch count! Be prepared to know about the charity you are presenting to the chapter for funding consideration. It helps to focus on a specific program that needs funding and to talk about the people that particular program will benefit and what it accomplishes in your community. The more specific you are, the more the members will be able to connect their donation with this charity. Don’t speak in generalities or your audience will get lost.

Tug at the hearts of the chapter as much as you inform their heads. Try to leave them with a sense of why you are passionate about this charity, and share at least one story of a real person (or animal) that was impacted by the work of the nonprofit and how it made a difference to them in their life.

Presentations should be simple and not overly formal.

Talking Points

Be prepared to speak briefly and potentially answer a few questions from the audience about the following:

1. Start with an engaging opening line. (Example: "Every month, 75 women in our community are involved in a domestic violence dispute.”)
2. State your name and the name and location of the organization.
3. Describe the service area of the organization and whom they serve.
4. State the organization’s mission statement and speak to what they do overall and how their services benefit the community.
5. Be prepared to speak to the organization’s finances, including the size of their annual operating budget and how much they spend on admin/fundraising.
6. Describe specifically how our funds will be used, providing some background, if possible, on the following: is this a new or existing program; does the charity have a plan in place to sustain the program after our funds have been used; how many people the funds will impact; whether the program is essential and what our community will miss if it does not get funded; measurements to be used to ensure success of the program and good use of the donation.
7. Don’t forget to tell a story of a person/animal positively affected by the organization.
8. End with a heartfelt ask and a thank you.