Pitched battle

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This article was published 26/03/2016 (3507 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You know what your charity does, but when it’s your turn at bat, can you tell people enough about it in three minutes that they would open their wallets? Or will you strike out with a fast pitch?

Fast Pitch is the name of a new initiative launched in recent weeks by the Winnipeg Foundation with help from sponsors Aikins Law, Fillmore Riley, Stand and Command and Thompson Dorfman Sweatman.

Fast Pitch has seen representatives from 17 local charitable organizations spend the last three months receiving coaching and critiques as they rehearse a three-minute pitch similar to what is seen on the Dragons’ Den television program.

Earlier this month, at a semifinal event held at the Park Theatre, the 17 organizations were winnowed down to 10 finalists. They’ll vie for a share of $20,000 in grants April 7, if they can convince a slate of judges and members of the audience to vote for them. The top prize is $7,500.

Rick Frost, CEO of the Winnipeg Foundation, said Fast Pitch helps the organizations win even if they strike out at the semifinal or at the final.

“It’s a chance to hone their pitch into an impactful story,” he said.

“It helps them speak quickly and effectively communicate what they do. It’s important for organizations to tell their stories. It’s a competitive environment out there.”

Frost said he learned of Fast Pitch while attending a conference in the United States, and he decided to bring it here.

“I was introduced to a young man with a charity who, even though he didn’t make it through as a finalist, he was enthusiastic about it because of the contacts he made and how now he could more effectively do his job.

“I figured if you can have someone who didn’t make it to the finals be so supportive, we should do it here.”

The finalists are Arts Junktion, KidSport Winnipeg, LITE (Local Investment Toward Employment), Sarasvati Dramatic Theatre Productions and Repertory, Shakespeare in the Ruins, Big Brother Big Sisters of Winnipeg, the Lake Winnipeg Foundation, the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Sexuality Education Resource Centre Manitoba and the Spence Neighbourhood Association.

Alexis Kanu, executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation, knows so many things about the lake, its science and the problems it faces, she admits it was tough to filter everything down to create a pitch only three minutes in length.

“I’ve had great coaching, and they’ve been helping me with the content as well as the delivery,” Kanu said.

“The issues facing Manitoba’s lakes are complex. You have to make your message compelling and tell the urgency of it. It has been a really useful process. It has really made me think of how Manitobans perceive the lake.”

Win or lose, Kanu said she appreciates her organization having been chosen to take part in Fast Pitch.

“This has been a learning opportunity as well as the chance to get $7,500,” she said.

Justin Phillips is one of Kanu’s two coaches. He has his own experience in giving quick pitches because he once appeared on Dragons’ Den — “to no success,” he added, chuckling.

Phillips said they have advised Kanu to come from the perspective the audience doesn’t know anything about her organization.

“She understands her organization, and she is a scientist by nature, but you have to come out of your comfort zone,” he said.

“You have to be able to make people understand.”

Phillips said a successful pitch has to catch people at the beginning.

“You want to tug at the heartstrings in your introduction,” he said. “You want to get them to sit up in their chairs. In the middle, you want to go to their minds, and at the end, you want to go for their wallets. You have to be passionate, but also clear.”

Trudy Lavallee, executive director of Ikwe Widdjiitiwin, an aboriginal crisis shelter, didn’t make it into the finals, but she said it was a great learning experience.

“I would recommend it to anyone with a volunteer, non-profit,” Lavallee said.

“It has provided to me and Ikwe the opportunity to showcase the services we provide and how critical they are for Manitobans. It is a totally different format than what we usually do. I will definitely take this learning experience with me in my work at Ikwe.”

Lavallee estimates between the initial meeting with Fast Pitch, where the coaches and organizations were matched, as well as the coaching sessions, she received about 15 hours of training.

Jill Winograd, who helped coach Andrew Cecon, one of the artistic chairmen for Shakespeare in the Ruins, said just because a person works in theatre doesn’t mean they don’t need help making a pitch.

“Andrew is not afraid to speak in front of people because he does it every day,” Winograd said.

“We have helped him express his needs in a way that is easy for the business community to understand.”

Winograd, whose day job is working for furniture company EQ3, said she was pleased to help Shakespeare in the Ruins because she joined Fast Pitch hoping to link her business acumen to an artistic organization.

“Even if they don’t pick (Cecon) in the finals, you never know who will be listening that can help in future,” she said.

Frost said already the Winnipeg Foundation is looking at making Fast Pitch an annual initiative.

“This is professional development,” he said.

“There are 1,700 charities in Manitoba. They all have interesting stories to tell. They affect the quality of life of people, and they have an impact.”

 

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @KevinRollason