In conversation with Dan Sutch: how to pitch for Tech4Good funding?
We’re now coming to the end of the Community Explore programme, delivered as part of Power To Change and Promising Trouble’s Discovery Fund — a fund to develop new ideas and learn new skills.
We’ve been supporting community businesses to undertake user research and explore a challenge they have identified, and the opportunity community technology presents to tackle that challenge. We’re now wrapping up phase 2 of the programme which has all been all about prototyping solutions. We’re thinking about how we can support organisations to secure further funding to develop their community tech solutions. Interested in how to create a strong narrative when pitching for funding? Curious about what to consider when seeking funding for digital, particularly this exciting new field of community tech? Read on!
Ellen Smyth, Programme Lead at CAST speaks to Dan Sutch, Director at CAST to hear more about the importance of storytelling when seeking funding for digital.
“Do the hard work to figure out what the funder’s strategy is and how you help them achieve their strategy — not how they can fund you to achieve yours.”
Dan Sutch, Director at CAST
Ellen: Hey Dan, please could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role supporting social impact organisations to prepare and deliver a pitch?
Dan: I have been involved in hearing and describing and creating pitches for years. So, before CAST, I was at Nominet Trust, where we funded about 50 organisations per year. We received lots of pitches to get to that 50, probably 250 plus pitches — whether that’s an application, a conversation or a video pitch. And then of those that we supported, we then gave lots of help to support them in the next phase of funding and investment. We put together training, we put together resources and support, and of course I pitched a lot to try to get income and support for CAST’s work.
Ellen: Amazing, excited to hear a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about how to prepare or deliver a pitch?
Dan: Yeah, definitely. I think the first thing is that although a pitch is a bit of an American tech term, the idea is: how are you telling the story of what you’re trying to do? How are you going to get there?
It’s that whole narrative that you want to pull together. It’s not just the short thing you can say in an elevator. A pitch is all about having that consistent narrative.
So I think the first thing is: spend some time really thinking about that narrative. What are the key messages you want someone to hear about your work and why it’s so important? What are you trying to do?
That’s the start of the book. That drives everything else in the story you want to tell. Think about how you gather the rest of the information you need to convince someone and get them excited about what you’re trying to do.
Your pitch is your whole narrative — sharing what you’re trying to achieve. And so in preparing, talk to people who already support you, why do they support you?
Talk to people who are part of your team too, to figure out what excites them about what you are trying to do collectively. That’s going to help create the bare bones of your pitch that hopefully can excite other people to support you on your journey.
Ellen: It sounds like storytelling is a theme there. Is there anything people can do before the pitch to help with that storytelling?
Dan: I think there are two big things that come out. The first is, although you’re telling your story and you want it to land, you also need to know how it aligns with the funder. What is the funder’s story and their strategy? If you think about that and their ‘jobs to be done’ that’s going to help you tell the story in a way that lands. Why are they going to buy the thing that you’re selling?
Why are they going to get excited about what you’re doing? Do the hard work to figure out what their mission is and their strategy. That’s something that helps you tell the story in a way that excites them and lands with them.
You also need to do the same thing with the team or other people who are already supporting you. What is it about what you’re doing that excites them because those are the bits you might want to draw on.
If you’ve got those two sides, what the audience wants and what’s the secret source of your work, you can begin to put it together as you’re designing your pitch.
Ellen: Yes I think that’s so important because when we’re immersed in the nuts and bolts, it’s really hard to just take a step back sometimes and think about the wider context, why is this a problem or what’s exciting about your solution? This is a good reminder to take a step back because your funder might not be so immersed in what you’re coming up with.
Dan: That’s right, and the word to just use there was why. And that’s the thing, people don’t tend to buy your particular solution or your brand or product, whatever it is that you’ve done, they buy your purpose and your why.
So if you can kind of just remind yourself of that and look towards that horizon, sell them the vision that you try to get towards and hopefully they’ll help you on a journey rather than selling them the thing you’ve got right now.
Ellen: And you mentioned the secret sauce, which brings us to our next question, which was around ingredients. What are the key ingredients for a good pitch?
Dan: That vision, that why or your purpose is the first one. Why is it so important to do, the purpose of social ambition, hopefully the promise of a better world is what you’re selling. That becomes really crucial.
The other is a really clear description of why you and your team should be trusted to be the people who can deliver. So, talking about your experience, your team, the kind of the things you’re doing, how you hope to get to your vision.
I think the one that I’ve missed, and it’s really crucial, is why your approach is going to work. So, how does your approach link to people’s real behaviours? Very often we talk about the need for something, you don’t often talk about how it aligns with people’s choice-making or their behaviours or why it’s going to be used.
So, really being clear about the demand for your solution or demand for your approach. That’s the thing that links it to the belief that you and your team can get there.
Ellen: We touched on the key ingredients that go into a good pitch, but what do you think people tend to leave out? What’s sometimes missing?
Dan: I think sometimes we have too much detail, which makes everything else a bit too blurry. I think that the why though, what’s the vision you’re selling, what’s the reason that people invest in what you’re doing. That’s the thing we often miss because it’s so easy to talk about what you need, what you’ve done so far, what’s the next step.
We know that with all community tech projects, or any tech project, takes time to get to a stage where it’s having real impact.
So keep showing that long term vision, that’s the thing that often we sometimes forget.
Ellen: You mentioned community tech. It would be great to hear your reflection specifically on seeking funding for community tech. Is there anything you think people should have in mind when influencing funders to support that work?
Dan: I suppose one of the challenges with being at the forefront of any kind of new community or new movement is you’ve got to explain the movement just as much as your particular solution.
And that’s really tough because community tech has so much promise. It’s sort of this vision coming from the community sector which is remarkable.
For most funders, it’ll be really new. Whereas the thing you’re actually doing might not feel quite so new.
Think about how you balance those two elements. I think it’s about understanding how community technology relates to the funder’s strategy. If their strategy is about community, then it comes really easily.
If their strategy is about funding tech for good or tech particularly, then you have to kind of bend your narrative to that a little bit more.
You need to be able to share the narrative of community tech and why it’s so important, particularly now. Share why it needs investment to grow this movement.
Think about how your work in particular contributes to that big mission.
Ellen: Amazing. There are loads of great examples that could support with that narrative in CAST’s Community Tech Library — a database of community tech solutions. We have also created a dedicated site to help showcase the Playback presentations from the participating organisations in the Community Explore programme. Hopefully this helps paint that picture about the benefits of Community Tech, the journey creators are going on, and the resources that have helped them along the way.
Dan: Yes and just on resources — you can borrow other people’s reputation and wonderful quotes and examples of why this is so important. We can draw on someone else’s research that helps demonstrate the importance of community tech. External evidence helps you tell the narrative of the part that you’re going to play in reaching your mission.
Ellen: I have an extra question just thinking about how you bring in that narrative to your pitch. I’ve sometimes seen pitches that people bring in a mock up for example, bringing in a prototype so funders can have a feel for your solution. Or I’ve seen charities before bringing in a video from the service users talking about the benefits of their services. Do you have any other reflections on how you bring some of that research or insight into your pitch to build trust?
Dan: I think there’s nothing more powerful than the voices of the people you’re working with and community tech, because it’s so centred on participation and in community ownership, hearing your community say directly to the funder: this is important. This is what we need.
That’s so strong, it’s so powerful.
Definitely bring those voices into your pitch if you can. That’s where there’s value in being able to link out to some videos that you’ve created
Ellen: We’ve talked a bit about community tech, but I’d love to touch more broadly on digital in general. Do you have any reflections on things people should keep in mind when influencing funders to support digital work?
Dan: Yes I think we’re in a really interesting place at the moment where there are fewer specific digital funds but there’s more understanding that digital is part of core funding for social impact organisations. So I think the answer to this will depend on who you’re targeting, who you think most aligns with your work.
If they are focusing on digital and that’s their mission, you can see how your story connects directly to theirs. So you will want to talk more about the role of digital design and development in your work.
There are many other funders, though, who might be focused specifically on your social objectives, whether the community development, or a particular social issue and they just want digital to sit alongside that. So they’re thinking about how digital can support them to reach that social impact goal more quickly or more efficiently or at a greater scale. The main narrative you tell then relates to that funder’s strategy.
I think that’s kind of the main takeaway for the digital funding line is those who are funding specifically digital work are getting smaller in number. So you have to get people excited about innovation — community tech is a relatively young field so it gives you the opportunity to get others excited about funding this kind of digital work.
There are more funders there who are open to supporting digital as part of a core grant. Share how you can deliver real social purpose, and then how digital helps enable that.
Ellen: I wondered if you have a resource that you would like to recommend — it might be a podcast or a book or another tool
Dan: I think you can always come to Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why.
I think the other is the community tech peer groups and networks. Share success stories amongst one another. That’s what’s going to help us reach an understanding of how best to pitch this area of work.
Ellen: Final question, we’ve covered so much! So for anyone diving into this — if there’s one thing you wanted them to take away what would it be?
Do the hard work to figure out the funder’s strategy is and how you help them achieve their strategy. Not how they can fund you to achieve yours.
Resources:
- Assets and playbacks that participants on the Community Explore programme have created — explore a dedicated site if you’re interested in learning from their approach
- Find inspiration in CAST’s Community Tech Library — database of community tech solutions.
Interested in exploring community tech? Need support on how digital can help you deliver more social impact? We’d love to continue the conversation. Get in touch with explore@wearecast.org.uk
