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How to Answer the Most Important Question of Every Investor
One of the most important question every investor asks:
“WHERE does the money go?”
Parenthetically, they’re also asking:
“WHY does it go there?”
Our messaging and presentation framework can be boiled down to purpose, priorities, and plan (read: 30,000’, 14,000’, and 3’ or why, what, and how.)
Each of these is integral to a funder understanding your impact, but here we’re going to dial in on priorities (14,000’.) Priorities are where we answer the question about where the money goes, aka your “Use of Funds.” If this feels overwhelming to simplify and clarify, consider a three bucket framework. Your three buckets should represent the most important priorities that you need funded – the how you do what you do.
Note: You don’t need exactly three buckets, but we find that this golden number helps the prospect both process and remember the details of your work.
Some examples might include:
- Research
- Education
- Service
- Education
- Training
- Disaster Relief
- Students
- Faculty
- Campus
- Family Literacy
- Teen Mentoring
- Read Aloud Classrooms
- People
- Programs
- Place
If you’re struggling to figure out what your buckets are: our last example, People, Programs, and Place, is a very simple way to capture the priorities of almost every organization.
If you’re struggling to figure out if you have the right buckets: one terrific way to know if you’re on the right track is to take your Operating Budget and see if you can “fit” almost every line item into one of your buckets.
