Pitch decks are a critical part of any nonprofits communications strategy. Too often, they are a mishmash of divergent ideas littered with meaningless statistics that lack a spine. In this workshop, we’ll tackle the hardest part of developing a pitch deck that works — your story spine. 

All pitch decks are meant to convey the Big Idea that your nonprofit is trying to communicate. It’s this Big Idea that is what drives stakeholders to part with their time, talent, and treasure. If the Big Idea is weak, then the outcome of your pitches will be lackluster. 

All Big Ideas have a story framework that must be present or the message won’t get through. It’s this framework or story spine that we will explore in this workshop along with how to apply it to your nonprofit’s mission and vision. 

This is an active workshop where students will be required to present in front of peers the pitch decks they have developed. It’s also FREE to sign up.

You’ll Learn How To:

  • Focus your nonprofit’s mission into a digestible story
  • Use a Story Spine to craft a slide deck that gets results
  • Craft slide content that excites an audience
  • Present your story in a clear, concise, and compelling manner.
  • Use Data in the most impactful way

Target Audience 

  • Executive directors who want to understand the power of Story to get results
  • Communications professionals and grant writers who want to stand out from the crowd.
  • Nonprofit board directors, who often ask “why are we the best nonprofit in our sector?” Development directors who want to get buy-in on a Big Idea

Workshop Schedule (3 hours):

  • Introductions + Expectations (5 minutes)
  • Tell Me a Story … (5 minutes)
  • Universal Story Structure (10 minutes)
  • The Purpose of a Pitch Deck (5 minutes)
  • The Pitch Deck Story Spine Overview (10 minutes)
  • Beginning Hook — Why We are Here + Set The Stage (10 minutes)
  • Middle Build — How We Win + Show, Tell, & Brag (10 minutes)
  • Ending Payoff — Who Makes It Happen + Close the Deal (10 minutes)
  • Delivering the Goods (10 minutes)
  • Rules of Thumb (10 minutes)
  • Questions (5 minutes)
  • Pitch Prep + Practice (45 minutes)
  • Pitching to Your Peers (30 minutes)
  • Questions (10 minutes)
  • Wrap-up (5 minutes)

Meet Your Lead Instructor:

Jarie Bolander is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by nature. He has over 20 years of experience bringing innovative products to market. Some of them include Bluetooth, USB, RFID, Semiconductor DNA sequencing, and SaaS for Healthcare. Over the past three years, he has been a reluctant PR Maven at JSY PR & Marketing — a full-service PR & Marketing firm that specializes in professional athletes, startups, and nonprofits. He is also the ED of JSY Giving, a nonprofit dedicated to his late wife Jane whose mission is to help other nonprofits tell better stories.

Jarie has formed or been part of 6 startups in various management roles. He holds an MBA in Technology Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering. He is also the inventor or co-inventor on over 10 patents and has published six books — 8 Startup Dilemmas All Founders Will Face, 7 PR Secrets All Founders Should Know, The Entrepreneur Ethos,  Frustration-Free Technical Management, #ENDURANCE tweet — A Little Nudge to Keep You Going and Business Basics for Entrepreneurs. You can read his thoughts on management and entrepreneurship via his blog, The Daily MBA.

Prerequisites: 

Recommended to take 7 PR Secrets All Nonprofits Should Know online class. If you sign up for Pitch Deck Storytelling for Nonprofits, you’ll receive a discount code to take the class for FREE.

2019 Pitch Deck Storytelling

Thanks to everyone who came to the 2019 Pitch Deck Storytelling class. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. Stay tuned for more training.