Fundraising
Comms
Bootcamp
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ACUMEN FUND
A targeted 10-week training program to help you improve the way you speak, write, and pitch when fundraising.
It’s designed for organisations who are working at a nascent and/or bootstrapped level, but need to get their basic comms in place to get closer to their fundraising goals. The program will help the orgs use their internal resources efficiently to produce the most effective pitch.
The Bootcamp is a combination of training, upskilling, strategy, guidance along with custom review and feedback. We will assist you with the tools and frameworks you require to take your projects to the finish line. By the end of the program, you should be 95-100% ready with your fundraising comms materials.
10-Week Program Schedule
Everything you need to know about the program
We will start with a pre-kickoff meeting with all the orgs in the cohort to share the program details, set expectations, and be prepared for the engagement. This will be a mandatory meeting for all registered org representatives to attend. We will use the time to do a short icebreaker and align on the approach and intent during the course of the bootcamp.
After the orientation, as pre-work, every organisation will be required to submit a detailed list of documents, materials, reports, program write-ups, proposals, decks and a range of other assets and resources. This will help our team do a thorough internal study and build a draft action plan for each organisation.
DURATION: 1.5 hours
STYLE: Online, Ice-breaker, Intros, Instructional, 20min Q&AOverview
All registered organisations (1 person per organisation) will attend a 2-day in-person communications workshop that will introduce them to a practical and efficient approach to communications for their organisation. Here, we will deep dive into frameworks, tools and best practices in communications that are targeted towards strengthening the organisation’s brand presence and fundraising efforts.
Orgs will leave with clarity, confidence and a clear action plan on how to speak, write and visualise better. We will focus on giving orgs simple processes, easy-to-implement action plan to get them started on their own. These tools will help their team craft a more powerful brand story, know how to customise pitches for various stakeholders, create stronger materials, and streamline the way your org communicates.
Venue
Purpose of the Training
The sessions are curated to give orgs a 360-degree understanding of all aspects of communications from research, design, content writing and creation, to conversion and outreach strategies.
The training is specifically designed as a combination of theory, group sessions for peer learning, individual working time to apply the theory and frameworks and open discussions.
Overview of topics
covered in the 2 daysSESSION 1
The starter kit to strengthen your brand communications for fundraising and expansion
This session will give you a comprehensive run down of all materials and assets you need to elevate your organisation’s brand experience across stakeholders. You will learn about why and how to build each of the materials with details about timelines and resources needed to invest. The checklist will help you feel confident and clear about how to devleop your org’s starter kit customised for its annual goals.
SESSION 2
Customising your narrative pitch for different scenarios and stakeholder
Your pitch is your brand narrative. It acts as the core nucleus of your communication efforts. Everything you create needs a strong foundational narrative. The session will help you learn how build a powerful brand/program narrative, and customise it for varied usages and stakeholders. You will leave this session with a framework that you can confidently use and that can adapt to your org requirements.
SESSION 3
Demystifying the creative implementation process
Sometimes, the hardest part of the work is the actual "building" process. This session will provide a framework to use to build your materials from start to finish. In addition, we will deep dive into the fundamentals of design. By the end of the workshops you should feel more in control of the process and confident to deliver top quality creatives within set deadlines. The process will help you manage time, manage expectations with external collaborators in the creative process, and keep you on track to achieving your targets.
SESSION 4
A simplified execution plan to document and showcase outcomes and impact (qualitative)
Qualitative impact plays a critical role in engaging with external stakeholders like funders and potential partners. This session will take you through the specific role that videos, photos, stories, qualitative information play in creating a level of understanding, empathy and urgency in the work that your organisation does. You will get guidelines on how to collect qualitative data, and an execution plan on how to put it together to present to your stakeholders.
SESSION 5
Soul Searching: Finding what makes you and your organisation unique and memorable
This is an introspective session that pushes members to dive deeper to explore into what really makes their work, their initiative and their intent unique in the social sector. With thousands of organisations sprouting up each year across thematic areas, the Indian social impact landscape is slowly turning into a more mature, saturated market to be working in. This session will help organisations find their own unique voice and personality to stay memorable and relevant.
1-1 Audits to Identify Goals
Post the training, we will schedule a 1.5hr-long session with the each org’s core team to get an in-depth understanding of their current fundraising practices and evaluating the wins and the flags in their approach. The discussion will help us learn about their team’s priorities and strengths, and build a plan that fits their working style. (For example, a particular org may have a more informal, verbal style of pitching using no decks. In this situation, we will help them focus on improving the methods they are already accustomed to using).
We will collaboratively build a custom action plan that their team (in its current capacity, with its current skill level) can effectively execute. We will brainstorm on their targeted funder-type’s needs, interests and priorities. This will be a detailed 7 week execution plan with week-wise breakdown of tasks to implement. The tasks will be centred around building simple, high-impact pitching flows and materials to boost their fundraising efforts.
Overview
The Masterclasses are designed to help orgs get extra technical guidance to execute their tasks. Orgs are welcome to invite more members from their team to attend the masterclasses.
DURATION: 1.5 hours, Tuesdays (3 Masterclasses across 3 weeks)
STYLE: Group Online Sessions, Instructional; with 20mins of Q&AWe will host 3 masterclasses
Masterclass #1 Understanding different materials for pitching
Masterclass #2 Building strong flows and layouts for your pitch
Masterclass #3 Shortcuts to enhance the visual experience.Scroll down to learn more.
Masterclass #1
Understanding different materials for pitching
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Understanding different scenarios of pitching
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Thinking about the most suitable material to support scenarios
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Learning about the role each type of material plays
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Understanding basic construction of each of the materials
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Learning about how to pick and plan for materials for different pitches
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directly on your phone
Masterclass #2
Building strong flows
and layouts for your pitch-
Guided Walk through of how to construct a flow in any pitch (using one of the org narrative as an example)
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Breaking down simple layouts to follow for any material type
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How the content sits within materials
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Understanding how to start and close pitches
Masterclass #3
Shortcuts to enhance the visual experience
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Basics of design (Colour, Font, Images)
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How to leverage phone-shot photographs
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Simple design rules to follow
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Recommended Tools and software
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How to prepare, if outsourcing design
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Overview
We will schedule three immersive 1-1 virtual feedback discussions with orgs. During these discussions we will
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Evaluate what their teams have built
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Brainstorm on how to mitigate any roadblocks
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Provide targeted suggestions on how to improve their materials
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Suggest alternative directions to speed up their implementation process
OVERVIEW: 3 Review Meetings (Spread across 6 weeks)
DURATION: 1.5 hours
STYLE: 1-1 Online, Targeted Feedback, Tasks for following weeks
SCHEDULING: Orgs will receive date options to reserve a time-slotReview at 50% task completion stage
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1-1 Online Meeting 60 minutes long
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In Round 1, Team Subu will focus on evaluating how you are approaching the tasks, brainstorm on roadblocks, suggest course correction
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Orgs are expected to have their action plan at a 50-60% stage of readiness
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Feedback will focus on reviewing foundational components (eg. structure of a narrative)
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The stronger your Version 1 is, the more detailed Team Subu's feedback can be
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Orgs will be given targeted suggestions on what to prioritise for Round 2
Review at 80% task completion stage
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1-1 Online Meeting 90 minutes long
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In Round 2, Team Subu will focus on providing targeted feedback on specific elements across your materials and documents
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Orgs are expected to have their action plan at a 75-80% stage of readiness
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Feedback will be centred around strengthening technical aspects of writing, design, strategy and curation
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Orgs are encouraged to push their tasks to as close to completion as possible before this feedback round to maximise the discussion opportunity
Review at 95% task completion stage
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1-1 Online Meeting 90 minutes long
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In Round 3, Team Subu will focus on providing orgs with tactical feedback on how to take all components to completion
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Orgs are expected to have their action plan at a 95% stage of readiness
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Feedback will be centred around assisting orgs with decision making, and committing to components that can fast-track the execution process.
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Orgs are required to be extremely prepared with their work to get a detailed, thorough feedback from Team Subu
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Overview
This will be a 120 min online meeting with all organisations to reflect on the project journey and share best practices and learnings.
We will curate a section of the meeting as a highlight showreel to feature little wins that we thought were a gamechanger for each organisation. This will be the final showcase call for the project.
Format of the session
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Each organisation will have 10 mins to showcase everything they've worked on over the course of the program
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This will be followed by 5 mins of group feedback (share what we loved, and how the work can be strengthened further)
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Final 15 mins of the meeting will be reserved for of reflections and closing thoughts
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Overview
The Acumen Fund will invite a select panel of funders to a 2 hour online presentation showcase where participants will get a chance pitch their work/ organisations.
Details
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Each participant will get 10 minutes to present, followed by 5 mins of Q&A from the panel. At the end of the presentation, the panel members can choose to support organisations of their choice with funding or advisory support.
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This will be a great networking opportunity for participants, and will also create a space to pitch to actual external audiences and get their feedback/ questions. This live practice run will give them real learnings to help them continuously improve their pitch and narrative.
Note: The date/ timing of this is subject to panel availability and will be managed by the Acumen team.
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Facilitation Team
Partner, Creative Head | Studio Subu
Harish Subramanian
Partner, CEO | Studio Subu
Meghna
Rakshit
Senior Design Researcher | Studio Subu
Rhea
Antony
Application Details
Program Platform
Online Program with
2 days of in-person workshop
When?
September 20 - Nov 21
12 Weeks
Early Bird Application
Deadline: Friday, May 31st
Fee: INR 15,750 + gst
10 Seats Reserved for Acumen Alumni Only
Application Deadline:
Friday, 23rd August. 6pm
Total Fee to be paid by your Org:
INR 25,000 + GST
Fee to be paid only once your organisation has been shortlisted. You will receive a confirmation email by 28th August EOD. For questions please write to Siddhika from our team: siddhika@studiosubu.com
The program is for organisations keen to rework their foundational communication materials in-house within a short duration. It’s designed for organisations who are working at a nascent and/or bootstrapped level but need to get their basic fundraising comms in place.
Who is it for?
1: Fill the Registration Form
The form will help us get detailed information about your org and the current challenges.
2: Review & shortlisting
Acumen Fund + Studio Subu will review your application and shortlist 10 organisations that have made a compelling case for their need, and shared their mindset + intent of how they plan to approach the program.
3: Receive Confirmation once shortlisted
When confirmed, we will send you a confirmation email by 28th August.
4: Complete online payment to confirm your seat
We will reserve your seat for 4 working days. In case of any setbacks due to approvals, please write to Siddhika@studiosubu.com.
What's the application process?
Total cost for each org: INR 1.25L + GST
Acumen covers 80% (1 lakh), you pay only 20% (25k)
Acumen Fund is covering 80% of this program's cost for your org
