2.0 Introduction

You have taken on an important role in leading the team process in understanding the objectives, the selection process of your beneficiary Charity/Charities, then working as the key contact to optimise the participation of the charities. This will include marketing and communications, volunteer planning, preparation for pitching/presenting and the important thanking of our campaign contributors.

TIP: Read this entire unit and then access the Timeline Template to create your own rough plan for the campaign. This is likely to change along the way, however adding in your milestones and goals will help to keep the Charity on track – they are very busy, so organising their deadlines and contributions will be important!

2.1 Charity Research

Following the allocation of Project Committee roles and responsibilities, the Head of City and the Project Lead(s) should support you to lead a discussion on the process of researching and nominating charities.
Encourage each member of the group to think about the causes that matter in the local area and the innovative and start-up style charitable concepts that would inspire support from their own personal networks. Lead your team discussion on Charity Selection according to the following general criteria:

A) Quantifying Grassroots = Start-Up, Emerging, Small Charities.

10×10 can make a real difference for charities that are currently receiving less than (approximately) $1million in revenue because grassroots charities at this size can achieve a breakthrough with the awareness, skilled volunteering and funds that your campaign can produce. The $1m revenue rule may not always fit your Project Committee’s plan, particularly where small organisations are working in service delivery, so some flexibility is possible to support the right ideas.

B) Causes that matter to our Millennial and Gen Z segment.

10×10 aims to seek out the charities solving complex, social and environmental problems with innovative solutions. In this context, discuss the charitable causes that engage and inspire young people who are connected by our movement. As a group, Millennials and Gen Zs are passionate about the environment, poverty, homelessness, children (including health, education and welfare), domestic violence, animal charities and mental health. This data may change due to the pandemic and we will update as soon as new research is available.

TIP: Take a look at 10×10’s homepage to see the Charity Partners of previous 10×10 Project Committees for ideas – videos appear on the homepage and further information is available by clicking through to the event pages.

C) Innovative ideas to solve complex social problems.

10×10 has a proud history of discovering innovative start-up grassroots charities and you may have the privilege of discovering an amazing organisation at the start of their mission. Read about the 2015 10x10SYD campaign for inspiration:

2.2 Shortlist Charities and Vote

Now that you have your team’s shortlist of charities – the next step is to organise your team to vote. Following this, the Project Lead will perform Due Diligence to confirm the viability of your prioritised charities. Keep your ordered list to substitute if the preferred organisations fail DD. The Project Lead’s handling of the DD will ensure that your working relationship with the Charity/Charities will remain free of this sometimes difficult process.

The Project Lead will provide notification of DD outcomes and you will formalise Charity selection with your Project Committee upon the completion of the process. At this time, next steps will be to ask the Charity for thorough information, provide and achieve sign off on the Charity Agreement (setting out the simple terms of the relationship) before campaign planning and implementation.

2.3 Charity Information and Agreement

When the Charity/Charities are confirmed through the Due Diligence process, the committee meets again to confirm the DD findings and formally nominate 1 or 3 charities. Once finalised and signed off by the Project Committee, make contact with the key contact at the Charity and Take the next steps:

1.  Send a copy of the Charity Agreement (that you can customise). This agreement should be co-signed, scanned and forwarded back to 10x10HQ.
2. This Charity Information Request seeks thorough information from to be able to work effectively and efficiently with the nominated Charity representatives and details.

Ensure you have all details of your main contact, plus back up personnel (if available) and the correct bank details. These also need to be recorded in the finance spreadsheet here.

2.4 Charity Video Development

You need to align with the Marketing and Communications Leads to put together the plan before reaching out to your charity/charities to coordinate the promotional video that will serve as the key engagement tool for the campaign.
If you are able, you will arrange with the Sponsorship Lead for a pro bono photographer/videographer to film an interview on location with the Charity contact and also a volunteer to perform the edit.

The following questions are provided to help you build your interview plan –

• What issues are the most vulnerable people suffering/facing in [city]?
• How can [charity name] help?
• What is standing in your way right now?
• What do you need in order to care for every single person affected by this problem?
• What would the impact be if [charity name] wasn’t able to help?
• Please voice the donation handles (see Unit 2.5)

If you cannot get a videographer’s help:
• Ask for the video to be recorded on an iPhone 10 or above, using landscape orientation (i.e. sideways).
• Ask for the speaker to be positioned in the right half of the screen.
• Provide a sample 10×10 video for reference if helpful
• Ask for the speaker to check the sound levels and content and then share with you
• Work with Benita to produce the video

You may like to consider filming your Head of City or Project Lead/s within your video – see examples of the above video and a recent one from 10×10 Auckland below.

Organise additional charity video content of people working in the cause (e.g. cooking/delivering food to homeless shelters) as cutaways for the campaign video (links to existing YouTube etc.). Carefully check your contact on the acceptability of various ideas – some organisations handle very sensitive issues and people.

Finally, ask your Charity contact for any stock vision and/or video available on the internet that can also be used for overlay.

2.5 Charity Commitment

To deliver on the various components of the campaign, provide a thorough description of the campaign commitment:

• Request that charity representatives accept the commitment that they make to be involved with the campaign:
– Representative is available for media interviews
– Team members will participate (where appropriate) in marketing and communications activities and,
– The Charity will amplify the campaign through charity channels.

• Liaise with the primary charity contact to ensure the Volunteer Projects Leads (see below) have access and support to manage opportunities for volunteering projects (remote and physical).

2.6 Giving Handles

Giving Handles help your donors to feel confident in how their donation will help the Charity – work on the key donation amounts and what those denominations will do for the cause and the vulnerable people dependent upon the support.

For example – donation handles (e.g. $10, $50, $100 and $250 + open field $) and associated donation values:

• $10: Your donation will pay for a fresh food box containing one meal x a family of four
• $50: Your donation will pay for a fresh food box containing one week of dinners x a family of four
• $100: Your donation will pay for 10 boxes of bananas to be added to all food boxes
• $250: Your donation will pay to upgrade 100 family boxes with a carton of eggs for protein

2.7 Administration + Campaign Involvement

Check in with your Project Lead and 10x10HQ on the status of information needed from the Charity. This might include managing the completion, sharing with 10x10HQ of the Charity Information Request Form (check on the status this with the Project Lead and Benita). This includes important banking information so that 10x10HQ can manage the transfer of funds!

Provide regular updates to the Charity on 10×10’s marketing activity to promote the campaign. Ask the Charity to share this content and consider additional ideas to amplify the campaign – both the fundraising and volunteering opportunities.
***If your Project Committee chooses to host a live online event, then the Charity participation is pivotal. A tour of the charity facility, a live interview of the charity work, the opportunity for the audience to ask questions and (ideally) a chat with a Charity beneficiary is heavily dependent upon Charity participation

Keep in regular contact with the Charity about news opportunities – photos, videos, stories from the cause area (e.g. food drops) and share with the Marketing Leads to add to the storytelling. Identify the best ideas to comprise media releases to generate pick up by mainstream media (listen to 10x10SYD campaign radio interview.)

TIP: Be ready to alter your timeline REGULARLY – one thing is certain in the business of events, being that nothing is certain. Be fluid and adapt to the changing conditions – sometimes things happen fast, oftentimes it all comes together JUST IN TIME. Keep the faith and keep in touch with 10x10HQ if you are feeling stressed by stretching deadlines and milestones.

2.8 Charity Pitch Preparation

Preparing the Presentation

Delivering a compelling pitch is a key feature of the 10×10 experience. Your pitch will help you to gain support from the audience and we want you to have as much support as possible.

THE PITCH:
• You have 5 mins to pitch to the audience (there is a reminder bell at 4 mins)
• The Shark/Dragon has 5 mins to ask questions
• The audience can also ask questions for up to 5 mins
• You cannot use slides, but you can use cards and/or props

PITCH EXAMPLES:

PREPARING YOUR PITCH:

1. WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
Tell the audience your story and/or the story of why and how the charity was started. Try to include an example of someone’s life you’ve changed through your charity.

2. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM YOU’RE TRYING TO SOLVE?
Provide context for the problem e.g. over 5,000 people suffer from mental health in Australia

3. HOW ARE YOU SOLVING THE PROBLEM?
Explain what it is you’re doing to help solve the problem. Why is your method unique and innovative?

4. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SO FAR?
Show the audience the impact of your charity and what you have achieved already. This will help people feel like what you are doing is working and supporting you will help you do make even more of an impact.

5. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE MONEY RAISED AT THE 10×10 EVENT?
Ideally, give the audience numbers they can grasp e.g. $5K can put 500 kids in a school program, or $200 can feed a family of four for a month.

6. VOLUNTEER CALL-OUT
You also have the opportunity to ask the audience to sign up for volunteer opportunities with your charity. These can be physical or remote jobs e.g. serving/cooking food in the kitchen or remotely assisting with social media.

Access a version of this information to share with your charity/charities here.

Pitch Coaching & Rehearsal

Confirm who (from the Charity/Charities) will be speaking at the event as early as possible and let them know they can bring up to 3 supporters on the night to run their stall (if it is a live physical event) and or share the responsibility for taking questions and generally engaging with the audience.

The Charity Lead will brief the charities on the set up, provide them with a run sheet for the event and outline what should be covered in their 5-minute pitch.

Key aspects to be covered are:

• The charity mission – what is the founder’s passion and what drives them
• The model – how it works, why is it innovative
• What are the success factors and how does the charity measure up on them
• Efficiency of funds raised – maximum impact per $
• How will the funds raised on the night be used
• Sustainability and scalability of the model
• Volunteers of skills/jobs needed
Set up a rehearsal with the charities 2-3 weeks before the event. Also prepare them for potential questions from the shark/dragon and the audience (can be led by the Event Production Lead). Try to discuss the plan with your Charity before the rehearsal to make sure they’re on the right track.

After they have rehearsed, make sure they have covered their key aspects and provide feedback if necessary – we want them to succeed! Their answers should be passionate and engage the audience.

PITCH COACHING:

There is a document to give to the charities to help them out – ‘10×10 Charity Pitch Preparation’. Send this to the charities as you lock in the rehearsal date.

The key to a successful pitch and overall quality event is being able to deliver a strong and engaging pitch that inspires the audience to get involved and donate. Their success is our success so please take the time to help them as much as possible.

Ensure they have the right spokesperson – ideally the founder but whoever it is needs to be extremely passionate about their cause and well spoken.

The Charity Pitch Preparation document:

– You should also read it and know what the charities will be preparing
– Has example pitch video links that you and the charities should watch
– Outlines the format of the night
– Gives them a structure and key components for their pitch

The Rehearsal does not have to be in person, they can also zoom or pre-record their pitch and send it over, then you can have a conference/zoom call to provide feedback. If you’ve provided a lot of feedback, you could hold a second rehearsal if you think they need to.

On the night, ask the Shark/Dragon to spend a few minutes with each charity spokesperson so they feel comfortable before they pitch.

Access a version of this information here.