By the UpMetrics Staff

UpMetrics Managing Director Vinay Mullick, and Client Manager Charles Brown recently attended a powerful nonprofit community event, put on by Social Venture Partners (SVP) Chicago. The event, ‘Fast Pitch,’ is a communications program to help nonprofit leaders focus on creating and delivering a compelling snapshot of their organizations.

How it Works
Each year, 15 nonprofit leaders are selected from a pool of applicants. Those 15 people are paired with two coaches who are SVP partners and/or friends of SVP. There are three practice pitches with coaching in between each session. Eight finalists are selected after the third pitch session to participate in a public showcase event where $40,000 in cash and Pro Bono Service prizes are awarded.
This year’s showcase event drew 300 people providing broad exposure for the participating organizations.

"It was a great room—it was full of social entrepreneurs, wanting to make change and have an impact in the Chicagoland area. From the UpMetrics perspective, all the finalists referenced metrics in their presentations—it's refreshing and encouraging to see these organizations embracing a data-driven approach, not only externally in their pitches, but internally as well." —Vinay Mullick

“I volunteered as a coach—you work with one of the potential grantees over two months, perfecting a three-minute pitch on why people should invest in their organizations,” Mullick explains. As an event sponsor, UpMetrics offered to provide software and services for a year to one of the worthy prize winners. “I was involved in that capacity, as well as in presenting the Pro Bono Service Award,” he says.
“We hear from the pitchers that they appreciate the opportunity to focus on how to differentiate their organizations and get input on what gets people engaged in their mission,” says Evelyn Fitzgerald, Executive Director, SVP Chicago. “Past participants have told us that their pitch has served as a catalyst for how they talk about their organizations. And, they appreciate the connections they make through the program and additional opportunities that come from their involvement.”
“It was a great room—it was full of social entrepreneurs, wanting to make change and have an impact in the Chicagoland area,” Mullick says. “From the UpMetrics perspective, all the finalists referenced metrics in their presentations—it’s refreshing and encouraging to see these organizations embracing a data-driven approach, not only externally in their pitches, but internally as well.”

This year’s winners:
​Other finalists:
Semi-finalists:
​Photos courtesy of SVP Chicago.
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