As a small business founder seeking funding, it’s important to remember that communicating with funders is all about finding the right balance. While it’s great to be enthusiastic about your work, providing either too little or too much detail can be a common trap that many entrepreneurs fall into.
Communicating what funders want to hear
It’s important to remember that funders are looking for more than just a list of activities. While the work you’re doing is certainly important, funders are ultimately interested in understanding the impact you’re making. If you’re able to provide just the right level of context, you’ll be able to present your work in a compelling way that will resonate with potential investors.
Mistakes
One common mistake that entrepreneurs make when communicating with funders is providing too little detail. While it’s understandable to want to be brief and to the point, it’s important to remember that funders need to understand the details of your work in order to make an informed decision. Without enough information, funders won’t be able to fully understand the scope of your work or the impact it’s having.
Communicating concisely
It’s also possible to provide too much detail when communicating with funders. While it’s important to be thorough, it’s equally important to be concise and to the point. Funders are busy, and they don’t have the time or the patience to read through pages and pages of information. If you’re able to distill your work down to its most essential elements, you’ll be able to communicate your impact in a way that’s both compelling and easy to understand.
Communicating Impact
One of the keys to finding the right balance when communicating with funders is to focus on impact. While it’s impressive to list everything you’ve been doing, funders are ultimately interested in the difference you’re making. Whether you’re improving people’s lives, helping to protect the environment, or creating jobs, it’s important to be able to articulate the impact your work is having in a clear and concise way.
Honesty
Another key to communicating with funders is to be honest and transparent. It can be tempting to exaggerate your accomplishments or downplay your challenges. However, it’s important to be upfront about both your successes and your struggles. Funders will appreciate your honesty. Investors are more likely to invest in your work if they feel that they can trust you.
We recently had a client apply to NYC’s Greenlight Innovation Fund and they were invited to have a conversation with the program officers to discuss the project and the application. The client wanted to know the agenda of the discussion, something our firm had no way to determine based on the funder’s email. Our advice was for the client to honestly and directly ask the funder for a discussion agenda so they could prepare for the conversation properly. The funder responded promptly, aprecciated the frankness, and told our client the purpose and flow of these types of discussions.
Finding the right balance to communicate your impact in a compelling way can strengthen how funders understand the value and readiness of your work. Focus on impact, be honest and transparent, and provide just the right level of detail. With practice, you’ll be able to present your work in a way that will resonate with funders. Ultimately, this will be what inspires them to support your mission.