Pitch with Purpose: Practice Communicating Your Social Impact Work
You’ve got two minutes in a corridor with a potential funder or partner. What do you say? How do you make them want to stay engaged? Sometimes the hardest part of seizing an unexpected moment of opportunity is talking about the work in a way that really resonates with your potential supporter. No slides. No prep. Just you, your work, and a crucial conversation.
In this hands-on session, hosted by The Bloom + Spring, a global capacity accelerator for social and climate justice leaders, we’ll explore why funders don’t always hear what we’re trying to say, and how to shift from information dumping to connection-driven conversations. This session is designed for social impact leaders, campaigners, executive directors, and fundraisers to strengthen their ability to pitch purpose-driven work successfully!
What we’ll get up to in this session:
➡ Practice turning information into stories: Understand why targeting the "heart" and “gut” is more effective than just targeting the "head."
➡ Craft and deliver a two-minute “hallway pitch” and get real-time feedback from peers and/or experts.
➡ Take home a toolkit: Walk away with templates and resources to continue practicing at home and share with your team.
🎯 Who is this for?
This is for anyone who wants to improve the way they talk about their work, especially to better pitch for funding, partnerships, campaign wins, or other opportunities that involve influencing key actors or building a case for support. Join us if you find yourself:
Wanting to make it count when you find yourself in unexpected conversations with funders or decision-makers.
Struggling to distill complex, systemic or data-driven work into a story that moves people to action.
Feeling excited by having a supportive, practical space to test your pitch, get feedback and refine a message before your next pitch.
About the facilitators:
Archana Deshpande
Spring Co-CEO
Bringing over 15 years of experience in human rights and social justice, Archana is a creative human rights strategist, facilitator and Integral Master Coach™. Previously she led and founded OpenGlobalRights and conducted research on human rights organizations and public perceptions of human rights in India, Mexico, and Morocco. She has overseen the successful delivery of capacity-strengthening programs for hundreds of rights and justice leaders, organizations, and networks globally, including successful pitching strategies for securing donor funding. Learn more about Archana here.
Jesse Firempong
Communications Co-Lead
Jesse is a writer and narrative strategist with more than a decade of experience supporting environmental justice campaigns, monitoring and evaluation plans, communications for organizations in Canada, Ghana and Botswana. Her writing has appeared in Greenpeace, Oxfam, the United Nations, and across Canadian media. She has trained youth, grassroots and civil society leaders in breakthrough communications and human rights, as well as supported land defenders to amplify their voices through the placement of media pieces in Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, and more. Learn more about Jesse here.
Rani Robelus
Communications Co-Lead
Rani has dedicated more than a decade to uplifting the voices and solutions of structurally excluded communities around the world. She previously led communications efforts amplifying the voices of rural, Indigenous and local youth partners at the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, as well as led communciations for World Bank community development projects in Myanmar. She co-managed a participatory journalism project alongside refugees across southern Europe and produced content for a national public news outlet in Washington, D.C. Learn more about Rani here.
🌱 What is The Bloom?
The Bloom is a global community that connects and empowers 80,000+ social impact professionals through impact matchmaking, job boards and funding opportunities, networking and mentorship events, upskilling sprints, in-person gatherings, and a free weekly newsletter featuring social impact job openings, changemaker interviews, and career resources.
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