Nonprofit News

‘Desert Fast Pitch’ To Award Over $65,000 in Cash Grants to Nonprofits

 NPO Centric’s ‘Shark Tank’ Style Contest on Oct. 6, 2022, Will Benefit Nonprofits, Local Community

The popular ‘Desert Fast Pitch’ is back this year and bigger than ever –- with over $65,000 in cash grants to help nonprofit organizations that continue to face enormous challenges due to a lack of funding and resources.

‘Desert Fast Pitch’ is an annual ‘Shark Tank’ style fundraising contest of interactive, quick-fire presentations. Nonprofit professionals powerfully communicate their story in a three-minute pitch for funding in front of a panel of judges and over 300 philanthropic businesses, civic organizations, and nonprofit leaders.

This year’s big event, on hiatus for the past two years due to the pandemic, will be held Thursday, October 6, 2022, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at UCR Palm Desert Campus.

The lively contest is sponsored by the Regional Access Project (RAP) Foundation and presented through its key NPO Centric Program, which serves to strengthen, support, and build the capacity of nonprofits. NPO Centric is also a national program via its online platform of hundreds of toolkits, checklists, how-to videos, e-books, templates, and samples of best practices.

Nonprofit finalists of ‘Desert Fast Pitch,’ who serve residents of eastern Riverside County and applied to be part of this year’s high-energy program, will engage in a 10-week training and mentoring program throughout the summer that includes marketing, branding, and presentation coaching. Their work, which also includes a preliminary competition, will culminate in the October 6th live event. The most compelling pitch will be awarded a top prize of $20,000, the most innovative pitch will receive $15,000, and the audience choice will earn $10,000. All participating nonprofits will receive smaller cash grants.

Stephanie Minor, Director of NPO Centric, says, “The goal is to help nonprofits more effectively communicate their story in order to raise the funding they need to be self-sustaining. Everybody is a winner at ‘Desert Fast Pitch’ as all the participating nonprofits not only receive cash grants, they also receive much-needed individualized marketing and fundraising training.”

Now Director of NPO Centric, Stephanie is a former ‘Desert Fast Pitch’ winner herself in 2018 when she was Director of Development at Martha’s Village & Kitchen. Her powerful 3-minute pitch about the plight of homeless children in California was awarded the top prize of $20,000 toward the creation of a space in the residential unit of Martha’s Village exclusively for homeless children.

“I’ve seen first-hand how this three-month coaching and training program can be transformative for nonprofit leaders and truly benefit their organizations and the entire community,” says Stephanie. “The program helps these leaders develop key skills, foster new relationships, gain exposure, and increase their organizations’ ability to attract new resources. The event is also a blast!”

NPO Centric is the only online training and community center created for nonprofits by a nonprofit. NPO Centric was founded in 2017 as a program of the RAP Foundation and, to date, has helped over 500 nonprofits through more than 4,700 hours of training by experts.

Information on how to attend ‘Desert Fast Pitch 2022’ will be available later this summer at https://rapfoundation.org/desertfastpitch/.  For more information about NPO Centric’s programs and resources, please visit npocentric.org.

 

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