A lot of people walk into donor meetings thinking: If I can just get through my presentation perfectly, I’ve won. And worse, they feel failure when they only get a few slides through. If this is you, you are focusing on the wrong thing.
A presentation is just a tool. It’s not the win. The real goal is to capture not just someone’s imagination, but also their attention — and to create a moment they’ll never forget.
You don’t do that by blending in. You do it by sticking out. By giving your donor an experience. By creating an artifact together that demonstrates you’re the real deal — that you’re not like everybody else.
That’s why I love what I call The Back-of-the-Napkin Pitch.
When iPads first came out, I used to walk into meetings with a slick 10-page deck ready to go. I’d reference it briefly to demonstrate that I was prepared, but use it only as a reference guide throughout the natural flow of conversation. Instead of clicking through slides, I’d say: “You know what, I don’t need to show you this. What I really want to share with you is one simple concept — the heart of how we’re driving change.”
Then I’d sketch it out. Sometimes a pyramid, sometimes a Venn diagram, sometimes just a roadmap. Simple, visual, participatory. It always worked, because it turned the meeting into something memorable.
Fundraising isn’t about getting through your deck. It’s about standing out. It’s about giving someone a story, a sketch, an artifact they’ll remember — a moment of genius you create together.
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