Seeking funding? Whether you call it a summary, plan, or fundraising story, you’ll need to have a well-written overview of your fundraising goals to describe the product or service you’re raising funds for, show your company’s potential, and explain how much you plan to raise. Learn how to give investors and stakeholders a well-rounded picture of your organization and raise funds faster with this guide. Explore this template.
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If your goal is to raise funds – whether you’re a startup, non-profit or charity – your fundraising summary should be comprehensible, easy-to-share and attractive. The layout and style of the summary will vary depending on why you’re making it and you’re sharing it with. This approach will concentrate on writing a fundraising summary for a business, but it is easily transferable to non-profits, charities, school projects, and other fundraising aims. To make it your own, use Xtensio’s simple editor to move modules around and rebuild the template in an unlimited number of ways!
Your idea is awesome and your startup is too! But if you and your team are the only ones aware of this, it’s not going to help you reach your funding goals very quickly. You must construct an image of your product or service as unique and marketable while presenting your fundraising summary at an investor meeting in order to make a favorable impression. This starts with what the investor sees at first glance. Follow these simple rules to put your best foot forward and detail your funding goals.
Bonus: If you’re a startup looking to reduce design costs and collaborate with your team on your company’s strategic and visual collateral, take advantage of the free tools and resources in Xtensio’s Startup Toolbox and check out the productivity features on the Business plan.
Summarize your product or service with a description of your core offering and a defined positioning statement.
Quick Tip: Getting investors’ support to raise funds is vital for your business to survive. According to the stats, “About 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs crash within the first 16-18 months of starting their venture, which makes up for 80% of all startups that fail, mainly due to cash paucity.”
A mistake that many entrepreneurs make while building relationships with investors (and an important factor in not being able to convince investors) is not showing passion and belief in the product or service they’re trying to raise funds for. If you want others to invest in your business, you need to really show your excitement about your idea and prove that your idea will work. The product summary is the place to clearly outline your passion and dedication to this endeavor.
Did your user base grow by 30% in one year? How does your revenue look compared to previous years? This is where you need to clearly indicate all information about your company’s growth. Collaborate with your team members and make sure everyone is on the same page, all numbers are clear and correct. There are two important things you want to highlight in this section:
Here, you’ll need to outline the amount of funding needed to reach your company’s goals and continue your growth. Make sure that your funding goals are aligned with these overall business goals. You’ll also want to explain why you need this amount to add credibility to your ask. Take advantage of graphs, charts and images to clearly explain what you need and why.
An important part of describing what you’re raising funds for is showing the people behind the idea. Introduce your core team with a short bio for each. Highlight your team’s passion and dedication to the product and company values.
Quick Tip: Having a form field to collect e-mails is useful for learning who is interested in funding your idea. Once you fill out Xtensio’s fundraising summary template, share it as a responsive weblink with potential investors so they can leave their email address if they’re interested in receiving more information. That being said, give them a good reason to sign up!
The funding amount you’re seeking will probably change over time. You should update your summary regularly to make sure all your team members and investors are on the same page. The fundraising summary template is adaptable just like other Xtensio tools. It can and should be repurposed, revisited, and revised to suit your evolving needs. You can duplicate your folio to easily get started on the next one or save it as a template. And remember, all of our templates are meant to be starting points. You can always add, delete, and move your modules and sections around with Xtensio’s versatile editor to adapt the template to your needs.
Alper Cakir is the founder and CEO of Xtensio, a next generation document collaboration platform, a staple tool for businesses globally. He boasts over 17 years in the tech industry with expertise in UX/UI design, product management, and innovative business strategy. His passion for design led him to work with major clients like CBS Interactive, NBC Universal, and Toyota. Before Xtensio, he co-founded Fake Crow in Los Angeles, known for its innovative UX/UI approach. Alper studied music theory and jazz composition at Istanbul Bilgi University and guitar at Musicians Institute in London. Known for his hands-on approach, his philosophy is to simplify processes, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and empower teams to achieve their best work.
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