Members interested in pitching a nonprofit (i.e., becoming a “Grant Champion”) should fill out the PYP Grant Request Form and submit a copy to PYPSeattle@gmail.com.  Up to four members can join together to pitch one nonprofit as a team. If more than three Grant Request Forms are submitted, members will vote to select which three charities they want to have pitched to them. If you are selected to be a Grant Champion, pitch your fellow members, plan two in-person follow up events (during the six-week discovery period) for members to learn more about your nonprofit, and follow up to gain support (i.e., votes!).

Due to COVID-19 restrictions this year, our fourth annual Pitch Night will be a virtual event using a webinar format.  Grant Champions will deliver their pitches via live-stream video to fellow PYP members.  We recommend that all pitches be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, which will be displayed during your pitch in the webinar. Your pitch should include details about the nonprofit, the problem the nonprofit seeks to solve, the project or effort for which you are seeking support, and a process for monitoring the project if it’s funded.  You may choose to show a video or other materials that you or the nonprofit have prepared. We do not have an efficient way to handout hard-copy handouts this year, but the PYP board will work with you to distribute any digital handouts you’d like to provide. All pitches should be no more than 15 minutes and will be followed by a 5-minute virtual Q&A session.  Representatives from the nonprofit are not allowed to be present on the Pitch Night webinar, though they may help provide information, resources, or materials for you use in your pitch.  The PYP Seattle board will assist with your pitch preparation by providing feedback and advice on your slide presentation and we will host a practice session for all Grant Champions prior to Pitch Night.

Grant Request Forms are submitted and presentations are made approximately 5 weeks later at Pitch Night. Voting takes place online approximately 6 weeks after Pitch Night. The time between pitching and voting allows the pitching member to field follow-up questions, hold in-person follow-up sessions, etc. The winning nonprofit will receive their check approximately 1 week after voting.  The entire process lasts around 12 weeks.

Congratulations! Your nonprofit will receive the money you secured directly from PYP. There is a monitoring process over the course of the year to make sure that the money goes where it’s supposed to and is used as presented. There is also a final report to detail the grant’s success and document that all funds were used as anticipated.

Yes!  Our board has developed a policy about this to avoid any conflicts of interest and to ensure fairness and equity amongst Grant Champions. The policy is as follows:

If a President, Vice President, or Grants Chair becomes a Grant Champion (aka Board Member- Grant Champion “BMGC“) in any grant cycle she shall be removed from involvement in all administrative duties of that grant cycle. Further, if the Grants Chair becomes a Grant Champion, either an interim Grants Chair will be appointed or Grants Chair duties will be assumed by remaining board members.   

*Included in the administrative duties that will be removed from the BMGC are the following: 

–       Communication to the Grant Chair and to the membership regarding the grant cycle

–       Communication to Grant Champions regarding the grant cycle on behalf of PYP 

–       Knowledge of follow-up events before they are shared with group

–       Participation in Pitch practice nights and feedback

–       Voting process (no access to voting system or vote tallies until results are announced)

–       Winner phone calls and results announcement

–       Other duties as determined by remaining board members. 

*The BMGC shall be allowed to participate in all aspects of Pitch Night itself (with the exception of access to the other Grant Champions’ presentation slides.)

Yes. We’ve set up this process based on what we think will work best; but if something isn’t working in practice, we’ll address it.