Well, the first thing we need to clarify are the concepts. Some call it Commercial Proposal others from Portfolio, among others.
O Portfolio presents a list of its projects as an institution. It is a selection of your best work and acts as a business card of what you can to do with the resources that the financier contributes to his Project. There are several categories of Portfolio, each suited to specific needs.
Likewise to Commercial Proposal It is a document with information about the projects that your institution has already carried out over a certain period of time, ways of providing resources and delivery deadlines. It is used to improve the chances of converting prospects in financiers.
As can be seen from the description, the Commercial Proposal, presents yet another selling point for a Product or service, which is also a process of raising funds for your Institution, your Organization.
Therefore, it is essential to understand that there are significant differences between Portfolio It is Commercial Proposal, while the first is more concise, objective and specific for a presentation of the institution or organization, the Commercial Proposal presents more extensive content, with greater details and wealth of information about the Institution, about who it is, about what it intends to do with the donated resources, about its previous experience, its expertise, its technical capacity and how it intends to present, offer , transfer value to the Financier of the resources invested in their projects.
Likewise, I want to point out that I am not a big fan of the term Commercial Proposal, since, at first, it is not the main objective of Organizations of Third sector carry out marketing of products. So, I prefer to call it Fundraising Proposal, or Proposal for Donation. But by convention, we will keep the name of Commercial Proposal and/or Portfolio.
Now, another very important thing. In this publication, we will discuss a Model of Commercial Proposal, this model should not be confused with the Portfolio, which have different content and different formatting.
Well, regardless of what you call this documentation, it is extremely important for your Institution, as it is this documentation that you will present to the potential financier, let's say, “the business card” who your institution is, what it has already done, how it did it, with what resources, in what period of time and the results arising from these activities, aiming to convince the financier why it is important to indicate resources for your Project or to your institution.
PORTFOLIO
O Portfolio/Commercial Proposal It’s very important when it comes to finding a financier. This document summarizes what your institution can offer, containing information about your experience with previous projects, and how, and in what form, you intend to deliver it.
During this process, professionals marketing, financiers It is donate go through some important stages, ranging from Prospection until resources are indicated for your institution or Project.
Given these steps, the Portfolio/Commercial Proposal play a very important role.
Know the objective of Portfolio/Commercial Proposal
Before starting to prepare the Portfolio/Commercial Proposal, it is interesting that your institution's fundraisers take a few minutes to revisit its real objective and what paths will help to prepare good documentation.
Knowing or even remembering what the Portfolio It is very important, because in the daily rush, some aspects that make it different can be left aside.
The goal of a good Portfolio is to unite the interests of Financier, known for fundraiser/catcher during the stage of Prospection, with what the institution can best achieve with that resource, meeting of course, whenever possible, the interest or expectations of the financier.
Therefore, the use of a Portfolio/Commercial Proposal standardized is not well regarded, as they leave aside the issue of personalization of what the financier is looking for, a factor that may end up leading to the non-effectiveness of the Donation.
How to make a Portfolio/Commercial Proposal
In the rush to send the Portfolio/Commercial Proposal as soon as possible for the financier, the fundraiser may forget crucial points that will make the proposal more interesting for the financier.
Therefore, it is recommended that before starting to write the document, the person responsible for the institution, preferably someone with reasonable knowledge about it, and who has a certain sales acumen, to be able to convey a good image of the institution, organizing the materials that will help boost the proposal.
It is interesting to check if you already have the institution's letterhead file, if the Soon is on the rise Resolution and whether graphs, tables and schedules produced in other programs, such as Excel, are easy to insert into the proposal.
Think about layout before drafting the document is important, as it gives a professional look to the proposal, which will certainly attract even more attention from your Prospect.
If the proposal is delivered in print to the funder, it is worth investing in the institution's personalized folders to accommodate the document and also include presentation materials, such as a Folder.
Starting the proposal
An objective and well-organized proposal will be much more likely to be appreciated by the funder and considered, perhaps to the detriment of less attractive ones. So, pay attention to content, at presentation and in layout, this way your chance of winning over the financier is great.
Therefore, it is interesting to start this organization in the first stage of the document, which includes the cover and the index.
Soon on the cover, it is important to identify the Institution and the Funder, starting the process of personalizing the Portfolio, exactly for that Financier. This way, his interest in your presentation will increase considerably. For example:
- At the top of the cover (not necessarily), enter the name of the institution: Institution for Management Third sector
- In the central part of the cover, include the name of the funder: Presentation for the Anjos do Bem Financier
In addition to this information, you must enter the Soon of the institution, if any, and the Scope campaign, like: Distribution of 20 thousand Dehydrated Vegetable Soups per week in the City of Cabrobó das Aroeiras, (this is just an example… lol) In the header, the contact details and address of the institution in the footer, if the institution does not already have a letterhead.
Once this step is complete, it’s time to draft the proposal index.
In it, you will be presented with the Prospect all the subjects covered throughout the document, in a way that makes it easier to find the most important points.
At this stage, it will still be just a draft, as page numbers will only be included after the proposal is finalized.
Develop the presentation Project
As much as the funder knows your institution and its projects through meetings with the fundraising team and even through the research he has done on the subject, the Portfolio/Commercial Proposal It also serves to present to the Prospect the functionalities of what you are offering him, showing the benefits of executing that Project in society and how the financier can also benefit from this exposure.
Therefore, it is important that during the presentation the recruiter includes personalized information in the proposal for your Prospect, showing him that the negotiation is meeting his expectations and needs.
During the production of content, the fundraiser must be careful to maintain clarity and avoid using very technical terms that could compromise the funder's understanding.
Share with Prospect O Scope work
Another point that cannot be missing in a good proposal is the Scope from work, mainly in a document aimed at the development and execution of a Project.
At this stage, the fundraiser explains to the financier how project deliveries will be carried out and all the information regarding the number of hours dedicated and the number and level of professionals involved in carrying out the work.
So that information from the Scope work are well organized and easy to understand for prospects, it is interesting that the institution uses tactics of Scanability, as bullet points to introduce each topic and Emphasis in bold the keywords more important.
Schedule of work
It is common for financiers to want more efficient results in the shortest possible time when financing a project. Project.
It is therefore essential that fundraisers align these expectations well with the financier during the first meetings at the Prospection, and document this in the schedule presented in the proposal.
Insert tables or graphs to clearly show the financier the dates on which each stage of the Project to be executed will be carried out.
It is important that these dates are actually possible to be met, because if the intention is to impress the financier so that he is convinced of the Donation, you may have many problems in the future if you do not meet the agreed deadlines or scopes. Clarity and sincerity must be the basis of this entire relationship.
Proposal template
Create one Portfolio/Commercial Proposal It is a time-consuming and detailed task. To help you with this mission, we created a complete and editable 100% template in presentation format (Canva, Google Slides It is Power point, PDF).
To receive the free proposal template, click herei.
I emphasize here that, today, with the advent of technology platforms for designers, anyone with minimal knowledge can create, develop, build and copy their Commercial Proposal, your Portfolio, your Cover Letter, CV, etc. You can do almost anything, that is. An excellent platform for this is CANVA. So, I left Soon Below are a series of model links Canva for each of your needs.
- Presentations;
- Commercial Proposal;
- Logo Creation;
- Report Creation;
- Flyers;
- Folders;
- Cover Letters.
Start producing a proposal template
With all of this clearly and defined, it will be easier to put your ideas on paper, as most of the work has been done. At these times, remember that an adequate presentation is essential to convey even more confidence and security.
Therefore, use a letterhead and create a simple structure that can be followed as a standard in your other proposals, as follows:
1. Cover
The cover is the presentation of your proposal, as the first impression is important, it's worth taking care of it. It is important to include in this part the name of the Institution and the Prospect.
2. Index
This is where all the sections with the information that will appear in the proposal will be organized for handling. This is a simple but essential element, especially in voluminous proposals, with many pages.
3. Introduction
The introduction of the proposal must be concise and simple, avoiding confusion or initial doubts. This section is where the institution, its experience and the objective way in which it proposes to carry out its activities will be briefly described. Project or its activities, contained in the following pages of the proposal.
4. Argumentation
It is probably one of the most important parts of every document. This is the section in which the Institution will explain how the financier will make the right decision when supporting your Project.
This is where it must be clear to the financier why he should choose your institution. In addition to describing the specific solution for each potential activity, the argument must also include the institution's differentiators and its strengths.
It is recommended that the argument be based on concrete data and precise information, such as infographics of key indicators relevant to the Project or important numbers of the institution.
5. Solution
After the argument comes the details of Project, how each action will be carried out, the methodology applied to the service and the short and medium term strategy (or even long term, depending on the type of proposal).
A well-described solution involves the Scope mentioned above in the article, as well as the projection of data as the result expected to be achieved in the given period.
6. Schedule
After accurately describing the services that will be provided, it is important for the future financier to understand the time spent on each stage, as well as the delivery deadlines for each Product.
7. Values
As the name suggests, after detailing the entire service, it's time to talk about how much it will cost the financier.
It is essential that the Institution acts with Transparency and honesty when presenting the values, so that there are no surprises from the financier when closing the agreement or at any stage later in the negotiation.
8. Conclusion
Time to close the proposal and guarantee another marketing insertion and Personal Branding.
In this part you can explore a little more about the experience and expertise of your teams, include testimonials from other funders or end users of your Project.
Of course, these topics are just a few suggestions and you can change them according to your needs, always trying to make your proposal objective and clear.
More tips for making a good proposal
Check out some good practices that will further improve the quality of your proposal!
Meet the proposal submission deadline
The fundraiser visited the financier and they agreed at the end of the meeting that the proposal would be forwarded on a certain date.
However, upon arriving at the institution, the funder is faced with a series of tasks and ends up delaying sending the proposal to the funder.
Although this situation is quite common, as the routine in the fundraising area is quite hectic, the seller needs to organize himself so that the proposal reaches his financier on the agreed date, demonstrating that the Institution has "word".
In cases of unforeseen events that make it impossible to deliver the document on the agreed date, the funder must communicate with the financier and notify them of the delay, coming forward and apologizing for the inconvenience.
As discussed previously, sincerity and clarity These are the keys to good capture.
Talk about the history of the institution
As much as funders know your institution, it is interesting to highlight in the proposal a brief description of its work and activities, as well as its differences.
At this stage, it is also worth sharing the Portfolio and the actions of the Institution.
So that the document does not become long, the tip is Link to pages on the internet where financiers can check this information in full.
Review the proposal before sending it to the funder
As important as preparing the proposal is reviewing all the content before sending it to the funder.
Carefully reading all topics, reviewing graphs and tables, correcting grammar and spelling is an excellent way to prevent incorrect data from being shared with the financier.
Also ensuring that nothing ends up compromising the quality of your proposal.
Make one Follow Up with financiers
This tip is very important so that all the work involved in preparing a good proposal is not wasted.
When sending the document to the funder, it is important to communicate the following day to confirm that he received the file, if he was able to evaluate the material, if he has any questions and to schedule a next date with him to resume contact if he has not yet appreciated the proposal. .
The fundraiser must always maintain contact with the financier until the proposal is accepted or rejected.
But you need to be careful not to Seem inconvenient calling or emailing the lender daily. The best way is to always agree with the financier or his representative the days and times that he can talk about the matter.
There are financiers who take longer to provide feedback, as they depend on the analysis and approval of other people, so one way to maintain a good relationship is by respecting each person's time and always being available to clarify doubts about the proposal.
The process of implementing a Donation It is quite complex and requires a lot of commitment from the collectors to be completed successfully.
O Portfolio/Commercial Proposal It is a very important link between the Institution and the financier, which is why it needs special attention.
Below are Portfolio Models or Commercial Proposals that can be accessed on the internet, I just had the trouble of organizing them here for your information. I also clarify that these models presented below are only a source of information and guidance and should not, under any circumstances, be copied in part or in their entirety.
- Institute Brazilian Development and Sustainability;
- Institute Advisory for Human Development;
- Institute AVIVA;
- National Federation of APAEs;
- Institute Ekos Brazil;
- The Nature Conservancy;
- Institute Tropical forest.
Success to everyone in your recruitment.
Content extracted and adapted from the website RockContent – Author: Ivan de Souza
