Pitch event offers $10,000 for winner
Four nonprofits to take part in contest hosted by Women United
ALBANY— Four local nonprofits will pitch a panel of seven female business leaders to win $10,000 on Thursday.
Women United, a division of the nonprofit United Way of the Greater Capital Region, is hosting its second annual Perfect Pitch contest at Revolution Hall in Troy this week. Four finalists— Albany Can Code, Schenectady Community Ministries, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and Veterans & Community Housing Coalition— will pitch seven women entrepreneurs in hopes of winning $10,000 for their program of choice.
The judges will be hearing the pitches for the first time on Thursday evening. Ashley Brown, one of the women entrepreneurs who recently created the company Cookie Therapy and started her photography business at age 21, says it’s hard to know what the characteristics of a winning pitch are until you hear them.
For example, last year’s winning pitch by South End Children's Café, a nonprofit dedicated to ending food insecurity, included insights Brown had no idea about until the director, Tracie Killar, shared.
“One of the points [Killar] made is that the kids that benefit from that program, they make a point to have those kids volunteer their time,” Brown said. Killar said it is important for kids to not just feel like others give things to them because they are in need but that they also have something to give. Encouraging the kids to volunteer at the café empowers them to feel like worthy members of the community, Killar said.
Schenectady Community Ministries would put the money toward building a resource center that would host cooking, parenting, and finance classes for women. If Albany Can Code wins, the money will go towards scholarships for women to enroll in their virtual 12-week coding course.
This year United Way will have a “fan favorite vote” where anyone tuning in to the event virtually can vote for their favorite pitch and United Way will give another $2,500 to that nonprofit.