Social enterprise is a seemingly easy task to do; however, attracting investors for it can be tricky. Only an excellent campaign can give the entrepreneur an opportunity to attract an investor’s attention. Many beginners overlook some important details needed for the success of their projects. To avoid the widespread mistakes, here are some easy steps to attract investments and gain the respect of the investment community for social enterprise.
Create a Business Plan
Your business plan has to be clear and well written. This is the most important part of the task – the majority of the success of the whole project depends on your business plan. You need to define what you want to achieve within a certain period. You have to characterize your customer base and market; you have to explain what you have that competitors do not; you have to describe the market and growth potential. Also, do not forget to mention who you are working with and what their skills and experience are. Only a detailed and precise plan will attract the attention and respect of potential investors.
Pay a Separate Attention to Your Financial Planning
Be as meticulous as possible in your financial planning because the more detailed you are about costs and money, the more the people who you want to pay for the project will want to invest in your idea. You have to provide information on the relative profitability of your activities and trends on revenue so that the investor can see what he is putting his money to and when he is going to get them back. Do not forget to mention the trends on cost and scenario testing – these are as important as the rest described above. The more precise you are with your financial planning, the more trust you get from the investor and the more chance you get to receive a funding for social enterprises.
Explain Why You Need Investment
You must be able to answer two questions – Why do you need the investment? Why should it be given to you and not anyone else? Here, you have to describe what it will be used for and what has to happen to ensure success. You need to convince investors that your social enterprise is going to achieve the set goals and bring money and therefore, its worth investing their money. Just find and define what is special about your project, what makes it stand out from the rest, and why you need money more than anyone else. Being able to reply to these questions will persuade investors.
Make Sure You Provide Transparency in Your Plan
The only way to gain the respect of the investment community is to be clear and transparent . No matter what you are talking about, no matter what plan you offer investors, everything has to be transparent. This is what investors demand from the projects. Remember that brevity is the soul of wit. So try to make the business plan together with the financial planning short – ask yourself after each sentence you write whether it contains the necessary information and whether it is needed.
As seen from the information above, it is not advisable to ask for non-profit grants without proper preparation. You have to work on your project carefully to make the investors consider you. Putting time and effort into formulating the core of the project will bring you success. You may not find the investor from the very first time; however, if your plan is of a high quality, you will soon find one. The responsible attitude together with the knowledge of what to do and how to explain will help you in this. Now, go ahead and make changes in the community!
About the Author
Helen Birk is a freelance writer for EduBirdy since 2013. She graduated from the Leeds University – there, she studied marketing. She enjoys writing for the websites on the topics connected to her qualification. Whenever she has an extra couple of hours, she takes them to write an article or two.
