Social Enterprise Fundraising Strategy Assessment Tool (BETA)


Answer these questions in 5-10 minutes to receive instant feedback from the impact investor perspective. You will receive a customized analysis with actionable tips and links to free resources.



Created in partnership between:
  Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship - Santa Clara University
  Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) - Duke University, Fuqua School of Business  


Let's Start with understanding your fundraising goals and challenges...










Now some background information about your enterprise...










And what about your impact...




A little bit more about you and your company so we can follow up...










Windows Users: Hold control and select all countries Mac Users: Hold command and select all countries

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) most aligns with for your organization's impact?       

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also aligns with for your organization's impact (select all that apply)?
Windows Users: Hold control and select all countries. Mac Users: Hold command and select all countries.


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The good news is that Miller Center can help! Based your responses you are a good candidate for our Social Enterprise Accelerator program. We invite you to apply here:




Screenout Thresholds

Unique screenout thresholds for each cohort undergoing an application cycle. Passing each screen is interpreted as greater to our equal to the threshold. Thresholds should be set in related Salesforce fields in the appropriate Cohort record. 

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You indicated you've successfully moved to new segments/channels, and plan to use funds to expand to a new region(s). But will you succeed in new regions with the same approach as your current region(s)? Be ready to explain to investors what you'll be doing the same, and what differently in the locations you plan to expand to. For help with this, check out Miller Center's Scale-Out Readiness Assessment and/or CASE Smart Impact Capital's Growth Readiness Assessment and accompanying video.
 With an enterprise already breaking even, you likely will find investors. Start preparing for due diligence now, ensuring your slide library, financials, and other documentation are in place for investors to scrutinize. For help with this, check out Miller Center's Due Diligence Checklist. Also, CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit includes a module on due diligence, including a due diligence flowchart, example due diligence checklists, and a guide to working with lawyers.
You indicated you haven't launched yet, and are seeking a grant of $50k or less. This sounds smart, generally. Tips on succeeding in your early stage: 1) You have to show credible, documented, positive impact; 2) You have to demonstrate product/market fit; 3) You have to have a way to attract more money before this grant runs out.
You indicated you are already breaking even or profitable, seeking debt, and plan to use those funds for working capital. Sounds smart. You should be able to negotiate fairly good terms with lenders. CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit includes information on term sheets and a sample term sheet library.
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You indicated that your operational systems are not yet at the point where new employees can learn on their own. You also told us you plan to use funds to scale in your current market(s) or to scale out to new markets. Investors may be concerned that even if you can scale your customer base, your operational systems will be strained and perhaps inhibit your growth. Consider prioritizing near-term operational improvements so your processes, procedures, staff onboarding, and documentation can support your growth instead of inhibiting it. For help with this, check out Miller Center's mini-course on Operational Gap Analysis.
 You indicated you are finding it challenging to find interested investors. To surmount this challenge, you'll need to make sure your story and enterprise are strong, and also that you are honing your research, networking, and communication skills. For help with this, check out Case Smart Impact Capital's video: 4 Steps to Identify and Prioritize Top Investor Targets. Also, CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit includes a Targeted Investor Research Guide, Tips to Identify Warm Leads on LinkedIn, and Pro Email Outreach Templates.
You indicated you are breaking even or profitable, and you are seeking funds to grow. Be ready to show - not just say - that your sales are materially rising and that there's demand. Investors will appreciate seeing something in writing from large customers, and/or positive performance data from test marketing, local sales, etc.
You indicated you're raising equity, and using a hybrid legal structure involving both for-profit and non-profit elements. Beware: equity investors may worry about investing in something which also uses grants or donations. (And grantors may worry that they'll effectively be subsidizing returns of an equity investor.) Tread carefully and with very clear boundaries both legally and in how you communicate how you will use these two distinct types of funding, if indeed this is your aim.
 You indicated you are seeking to raise an amount of money that is at least an order of magnitude (10x) more than your revenue from last year. Investors will question such a steep ramp-up of fundraising v. revenue, and unexplained projected growth will not withstand investor scrutiny. Be sure you're ready to defend what may at first appear to be an unrealistic ask. CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit includes a module on calculating your funding gap and building reasonable projections.
 You indicated that hiring more staff is part of how you will use new funding you attract, and that your operatonal systems, processes, software, and documentation is not yet at the point where you can onboard new employees quickly without burdening existing employees. Be ready to make a strong case to investors of 1) why you need more staff; 2) how you will onboard them efficiently; 3) what operational improvements you are making. For help with this, check out Miller Center's mini-course on HR Planning.
 You indicated you're legally structured as a for-profit and yet seeking grant funding. This may be possible. But be aware: some grantors will balk at the idea of giving a grant (as opposed to equity or debt) to a for-profit entity. Also, grants are desirable in many ways, but make sure you are aware of any and all restrictions attached to accepting any particular grant. Restricted grants can bend your priorities with regards to products, geographies, staff, etc. Managing multiple restricted grants can involve burdensome operational and reporting requirements. Bottom line: money is money, but money with fewer restrictions gives you far more flexibility. For more help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Types of Capital Comparison Tool and 5 Big Tips video.
 You indicated you are already profitable and need investment to grow your enterprise more quickly, and that you are still establishing operational systems, processes, software, and documentation. Investors will likely be interested to determine how your operational will be strained by growth. For help with this, check out Miller Center's mini-course on Operational Gap Analysis.
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You indicated that you are a non-profit and would like to raise equity. This is not legally possible, because a nonprofit cannot give a share of ownership to investors (or anyone else). Nonprofits can create a for-profit subsidiary that is owned by the non-profit. An outside investor can then be given shares of the for-profit subsidiary with the non-profit owning the remaining shares. For help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Types of Capital Comparison Tool 5 Big Tips video.
 You indicated that you are not yet cash flow positive in your current region and are raising investment to expand to a new region. Investors are unlikely to be supportive of this approach because the investment of time, resources, and energy into geographic expansion would likely slow down your progress to reach break-even in your current region, and it's unclear that your expansion builds on a firm foundation of profitability. You will be able to attract more investment and expand more quickly once you have proven that your model is profitable. For help understanding how you are and are not ready to expand, check out Miller Center's Scale-Out Readiness Assessment.
 You indicated that you are looking for a loan (debt investment) even though your business is not yet generating a profit. Debt investors need assurances that your enterprise will be able to repay the debt on a predictable schedule. Since your business is not yet cash flow positive, it is unlikely that debt investors will be able to invest at you at this time. You can consider waiting until you are cash flow positive or you can look for grants or equity investments. For help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Types of Capital Comparison Tool and 5 Big Tips video.
 You indicated that your company is profitable and you are looking for an equity investment to use primarily as working capital. Have you considered fueling your growth through a debt investment instead? While debt investments require you to pay interest, they are almost always a lower-cost form of capital than equity. You may need to raise both equity and debt to grow quickly. In this case, your goal should be to raise as much as possible from debt investors with only as much equity as needed to make the overall financing plan work. For help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Type of Capital Comparison Tool and 5 Big Tips video. CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit also has primers on variable repayment debt, convertible notes, and other types of capital that you may be interested in.
 You indicated that you're raising $1m+, that your investment story focuses on serving an underserved market, and that your impact tracking is mostly observation and testimonies from customers / stakeholders. Investors will likely see your lack of impact tracking as an obstacle to considering investing $1m+ in your enterprise. For help with this, check out Miller Center's mini-course on Theory of Change and Impact Metrics or Duke University's Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs.
 You indicated you're seeking to raise over $250k, and that the enterprise is being run by you and/or others as a side project. If this is a side project, why will investors trust you with more than $250k? For help determining a more scalable approach to HR, check out Miller Center's mini-course on HR Planning.
 You indicated you haven't yet served any customers, and you're seeking grant capital of greater than $250k. Contributing over $250k to an organization that has yet to serve customers will give investors pause. What can you do for $250k or less (ideally less than $100K) to validate product/market fit? For help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Business Growth Diagnostic.
 You indicated you're trying to raise $x+, and you have less than 3 employees. Your aspirations to scale may be good, but expect investors to express HR concerns. What steps can you take towards a more solid, efficient core team whose work is scalable? For help with this, check out Miller Center's mini-course on HR Planning, and/or CASE Smart Impact Capital's Business Growth Diagnostic.
 You indicated your enterprise is compelling because of an innovation that could disrupt an industry, and that your operational systems are not yet running smoothly. Innovations are important, but an innovation in itself may not be sufficient to compel investors. Consider prioritizing operational improvements so you can make a strong case to investors that you have more than just an innovation - you have an enterprise that can successfully leverage that innovation into a successful, profitable, scalable enterprise. CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit has a choose-your-own investment story tool that may help you strengthen your story.
 You indicated you need cash soon, and also that you've raised a total of less than $250k. Investors don't usually want to invest in a company just to keep them in business for some months or years. No matter how good your story about why your business can succeed, there's no substitute for already succeeding more than you have. Don't give up! But be ready to show investors strong performance data and evidence to back your plans and your pitch.
 You indicated that one of your main fundraising challenges is that your enterprise is producing returns that aren't high enough for the investors you're finding, and that your enterprise solves a problem for an underserved population. If you're getting all the way to investor meetings and being rejected for this reason, you may be facing one or both of these serious issues:
   1) Your enterprise is underperforming;
   2) You're asking the wrong type of investors. On the second point: it's common for social enterprises serving underserved populations in logistically challenging, cash-constrained environments to meet impact investors seeking higher returns than seems possible in these locations.
Tips: 1. Review and revise your assumptions on what type(s) of investors would be most fruitful.
         2. When meeting impact investors, clearly communicate your aims for profitability and for impact, and be ready to respond to investor pressure to move upmarket, move from rural to urban areas, or alter your business model, for the sake of having a more profitable business. These may be legitimate strategic options for your enterprise to consider, but make sure to only commit to changes in alignment with your mission.
 For help with this, check out CASE Smart Impact Capital's Investor Alignment Tool. And CASE Smart Impact Capital's full toolkit has various resources you may find helpful: Pitch Prep and Delivery Tips, Managing investor Q and A, Back Pocket Metrics, Deciphering Investor Answers, Keeping Investors Engaged, and a module on Investor Outreach