Elevator Pitch Creation
Project details
What we need
- A script for a 1-2 minute verbal pitch that communicates the mission and vision of the Organization, the work the Organization does, and why people should care
- Advice on pitch delivery and effective communication
What we have in place
- We will prepare some sample language for an elevator pitch that we can bounce ideas off of and develop a final version with you.
How this will help
This project will save us $1,792 , allowing us to better leverage our work and connect with people who love these lakes as much as we do.
An elevator pitch will help us clarify and distill our mission, vision, values, and work into a concise summary for staff, board, interns, volunteers, supporters, donors, elected leaders, businesses (everyone).
Our work is complex because we are a law and policy organization, and yet, our work is fundamental to all the key campaigns and battles around water in the Great Lakes.
We are looking for a conceptual thinker and writer to convey what we do in everyday language.
Project plan
Our mission
FLOW's mission is to ensure the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected for all.
Our mission encompasses all waters in the Basin, including groundwater, wetlands, rivers, streams, and inland lakes. We empower residents to know their rights under the public trust - an ancient and durable legal doctrine - that exists in all Great Lakes jurisdictions and provides its 40 million citizens a legal right to use these common waters for drinking, fishing, swimming, recreation, navigation, and the like.
We hold governments accountable for safeguarding our shared resources and address systemic threats to the Great Lakes Basin such as contamination, deteriorating infrastructure, and climate change.
The Great Lakes belong to all of us and they are ours to defend.
What we do
We believe access to clean water is a fundamental human right, essential for public health. Unfortunately, many communities in the Great Lakes Basin lack access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water due to various issues, including household water shutoffs, lead contamination, failing infrastructure, emerging contaminants, and pollution of groundwater resources. Moreover, private interests are profiting from the extraction and bottling of public water, depleting Great Lakes tributaries, and endangering wildlife and personal wells. Climate change exacerbates surface water level changes, and the decaying Line 5 oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac continue to pose a significant threat to the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Protection
FLOW is a leading legal and scientific voice and a founding steering committee member of Oil & Water Don't Mix, a broad-based, multi-year campaign to prevent a massive oil spill from the decaying pipelines that cross the open waters of the Straits of Mackinac.
Groundwater Protection
45% of Michigan residents drink groundwater, yet Michigan is the only U.S. state without a uniform septic code. FLOW is working to overcome more than 30 years of legislative gridlock in passing a statewide septic code that establishes a reasonable inspection schedule, ensures county health departments have sufficient resources to administer inspections and provides financial assistance to septic owners who may not be able to afford the cost of septic repairs or replacements.
In addition, FLOW is working with allies to tackle polluter pay reform. Since the repeal of polluter pay laws in Michigan in the 1990s, Michigan has amassed 11,000 contaminated "orphaned" sites for which the parties responsible for groundwater contamination are unknown.
Keeping Our Water Public
FLOW is working on solutions to address disparities in access to clean water and healthy lake ecosystems. FLOW has drafted a model state law that affirms public ownership of water and creates a Water Trust Fund using royalties derived from bottled water sales to support public health protection and infrastructure investment. FLOW is also working with allies to address water affordability concerns across the Great Lakes Basin.
Testimonials
Vladi was a quick study and helped us boil down complex ideas into a compelling narrative. Thanks!
The Team at FLOW is awesome and they're working on am important problem!