The Nonprofit Desert Fast Pitch is an annual event that is a Shark Tank-style, high-energy, quick-fire presentation in which nonprofits powerfully communicate their story and make a 3-minute pitch for funding. Six nonprofits made it to the finals and competed for cash grants awarded by the Regional Access Project Foundation (RAP).

The finalists included Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert, Food Now, Elder Love USA, ACT for MS, NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness – Coachella Valley, and Palm Springs International Piano Competition.

The finalists delivered their pitches live onstage to a panel of judges and an audience of approximately 200 philanthropic, business, civic, and nonprofit leaders.

Cindy Burreson, from Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert, won “Best Pitch. Dana Johnson, from Food Now, won “Most Innovative,” and Shannon Shea, from Elder Love USA won “Audience Choice.” 

NPO Centric, a program of the RAP Foundation, runs this annual event. The finalists engaged in a six-week training and mentoring program that included marketing, branding, and speaking training so that the nonprofits can effectively raise the funding they need to be self-sustaining. The program culminates in the live, Fast Pitch competition.