Your Team
If you need to, and if you are able, it can be beneficial to have other people directly assist in the final presentation and funding request. This is not always necessary, but it can work well at times. Both students and employees can be helpful participants. Plan which team members will handle which sections of the presentation or answer certain types of questions to ensure that people do not contradict or speak over each other.
Implementation: Roles and Responsibilities
As you plan your presentation to top decision-makers, you must provide some ideas on who will be implementing the program. Sometimes the person who facilitated the development of a new program is not the person who will be implementing it.
Before the meeting, consider the following question: Once funding is approved, will you continue spearheading the effort or gracefully hand off to someone else? If the answer is that you will not be taking the program forward, you should think about how you will find the right person for that job. Your potential funding partners will be very interested in hearing your thoughts about this.
If possible, have a potential successor participate in program development and especially the funding approval meeting. Administrators find great comfort in knowing who they will be working with before they commit their money. If it is not possible to have the implementation coordinator identified ahead of time, the next best thing is to have designed an effective process for marketing and recruiting the right candidate. Have a draft position description on hand for funders to review and discuss. It could help assuage funders' concerns if they can help choose the new employee.
Note that positions often take months to fill, especially when you are looking for the kind of dedicated, energetic and intelligent leader needed for a green living or student internship program. The sooner you begin this process the better. Again, prospective funders will appreciate knowing the person or at least the type of person who will be responsible for the new program.