A Pitchfest is typically hosted by a city, county, or region (e.g., a consortium of local governments in partnership with one another). Some local governments may choose to co-host the event in partnership with a university.

In general, we find the Pitchfest format is best suited to geographic catchment areas that have:

1. A population of over 1 million;
2. At least one R1 research university;
3. An active local philanthropic community; 
4. A strong sense of civic pride

We also recognize that each location is different. While our primary focus is on defined metro areas, we are also excited to receive expressions of interest from other government entities (e.g. States), which want to explore hosting a Pitchfest.

Yes! The Pitchfests we have directly supported to date have been bounded by geography (e.g., Pitchfest: New York City). However, we have provided in-kind support to numerous smaller, thematic events (e.g. Pitchfest: Economic Opportunity). If you would like our support running a smaller, thematic event, please indicate so in your interest form submission.

If the appropriate leadership and distribution channels are in place, a Pitchfest event can be organized in as little as two months. While each event is scaled and tailored for the local geography, generally, the process includes the following steps:

1. Book a venue in a central location (e.g. City Hall, a university auditorium), with space right-sized to anticipated demand. 
2. ‍Launch a landing page with information about the event, including a registration process for agency staff and regional experts.
3. ‍Get the word out via email and social media to prospective participants. Ideally, agency staff are also encouraged to participate by their leadership.‍
4. Accept pitches from agency staff using a standard template, with details about the challenge they are trying to address. 
5. ‍Host the event, with staff taking turns introducing their agencies and pitching their problem statements to the audience; build in time for networking.

After the Pitchfest event, the focus is on matchmaking—as in, identifying the right experts for each of the agencies’ challenges. The process takes about two months, and generally includes the following steps:

1. Solicit interest—ask experts to submit a form expressing interest in specific agency projects, explaining how they would approach the problem, and their qualifications.‍
2. Screen candidates to ensure that their experience and expertise are aligned with identified project requirements, and that there are no obvious conflicts of interest.‍
3. Share shortlists of pre-screened experts with agency staff, who then interview the expert candidates to determine with whom they’d like to work.‍
4. Confirm matches—ask agency staff to notify their preferred expert that they would like to work together. ‍
5. Scope projects—ask agency staff and matched experts to populate a project scope, using a provided template.

Projects that do not require funding can begin!

We generally recommend the event be structured around at least a nominal funding pool, which could be provided by local philanthropy, a local university, or potentially even the government itself. Funding creates accountability and structure and provides support for more ambitious projects. If not already available, the Pilot City team can work with you to explore funding pools that may be available in your area, or from our donor network. Funding is typically disbursed to the 501(c)(3) with whom the expert is affiliated (e.g., their university). 

If a funding pool is available, awarding it generally takes about two additional months and includes the following steps:

1. Accept applications—ask experts to submit a short funding application, including details about project approach, use of funds, degree of agency buy-in, and more. Applications should be developed with agency input. ‍
2. Convene judges—a local panel reviews applications and selects finalists based on pre-determined criteria. Expert-agency pairings are invited to present their project proposals and answer questions.‍
3. Sign an MOU with project terms, including asking experts to self-certify that they do not possess any conflicts of interest.* ‍
4. Award funding—the local panel selects funding recipients; funding is awarded so that projects can begin.**

*Additional agreements may be required depending on the protocols of the host government, and unique data access needs. Pilot City can provide baseline templates, and work with you to adapt them to the local context.  

**Papering the funding with individual universities can have a high degree of timeline variability, but we have generally found funding can be successfully allocated within two months.