Representatives from eight local nonprofits put their elevator speeches to the test last week and earned more than $230,000 in prizes during Social Venture Partners Tucson’s annual Fast Pitch event.

The class of 2025 included leaders from the Amphi Foundation, Borderlands Theater, Compass Affordable Housing, El Grupo Youth Cycling, El Rio Health Center Foundation, Greater Vail Community ReSources, Intermountain Centers for Human Development, and Tucson Juneteenth Festival.

A representative from each group delivered an unscripted three-minute pitch to a global audience, with the event broadcast by Arizona Public Media. Throughout the evening, audience members were invited to donate to any of the presenting nonprofits, including SVP Tucson.

The evening’s big winner was the Tucson Juneteenth Festival, with President Larry Starks earning $131,000 for his organization through several awards, including the Connie Hillman Family Foundation Impact Award, Judges’ Award, Arizona Complete Health Surprise Endowment, TEP Power to the People Audience Choice Award, and the Steve Goulding – Celebration of Life Award.

In addition to a $10,000 cash prize, the TEP award included a BizTucson two-page feature, a Regal Fierce Media marketing package, and a financial strategy session for Growth Partners Tucson.

For his pitch, Starks talked about the life-changing impact of the festival, which aims to promote education, advocacy, and escalation of Juneteenth in Tucson. The celebration brings together musical performances, speakers, storytelling, cultural exhibits, and more with the goal of cultivating a community of all backgrounds.

“As a juvenile parole officer for over 20 years, I witnessed young Black men that I incarcerated who did not understand why they did what they did,” Starks told the audience during his pitch. “They did not understand the years of systemic oppression or the generations of dismantling the Black family, especially Black men.”

Starks talked about the Tucson Juneteenth Festival’s programs that help Black men reconnect with their history. At the end of the eight-week program, the group is taken to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, to learn about the history of slavery. He shared the impact of the trip on one participant.

“This is not a field trip, this is a personal growth experience,” he said. “As (this young man) walked through the museum, he could see the slave ships and the mothers and the sons that were thrown into the ocean,” Starks said. “I could see the pain in his face as he listened to the stories but I could also see joy of the strength and resolve of growth because he knows he is standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Starks danced onto the stage after the announcement of each of the Tucson Juneteenth Festival’s awards. When he was named as TEP award recipient, he received the only standing ovation of the evening, with the audience chanting his name.

The Amphi Foundation, led by Executive Director Tim Kromer, was another big winner. The nonprofit works to boost student success by providing resources young people need to fall in love with learning.

The foundation has been working closely with Nash Elementary School, which in 2022 had the lowest test scores of the entire Amphi school district.

Kromer said that 100% of the families there live below the poverty line and 80% of the students are chronically absent.

But just one year after the foundation partnered with the district to launch the Educational Community Home Outreach Afterschool Program, test scores are up by 12% and attendance rates are up by 10%.

“The ECHO program provides students opportunities hey would not have otherwise, giving them a safe place to go from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at no cost,” Kromer said. “There is support for the family too, like a free family meal every night, a food pantry, school supplies, washer and dryers, clothing resources, anything to help ease the pressure that our families are under. Eighty-six percent of caregivers say that they can now work better hours or they got a better job knowing that their children are safe and engaged.”

In total, nonprofits were awarded more than $230,000 in prizes, including $133,000 in on-stage awards provided by local sponsors and the surprise addition of the $100,000 Arizona Complete Health Endowment.

Attendees and viewers donated an additional $56,8800 during the event's 90-minute run, which will be split up among the eight competing nonprofits. Of that money, $40,000 will be matched by the Connie Hillman Family Foundation and $10,000 will be matched by an anonymous donor.

Organizers said this outpouring of support reinforced the event’s mission of empowering nonprofits and driving change across Southern Arizona.

This year’s Fast Pitch marked the event’s 10th anniversary, with SVP leaders announcing a new initiative launching later this year called the Community Coalition for Prosperity.

“Through this initiative we will bring together our community. Anyone who wants a seat at the table and wants to make change happen,” SVP Tucson President and CEO Anne Miskey told the audience. “We can do it in Tucson.”

McKenna Manzo is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at mckennamanzo@arizona.edu.

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