Your Case for Support – and How to Use it Effectively

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Your case for support is a document that describes your organization’s purpose, vision, strategy and direction with the intention of persuading and engaging the reader to take action in support of the organization, i.e. make a gift!  The case for support should answer six questions:

 – Why do you exist? What is the problem or need?  Whom do you serve?

– Where are you going? Vision & Mission

– How will you address the need? Description of strategy, programs and services

– What is the result? Outcomes, measurement & testimonials

– Who are you? Why is your organization uniquely qualified to do this?

– Why me?  How will my gift make a difference?

Once you have written a formal case for support, there are many ways you can utilize it to tell your story, motivate giving, engage supporters, and build an ever expanding pool of people giving of their time, talent and treasure to support your mission.  Use your case to:

  1. Build direction and defined strategy to most effectively present your vision and case to your constituents.
  2. Educate and engage board, staff, and volunteer solicitors about your vision and programs — and demonstrate how organizational success will benefit the mission.  Get them on board with the development of the case, present it to them formally, and educate them about how to talk about your organization.
  3. Enlist new leaders to your cause— in sufficient numbers and at the proper level to achieve success.
  4. As an early working document and cultivation piece for prospective major donors.  Invite them out to lunch and ask them to read and critique the case for the support.
  5. Engage others to endorse and share your vision— and accept greater and ever-expanding responsibility of identifying with your mission and vision.
  6. As a guide for the content of other collateral, articles, foundation proposals, website, and videos.  Having a formal case allows you to create consistency in your messaging across the organization.

It’s easy to put off the formal preparation of a case for support, but the work you will do gathering information, building consensus, testing and revising, collecting photos, and crafting the argument in support of giving will pay off – big time.

If you need help with your case for support, take out workshop, INSPIRE: The Compelling Case for Support:  https://do-good-better.com/dev/register/

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