Q: I work for a pretty small organization. We've been able to get started on government and foundation grants, and after two years working hard to build an Annual Fund, my board thinks we're ready to add a major giving program. I have never done this before. I'm willing to try it, and I'm reading everything I can on how to do major gift fundraising, but I'm scared and I'm stuck. I know I need a case statement, but I don't know how to write one, and I have no idea what to say. Do you have a template you recommend?
A: I don't recommend a lot of templates. They can be very very useful, don't get me wrong, but templates too often give people implicit permission to literally think inside the box. You're so focused on properly filling in the blanks in your form (sorry - template) that you're no longer thinking about what you actually need: what makes your story unique, what makes the way you tell your story unique, and what makes your audience unique.
So I'm going to do two things: first, congratulate you on asking for help, and two, encourage you to keep doing it.
Oh, and since I'm not totally heartless, I'm going to explain that, and give you a worksheet for how to create a case statement. It's not a template - it's a series of steps you can take (promise me that you'll take them as guidelines not gospel) that should yield a pretty decent version of a case statement. But unlike a template, everyone will execute each of the steps differently - meaning that you'll wind up with a document that couldn't be written by an organization with a similar mission and thesaurus, you'll wind up with a case statement that couldn't be written by anyone but you.
- ASKING FOR HELP is one of the most useful things you can do when you're looking at a major gift project. But don't ask me. Ask your supporters. Ask why they give. Ask what they want to know when making a gift. Ask if there's something you could do that would make them want to give even more. Ask what they tell their friends when they talk about being a proud supporter of your organization.
- When you've collected a bunch of statements and thoughts from your supporters, add your own. Why are you proud to be associated with your organization? What's so special that makes you spend so many hours and so much effort on your work? What makes your organization stand out from all others?
- Grab a copy of your mission and vision statements. If you don't have enough material specifically addressing this from the previous two steps, think of a couple of ways to express why your mission is so important and why your approach is the best way to do achieve your mission.
- Collect all these materials, read them over, chew on them. This step is actually important. You can't achieve brilliance or innovation without a little bit of space to breathe. Could be you take a long lunch, go home early and work in your garden while thinking about what you're going to write, could be you just put everything aside for the morning and watch your programs happening. Remind yourself in very real terms what you're doing here. Figure out what you need.
- Pick out a few different messages that you think make your case well. They should compliment each other, they should speak to different audiences. Figure out the FORMAT that works best to express those. There's no particular or proper form for a case statement, it's a term that encompasses a variety of written documents that quickly make a case for support.
- After you've got your first draft that is your best effort at weaving all your favorite tidbits together, check for:
- Logic (whatever you've said, does it make sense? Does A -> B? Did you accidentally skip relevant pieces such that you've said A -> Z, but some of your readers don't know how you got there?)
- Inclusion of narrative (you need some good stories for people who like to read - well crafted, compelling language that is free from jargon and pretension)
- Inclusion of data (you need some straightforward numbers for people who just want bottomline numbers/are data driven)
- Inclusion of graphics (you need something for folks who are visual learners - could be data in infographics, could be photos speaking a thousand words, could be your emotional appeal in one perfect photo or cartoon)
- Inclusion of some emotional appeal (you need something for folks who give from the gut)
- Soul (does this feel authentic to who you are as an organization?)
- Brevity (This needs to be short. As short as possible given all you need to communicate. People just won't read endlessly. Be honest and brutal in your assessment of how short you can make this document vs. how short you should make this document. When in doubt, ask someone else, someone less invested.)
- Now that you've checked for the details, check for the big picture. Does this document say Who you are, What you need, Why you need it, and When you need it? (I put the two checks in this order because if you do step #6 thoroughly, you're most likely ready for step #7...but might need to carve away some of the excess that's hiding those Big Picture answers.)
- Go through a few drafts until you feel ready to get feedback. Ask for it from a variety of stakeholders. Use this as another reason to get in touch and get advice from some of your existing supporters, big and small.
- Go through more drafts if you need to.
- When you go to press, love the document, but do your best to not be burdened by how much work went into it. There are stories and statements that didn't make it in there. When you go public, you will hear more about what it's missing than about how much is amazingly right about it. It's just another tool.
- I didn't mention anything about campaigns or other specific projects/programs. Case statements are often written for specific funding needs. All of the above applies whether you're working on communicating why people should support your organization or why people should support Funding Need X. But if you're looking for a particular funding need, make sure not to dilute that message with too much about general support or organizational details.
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