Carolyn's Nonprofit Blog

I have wanted to write about case for support documents for a long time. Having worked on several major gift campaigns, I have helped nonprofits develop case statements on several occasions, some after they have experienced failed attempts to be taken seriously by the philanthropic community. When it comes to major gifts, nonprofits must provide a great deal of information in order to be taken seriously by major gift donors. Case statements fulfill that role.

Yes, well curated, professional social media postings and video presentations certainly help when it comes to inspiring confidence. But I find fairly often, consulting firms will recommend expensive one-time printed brochures that look professional, but fail in terms of meaningful content. Developing a campaign logo can likewise be a helpful component to a major gift campaign, but I find that to be unnecessary.

If you have run a major gift campaign, then you know the information in one-time printed brochures can become obsolete in a few months. The fundraising and project budgets may need adjusting, staff members change, Board members change, and donations are added over time that the nonprofit should rightly wish to include in the case statement. For all these reasons and more, I suggest an updatable case statement that can be reprinted as needed, and/or a digital case statement that can also be easily updated online.

Stepping back to my days in Dallas in the 1990s, I worked with a nonprofit that I felt was very worthy of financial support. A consulting firm has recommended a special campaign logo design and a one-time brochure with the logo to appear on the cover. The logo had already been produced, and it was very attractive. But I stepped in to stop the printing project in its tracks! We ended up writing a more detailed, editable case for support document. And we also turned the beautiful logo into a sticker that we could affix to envelopes, folders and mailing labels as needed. The logo could also be inserted into the case for support document and the entire case statement could be printed as needed in-house or at the local copy shop. In brief, this nonprofit was on the verge of spending $25,000 (not counting the logo design and consulting fees), on a one-time brochure that we would only be able to use for a few months before referring to our new “daily” updated document.

In the 2000s, I was working in South Texas on a campaign that had great promise but that had never raised significant funding. It had a positive image generally, but again, a consulting firm had recommended a one-time brochure designed professionally and written by a university professor in another region of Texas. In fact, by the time I got there, the Adivsory Board members were railing against the unhelpful brochure. My first task during a three-year effort was to rewrite a new case statement that we could change as needed, one that was written in-house by people who knew intimately what the organization was about. This worked very well. The nonprofit had already paid some $80,000 to the consulting firm. With the new document, we were able to raise some $6 million and help our influential supporters better understand (and convey to their friends) the mission and goals of the organization.

A few years later, I was asked to tackle a failed so-called “impossible” major gift campaign. Two other consultants had thrown their hands up in frustration, and I was the third to give it a try. One thing they had already done was produce what I might call an expensive travel brochure produced by a local graphic design and public relations firm. There was little content about the major gift project in question, and a lot of content about the region from a general travel perspective. I do not recall the cost, but this production was not cheap. Mountains of these attractive but unhelpful brochures remained in the basement of the nonprofit, and I eventually recycled them. Instead, we developed more of a report that shared a great deal of internal information about the nonprofit, its history, its vision, its Board, its budget, its place in the community and more. We printed it as-needed, and we were able to raise $5 million for our project, which included covering my one-person fees over the course of three years.

In my opinion, the disconnect seems to be how graphic designers, consulting and public relations firms view nonprofits and how they should “look” to the public. But case statements are an entirely different animal, and they are more akin to a professional business plan aimed at philanthropists (who are not the “general public”).

What is the history of your organization? Do you operate professionally? What will you do with the funding you raise exactly? Who will manage construction? Who has already given to the campaign? How will donors be recognized? Is there a timeline for fundraising and construction? Why do you need the new building? How will you operate the new facility once it is constructed? These are just a few of the questions donors ask nonprofits.

I have mostly used Microsoft Word to create case for support documents, importing attractive photos as needed here and there, adding a table of contents for ease of reference, and dating each version as the major gift campaign moves along. I then “pdf” these documents so they are secure and easy to share digitally, or send them to a print shop where they can be attractively printed and bound. You may not need thousands of copies to start (as the above referenced nonprofits were told), just enough to give your campaign leadership and prospects an attractive document and “leave behind” piece to share with their colleagues. I find with each printing of a new version of your case statement, you may need only 20 to 30 copies.

Case statements provide facts and seek to answer any questions a potential donor might have. Because of this, they can end up being longer than a simple brochure. Mine have ranged from 20 to 80 pages in length. It just depends on what you are seeking to accomplish. Each nonprofit organization and major gift campaign are different. Hence, you should also not fall into the trap of being told by so-called experts exactly how long a case statement should be! Yes, you should get to the point and not dwell overly long on one topic or another. Ask others to help you proofread and edit your case statement, including a member of the board, for example.

And, once complete and all the questions you can imagine have been answered, the case for support is also an essential resource for writing grant proposals going forward. It is a core document I would not want to live without when it comes to managing major gift fundraising campaigns.

Questions? Reach out via my blog’s secure contact form. Very best wishes for your fundraising success!