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The Case for
“The Case,” Part II:
What Are the Key Elements?
By Tim McCormick, Vice President
Cleveland
 Last
month, we talked about the many reasons it
is important to have a well developed “Case
for Support” regardless of whether your
organization is conducting a major campaign.
(New$ You
Can U$e, August 15, 2006,
at www.fundraisingJBA.com
) Here, we’ll focus on the key elements
that make up your “Case for Support.”
Remember as you develop your “Case,”
it should be very broad in scope so that it
can used as the basis for many other development
tools, such as fundraising brochures, direct
mail and grant proposals.
As a starting point, think
about sitting down with a donor who has the
potential to give you the largest gift in
your organization’s history. How would
answer the following questions:
Why does your organization
exist? What do you do? What makes your organization
unique?
If you can answer these questions
effectively, you have the core elements for
your case that will define “who you
are to the community.” Some critical
elements that will help you answer these questions
and that should be included in the “Case
for Support” are:
- Your mission, or purpose statement
- Your organization’s vision, values
and long-range plans; your goals
- A history of your organization, including
“founding families” and other
milestones (a brief, bullet-pointed format
is preferable here)
- A listing of programs and services that
you provide to the community (broken down
by age groups and other demographic categories)
- Descriptions of your programs/services
stated in terms of the impact they have
had in your community over the last three
years, and your projected impact in the
near future. (number of people served, outcomes
achieved, economic impacts, or impacts stated
in other terms that are consistent with
the mission and goals of your organization)
- Your financial strength, or capacity to
do the work you do (Your income and expense
statement in table or graph form for the
current year, with prior-year comparisons
for the past three years, and a projected
budget for the next year)
- A list of board members, other key volunteers,
staff and donors
As you go through the exercise
of putting this data together, don’t
be like Joe Friday of the old television show
Dragnet, who knows “Just the
facts, Ma’am.” Think about how
these facts can tell your story. How do your
organization’s mission and values create
passion in your volunteers, donors and staff?
Does your history show a heritage of outstanding
service? What are your organization’s
milestones that have made a real difference?
When you talk about program impact, what critical
or emerging needs are your programs addressing?
How can the facts demonstrate that you are
responsive to the community, not stagnant?
The facts should not only
tell “What you do,”
but “How you do it.”
Perhaps more importantly, they should show
“How well you do it.”
If you are the best at something, make sure
you say that.
When you talk about who supports
your organization, be sure to include why
they are involved. (If you don’t know,
ask them!) Use your financial data to demonstrate
your stability and good stewardship of donors’
funds. Keep in mind that no organization is
perfect; if there are areas of your case that
are not as strong as they should be, focus
on what you are doing to make them stronger.
Be creative as you assemble the elements that
are going to tell your story; it should be
compelling and set your organization apart
from others.
In the next installment
of this series on your “Case,”
we will focus on the additional components
that need to be included to move your “Case
for Support” to a “Case Statement”
for a specific Capital or Endowment Campaign.
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