Case Craft: Drafting the perfect case statementIf you’ve been a nonprofit fundraiser for more than five minutes, you know the value of a case statement. It’s the building block from which all other collateral materials are built. It’s your donor’s reference material, before and after you’ve made your ask. How can you write a good one?Here’s how most organizations do it: The communications staff writes and designs a case statement collateral piece, with gorgeous graphics on high-quality paper, usually on a tight deadline. The major gift officer takes the case statement hot-off-the-press, and uses it as a leave behind when he or she solicits a donor for money. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, it doesn’t. Stop wasting your printing budget. Making an informed case:If you want to craft a successful case statement, you’re going to have to open the project up to include, not only the communications team, but a team of eight to ten trusted major donors who can tell you what resonates with them about your organization and the work you do. This takes time – at least three meetings to be exact. It also takes a senior member of the development team, acting as a facilitator, who can help the volunteer committee articulate their vision for what is most compelling about your organization’s case for support. You’ll also need a skilled scribe: The scribe should be the writer who will be charged with:
How do you know you’ve got the right team of volunteers and staff?Meeting one will include passionate, even savage destruction of the original bullets, with suggestions about what makes their hearts sing for your cause. The right facilitator will be able to focus this conversation. Your scribe will have been edited enough in his or her life to take the savage edits in stride. No prima donnas. Choosing the Volunteers:If you have a diverse population of major donors, like say, alumni, parents, and retired faculty from a retired university, you’ll get a diverse set of opinions about what is most compelling about your case for support. Depending on your timetable and donor base, you can mix them altogether, or set up several different case committees. Here’s where the “perfect” part of the case statement becomes possible. There is rarely (if ever) one perfect case statement for all of your donors. Each donor has his own story for supporting your organization. By segmenting your messages from one overarching set of original bullets, you won’t just be telling your compelling story. You’ll be telling theirs. After all, donors don’t support your organization because of your goals. They support your organization because of theirs. Incorporate what is most meaningful to your donors, and you’ll have crafted the perfect case statement. John Brown Limited has been helping charities craft their perfect case statements for more than 30 years. If you’d like us to help you, please call our offices at 603-924-3834.
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December 2009:Archived Newsletters |
