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Today we want to talk about something that's very timely for a lot of the work that we're doing right now at Cosmic, which is how to craft a compelling case for support for your social impact organization.
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This article is a summary of Episode 52 of our Designing Tomorrow podcast. Each episode is a conversation between Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and Cosmic’s Creative Director, Eric Ressler.
This is something that is very important all the time. Often you hear about this in the context of a major capital campaign or donor appeal, and we should actually be looking at our case for support every year and making sure that we have a really strong one. And that's not always true.
Here's a little bit of a deep cut as a metaphor for our listeners. The main character in the movie The Hudsucker Proxy has this idea to create the hula hoop. He walks around the entire movie holding up a piece of paper with a circle on it, and then he points to it and he says, "Ya know, for kids." And that's his pitch for the hula hoop, which is obviously a horrible pitch.
Sometimes we feel like that's sort of how nonprofit organizations pitch their work. The organization totally gets it. In the movie, the main character sees the vision, he knows what the impact of this invention could be. But he does a really, really terrible job getting other people to understand that vision.
Now, that's obviously an extreme story and example. Most social impact organizations aren't anywhere near that bad at their cases for support, but today we’ll want to walk through what we see as the top five ingredients that you should be combining to create a case for support.
Now, if you've read our articles before, there's going to be some repeat themes here. That's intentional. We're beating the drum around some of this stuff, but this is, in certain ways, the master way of combining a lot of the things that we've been talking about into a cohesive narrative.
The why is really comprised of a few key things:
If you have a solid answer on purpose, problem, and urgency, those things together create this first step— the why.
Each of those questions may have a different response depending on who you're talking to. So you need to create a case for support that is your boilerplate. But absolutely this needs to be somewhat personalized depending on who you're talking to.
Now, if you go too far with that, you're not being authentic. You do need to make some decisions around what is the purpose of your organization? What is the problem that you're solving? Why is it urgent? And how are you doing that in a way that's not inauthentic? We don't want to create fake urgency for this issue. That's not honest at the end of the day.
But your supporters need to understand what would happen if your vision did not come true. Why is this an urgent important problem and why is it important as it stacks up against all these other urgent important problems that we're dealing with in the world right now?
We've done a lot recently about vision. We're going to keep talking about vision because there is a vision deficiency in the sector that we're hoping we can be a small part in alleviating a little bit.
Another way to think about the vision is: what is the future state? What is the change that you envision? And most importantly, what does it look like if you are to succeed? If you are going to craft a case for support, and if you want your case for support to be compelling, you have to get this part right. This is a make or break ingredient in the case for support.
It's worth unpacking how the why and the vision differ. To summarize ingredient one — the why, the purpose, problem, and urgency — that's kind of the establishing shot for the narrative. The circumstances. When you see a movie, oftentimes when there's a new scene, there's some kind of establishing wide shot. Where am I? When am I? What's going on in this?
The first ingredient, the why, is that context setting.
Another way to think about it would be relevance. Why is this relevant? Why should you care about this? And the vision is, in certain ways, the response to that — well, you should care about it for all these reasons, and what if instead the world looked like this? That's how to think about vision.
There's another communication framework with a terrible acronym but a very powerful result, which is called SCIPAB — situation, challenge, implication, problem, action, benefit. This case for support framework is set up in a similar way: first we're setting the situation and now we're going to talk about the challenge or the position, which is ultimately where we're going with this.
So we've got the why — purpose, problem, urgency. We've got the vision — what does the world look like if you were to succeed as an organization? The third ingredient is one that maybe some organizations spend way too much time on and some organizations don't spend nearly enough time on: what's the strategy? How are you going to actually do that?
If we can convince people that the problem is relevant, that there's true urgency and that your vision is worth pursuing, the next logical question is going to be: well, how are you going to do that?
But we do need to touch on this in a way to create credibility and some appeal to the logical side that people are going to have. Because as much as we do want to tap into emotion in this overall approach, we still need to have a logical foundation so that it doesn't come across as being a pie-in-the-sky idea that doesn't have any logical rooting to it.
We don't need to go deep on this, but here are some key questions to answer:
Tell a story about your plan. Don't get too detailed on it, but definitely don't omit it from this, because if you omit the strategy, then people might be motivated but incredulous that your organization can actually pull it off.
It's important not to get too deep into the details here, because especially for executive directors, a lot of times the thinking goes to literal steps — what is the actual work that we need to do to get to the desired future state?
But what we're describing here is strategy in the most purest of terms. It's the big picture “how.” It's not "we're doing these steps in this order." It's almost not even about you as an organization. There's some liberation that comes with strategic thinking where you separate yourself from the equation entirely. You ask, “If this problem existed and your organization doesn't exist, what kind of work would need to happen in order to get there?” And that's the flavor of the work, and that's what we're calling the strategy here, as opposed to tactical steps.
Another way to think about it is, you should be able to answer the question: “Well, how are you going to do that?” And the way you answer that should not be this super tactical step by step schematic answer. It should essentially describe your approach — a simple theory of change. What's your approach to the how? And if you do have something unique, what is unique about that approach that helps set it apart or that sets you apart, or why are you uniquely qualified to do it that way?
That's not a requirement, but if there is some kind of special sauce to your approach that sets it apart, that makes it especially effective, this would be a good time to include that.
How do you prove that you can do it and that you have done similar things and that essentially you're up to the task?
There's a million ways that you can accomplish building credibility. Some of that starts before you even introduce — and you could even argue most of that starts before you even introduce — this to a funder or a supporter or a partner.
What have you accomplished in the past? Past wins. What special partnerships do you have? We could get into social proof, we can get into impact metrics, we could get into impact storytelling. And depending on who you are approaching with this and what their motivations are — do they give more from their heart? Do they give more from their brain? Is it a mix of the two? Usually it's a mix of the two — you can combine some of these things into a section in your case for support or your narrative about building credibility.
You have to be careful about this because we don't want to brag. We don't want this to turn into "We're so awesome, we're so special." But you do have to build some credibility for yourself or celebrate past accomplishments.
So we've talked about why is the work important. We've talked about the vision — what's the desired future state? What does it look like if you succeed? We've talked about, well, how are you going to do that? And now we need to answer: well, why do you think you can? Or you need to be able to convince someone that you are up to the task. And so credibility building becomes important here.
What are you bringing uniquely to the table that's going to help solve this problem?
To put it bluntly, "Why should I believe you should do it?" That is ultimately what a lot of people are thinking in this situation. If they're about to make a major contribution of time, energy, or money — or even share your vision with someone else who might be doing those things and putting their reputation on the line — they need to believe that you're able to do this and that you're a credible organization who's capable of doing it.
Actually — brag. In our sector sometimes we don't do enough of that, and Cosmic is here to help social impact organizations be more effective and be great. And sometimes that means recognizing where you are great and telling people about it.
Obviously you don't want to be an asshole about it and throw shade at other people or other organizations along the way, but sing it from the rooftops. If you're really, really uniquely good at something, then say it.
We do tend to lean way more towards being overly humble than bragging too much. And if you are concerned about bragging too much, which is uncomfortable, maybe that's where the social proof comes in. You let someone else brag for you, or maybe it's where your impact metrics come in. Just show them facts. That's not bragging, that's just information sharing. It's more about how you do it, but we want to build credibility. We need to build credibility.
How do you frame your ask? A big mistake that happens is you do the first four steps, maybe even really well, but the ask is vague or absent from the case for support. And instead, it's just — “What do you think? What do you think about all that?” Ya know, for kids.
The ask has to be clear, but flexible. We want to show that there are multiple ways to support — and of course the best way is a multi-year general operating gift or grant that's six figures or a million dollars. But it could also be, if this isn't for you, totally get that. Who else do you know that maybe this is for? So there's a huge spectrum of what the ask could be.
It's all about what that individual or that organization's priorities are. An approach to building a case for support — yes, there's the boilerplate, there are some things that don't change — but when you go into a room, it's incredibly important to understand exactly what that person or that group cares about most. And then tailor every single component of that framework to make sure you're speaking their language.
If you don't know that going into the meeting, the first priority is to uncover that in the moment, and sometimes that means improvising. Sometimes it means not knowing what this person cares about, but kind of knowing the tools in the tool belt. So depending on what they say, you're going to pitch them a different angle.
To make this more concrete: if you go into a room with a donor and you don't know what they care about and you learn that they really care about STEM education for kids, then what you're going to do is orient this entire case for support on why their participation is going to drive STEM education for kids in the community.
If you find out that what they really care about is the community and the environmental resources that are in the community, which are second to none in the world and they want to protect them, then you're going to position your organization as an environmental organization with that donor.
The one thing that stays the same in the case for support is how you're getting it done — the work that you're doing — and it's about connecting the dots between the work that you're doing and their priorities and then making a clear ask for how their participation is going to make it all happen.
If the way that we do the ask or even the entire case for support feels too "we" focused — and not enough "you" — this is a test we use all the time in messaging in general, but it's a really good test from a fundraising standpoint as well. Are we using more "we" language or more "you" language? Really we want to center the donor, we want to center the supporter, and at the same time connect the dots between how their support can make a transformational difference for this issue that they care about.
Personalization, understanding their priorities, authentically connecting the dots between their priorities and the mission and the impact that your organization has — all of these are important.
A lot of times, a case for support is in service of fundraising, in service of a capital campaign, et cetera. So let's spend a little bit of time on how you can take this framework and put it to use from a fundraising standpoint, and then we'll talk a little bit more about how you can use this more broadly.
Let's do a little thought experiment. Let's say we are running a nonprofit organization that is trying to raise two and a half million dollars and we're generating a new case for support.
How would you think about breaking that down into a capital campaign? Do you think about trying to find a primary donor who's going to maybe do some matching? How do you think about the levels of asks that you're doing?
Having clarity on a lot of the ideas we just presented is the starting point. You need to know the problem you're solving, you need to be passionate about that. You need to know what the vision is. Those things need to be rock solid before going into a capital campaign of any kind — or any sort of major fundraising effort.
That should never be compromised, because the risk of personalizing the ask — unless you're authentically looking for feedback to make the project stronger or the organization stronger — the risk is this scope creep thing where now you're starting to pitch something that you don't actually do yet, and that's a danger. So certainly there needs to be a certain level of confidence and assuredness in the problem and how you're going to solve it. That's number one, a hundred percent.
Then the next thing is starting to socialize that — go out for feedback and ask donors who might be willing to participate and hear from them what they need to hear, and what they need to see. From there, you’re building this roster and taking account and taking note of all of the different interests — all of the different angles, or all of the different lenses through which people are going to view this project.
Let's just say we're building housing. Maybe a donor is going to be really excited about building housing because they care about homelessness. Another donor is going to really care about housing because they care about affordability. Another donor might care about it because they want more teachers to live in the neighborhood, and this is a very family friendly building that's being constructed.
All of these donors are going to have different interests, different lenses, different priorities as they approach you, and you want to understand what all of those things are before you really start pushing the agenda. Factor those things into the case for support, but also be ready at a moment's notice to meet someone where they're at in terms of the piece that they care about most and invite them into it on their terms.
Let’s push a little bit on the brass tacks of this. Given all that — a solid case for support, a really strong confident point of view, a pool of potential major donors who have aligned priorities, maybe different priorities but aligned priorities, a roster of folks that are going to have a good fit — do you think about breaking this down by gift size?
Build a fundraising pipeline, much like for-profit sales companies might build theirs. This technique was actually learned from doing renewal sales and other types of sales for a B2B tech company. Basically, the technique is a name-by-name technique. — Literally listing every single name on a spreadsheet and associating a couple of numbers with that name. One is the amount you want to ask them for — and maybe it's a million bucks, maybe it's 500,000. At first, don't be super worried about making those numbers add up. Just gut level — what do you think?
Then put a percentage — the probability that you can get that number from that person. So, okay — John Smith. I’m going to ask him for a million bucks. 99% sure he's going to give that gift. Put 99%. Then multiply those two numbers to get a forecast. A million dollar ask with a 99% probability gives a forecast number of $999,999. Run through that all the way down. Maybe there's someone you’re going to ask for $10,000, but you’re only 25% sure they will give it to you. That forecast is going to give a $2,500 number.
Really it's the forecast column that you're using, and the forecast column needs to equal the total you need to raise — the two and a half million. Then ,as you go through these conversations and evaluate how they're going, adjust the probability and adjust the ask amount. This is a living, breathing pipeline and it tells you at any given time:
This gives you levers to pull on to make sure you're getting to the total number.
The other thing to do is attach the lens or angle that each donor is going to respond best to. This accomplishes two things at once — helping yourself or your team be more prepared to go into these meetings, but also evaluating: where are the dollars? Are the dollars coming from homelessness interest? Are the dollars coming from affordability? Where is the real root of the interest?
The power of this framework is that you learn as you go and you can start to fill in — first of all, how accurate are the forecasts? That's one insight. Spotting trends around which angle the donor pool is most interested in. What is lighting people up? Were you right about what would light them up right? All these are just juicy insights. There's a lot of learning that can happen there.
Let’s go deeper on this. There's one last important point about the case for support. The case for support is traditionally used for fundraising and it should be. But these five ingredients could also be really good content pillars. In certain ways, this is kind of a cheat sheet or a playbook you could use to help you with fundraising and, not coincidentally, also help you with storytelling.
If you take the time to build out a solid case for support, don't just use it for direct outreach for fundraising. You should be planting these seeds in your general strategic communications as an organization, which is also going to elevate the effectiveness when you do get to the fundraising side of things.
Talking about the why, talking about the purpose, talking about the problem, talking about why it's urgent, talking about the vision, telling stories about that — what does change look like if and when you succeed — talking about your strategy without getting too in the weeds on it, impact storytelling, building credibility, talking about the role of the donor. All this is storytelling gold.
It's also a management tool. It's a great communication tool, but it's also something to mobilize your team and make sure everybody's rowing in the same direction, and asking people to show how their work fits into one of these components.
The takeaway is that the case for support — if you do not have this dialed — do it now. Don't wait around, because this is a fundamental issue as an organization. If you can't say "we have a strong case for support."
There's a million ways to do this. This is one framework. It's a solid one. It's one that we use and are using and have seen successfully used for fundraising, for communications, et cetera.
Hopefully this is helpful, but the big takeaway is that this is going to create all kinds of good opportunities and results for you as an organization. So if you don't have this dialed in, let's fix that, and then from there, let's see what it can do for you.
Do this exercise. Cancel what's next on your calendar and spend an hour on this, because it's worth the time.
This is, if anything, the meta narrative that is the most important for social impact leaders to understand.
This does not need to be a detailed schematic level diagram. That's a mistake.
Essentially you need to be able to answer: “Well, why do you think you can do that?”
If you create a case for support effectively, take this to your marketing team and say: Here's our content strategy for the year.
