General case for support
I was new to fundraising ... and panicked!
Confident on just one curb: as a trained advertising copywriter I'd pushed a direct-response pen for 15 years. In the commercial world, I'd flogged widgets (e.g., industrial roof membranes, luxury yachts, adult education, disability insurance, retirement-savings plans) to good result.
Now?
I was lost. Desperate: What the heck is a "case for support"? These nonprofit clients I needed to impress used the term routinely. I was clueless.
Stanley Weinstein, in his 2004 book, Capital Campaigns from the Ground Up, described the item thusly:
"A case for support, also called a case statement, is a body of language that describes the rationale for supporting a nonprofit organization. It is written from the donor's perspective, primarily the desire to support worthwhile projects and organizations that help enhance the lives of others."
Every word in that synopsis is dead-on accurate. I had to struggle through 20 cases to see what Stanley meant. "Body of language"? What in the world did that mean?