Fundraising for Social Change, 7th Edition

chapter 3 Be Clear About What the Money Will Do

I have focused the first chapters of this book on looking at the importance of raising money from individuals, and I’ve looked at what motivates people to give. Before you can begin fundraising, you need to have a clear cause for which you are raising money. Traditionally, this is called your “case for support,” written in a “case statement.” Basically, this means your organization sets down in writing why it exists and what it does. The document details three key facts: the need the organization was set up to meet, the way the organization will meet that need, and the capacity of the organization to do so. This written document is for internal use by staff, board, and key volunteers. It is not a secret document, but it will have more information than someone at any distance from the organization would want to read and it is not created with any external audience in mind. The document talks about your organization in language people closest to the organization use when they are not trying to impress anyone. This content is then the basis of material for your website, any other virtual platforms, and for proposals, reports, speeches, and so on. The messages are also given by anyone presenting information about your organization to people outside the organization. Everyone close to the organization needs to agree with the information presented in the internal case statement, and nothing produced by the organization for external ...