Your "everyday" case for support
File under: "Are we relevant?"
Solving your case . . .
You've got a crisp mission statement, a startling vision of a better tomorrow, a flashy-pants strategic plan. What else could you possibly need to attract donors?
Let's call it your "everyday" case for support ... the one the public can easily, repeatedly stumble across and maybe relate to.
Example:
Where do people encounter your charity's "everyday" case for support?
All over the place, as you spew donor communications.
In e-mails, on direct-mail reply devices (see above), in speeches, plastering event invites, on your website's home page (see below), in your social posts ... wherever you have "touch points" ... wherever you connect with your existing and potential audience, movement, tribe, crew, congregation, "synthetic family."
Example:
Example:
As you know, there are just three fundamental "donor communication" tasks: ask, thank, report.
Ask, thank, report ... then "Repeat" ... as The Better Fundraising Company insists. Fundraisers do these three tasks reflexively. Again. And again. And again. Like laundry or mealtime or walking the dog.
Your "everyday" case does this:
(1) INVITES new individuals into your blessed family of "DO-ers" (as opposed to unresponsive bystanders);
and (2) delightfully REASSURES your current true believers that, yes, something IS getting done ... and that they absolutely made the right choice by agreeing to trust you, your promises, your mission, your vision, your strategic plan.
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Some of our lousy, on-the-fly research might help...
In March 2024, we asked 154 fundraisers attending a webinar: "How often do you update your case for support?" Most respondents were U.S. charities, then Canadians, then outside North America.
The results shown below are unscientific & dismissable: a statistically-invalid snapshot of behavior across a globe-hopping charity industry ... YET even so ... I found the results interesting; you might, too.
Poll results shown below:
OK: this is how > > > i, tommy tomato < < < read these polling results.
"In the last 6 months" ... something big's happening at these charities ... soon ... they've got hustle on because they have to raise real money for an upcoming campaign beyond belief.
"In the last 12 months" ... you're hoping your "everyday case" was updated by somebody on staff somewhere. Sometime. Maybe. Tap, tap, tap? Anybody home?
"Within the last 2 years" ... topic for the Liar's Club annual meeting? "I look good in this, right?"
"More than 2 years ago" ... Which is why we're all here today ... [remember: this poll asked "for the truth and nothing but the truth" from paying attendees at a mega-webinar exclusively devoted to writing and owning and prospering thanks to a solid fundraising case for support.]
This point was loudly made:
Brand names like Red Cross (1881)/Red Crescent (even earlier), Greenpeace (1971), Care (feeding starving families across Europe post-WW2), Save the Children (same mission, post-WW1), Doctors Without Borders (also 1971) ...
... biggies ... those brands ... they can coast (a bit) on their accumulated reputations for relevance.
You're not them.
......
SO: Is your "everyday" case up to date?
Even though our fly-by poll is statistically invalid ... STILL it tells quite a story.
Executive summary: There were essential nonprofits attending from at least 3 contintents ... and few bragged about their fresh, vital, urgent case.
Most poll respondents hummed along in the lower, easier tiers ... the "someday I'll get around to it" tiers. Those lower, easier tiers come with fresh sheets, plumpy pillows, a scent of lavender; things insiders like.
Will any of it increase your giving? The Magic 8-Ball says: "Cannot tell now."
"Not sure" ...
... that answer on our lousy poll speaks for itself ....
Having an almost equal response rate across these 5 questions is the statistical equivalent of Armageddon (the movie): you're going to die now, unless someone unexpected saves you. That person won't have a cape. That person will be a nerd.
More than a quarter of respondents to our junky poll said "Sometime" ... about a third said "Not sure."
That's when ambitious NGO leaders reach for the iconic red hotline phone ... and update their everyday case.
SKIP THIS AD: The Case Writers has such a hotline. If you're ready, we are happy to share our updated list of competent, proven, worth the fee fundraising and NGO-comms consultants ... at The Case Writers.
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