the charity sector received $14 billion in philanthropic support in 2022, but the money may not be flowing to where it’s needed the most; and it is largely dominated by large charities ($10 billion) armed with big fundraising budgets.

cost of living pressures have increased competition for the philanthropic dollar. and donors, especially major donors, want more information than “we do great work” to make decisions. even if the funders’ values are fully aligned to your social or environmental cause, you need to convince them that your nonprofit has an effective solution.

so the onus for smaller nonprofit organisations is to connect the dots for funders and articulate, in a compelling, inspiring way, how you create social or environmental change. bigger charities use a Case for Support to do that.

a Case for Support uses data and emotion to effectively communicate and connect your nonprofit with target funders. it is the building block from which all your communications – such as marketing materials, grant proposals, website language, etc. – is derived. it articulates:

• what important problem you are solving – the social issue and/or environmental problem that exists (why it exists, and why people should care) along with facts to quantify the problem.
• how your nonprofit has an effective solution – how your nonprofit is uniquely positioned and capable of delivering the most effective solutions.
• your needs to fund the solution – explain what programs need funding to solve the problem, taken from your strategic plan (if you don’t have one you may want to take a step back and consider creating one).
• your impact and what the funder can achieve – what does success looks like (using impact data, case studies and research)

read more about writing a Case for Support here and access our guide, template and AI tools.