Rocky Funding Relationships: (Re)Developing your Case for Support

All nonprofit organizations need a case for support: an argument that convinces potential supporters to resource your mission. Most nonprofits have multiple arguments that appeal to different audiences (such as individual donors, volunteers, partners, or institutional funders) for various campaigns (capital projects, corporate sponsorship, or annual budget). Cases for support naturally evolve over time in response to external and internal changes. But what happens when the zeitgeist rips a hole in the space-time continuum?

In recent months, federal funding changes have cast uncertainty on most types of institutional fundraising. Many nonprofits find themselves on rocky rhetorical terrain, struggling to retain access to resources for work that has suddenly been deemed un-fundable based on language choices. How do we talk about what we do when so many words are off limits?

This workshop invites nonprofit fundraisers to (re)develop their cases for support to meet the moment while remaining true to their missions and constituents. In a supportive community of peers, workshop participants will identify their target audience(s) and draft a case for support (or three!) that bridges the gap between your reason for being and the shifting socio-economic and political landscapes. The workshop will use the grant application needs statement as its primary example, but the discussion and exercises will be applicable to most forms of cases for support. So come with your concerns, any existing language you want to reevaluate, and an openness to rethinking the way you talk about your organization’s work. We are nonprofit professionals. We are creative and scrappy. We can figure this out together.