The Case for Support That Writes Itself
One master case document that powers every appeal, proposal, and conversation, built from your mission's real evidence.
Through the Arts & Culture lens
A cultural organization's case for support often struggles with the problem beam specifically, since "the arts matter" is the kind of abstraction this module warns against, and a sharper opening names something concrete: a community with no access to live theater, a collection at risk without conservation funding, a young musician's only path to training. The promise beam's specificity works well tied to a season or a program, exactly what a gift funds, how many students reached, by when, giving a donor the same testable transaction this module insists every case needs. The proof beam's honest-limits paragraph matters in a sector prone to overclaiming cultural impact; naming plainly what a program has not yet achieved reads as more credible than a case built entirely on artistic aspiration.
Continuing education
1.25 points
Relationship Building · Securing the Gift
Learning objectives
- State the three beams every case rests on, problem, promise, and proof, and the standard each must meet: a problem that exists without the organization, a promise a donor can see as a transaction, and proof that survives a skeptical read-aloud.
- Write a master case of six to ten internal pages in a two-hour working session, including a sourced local number, a meaning ladder from small gift to lead gift, an honest limits paragraph, and the one-page, two-minute, and one-sentence distillations.
- Apply the four cutting patterns to turn one master case into an appeal letter, a funder proposal, a board deck, and a spoken answer without an improvised claim, and keep them current on a six-month refresh.
- Decide, using the seven tests, whether a case statement opens with an independent problem, dates and prices its promise, shows what specific amounts buy, and admits a limit, and rewrite one that fails.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 20 min
Video lesson
Case architecture: problem, promise, proof
I Pause · Relationship Building
- 35 min
Worksheet· XLSX
Master case workbook
I Pause · Securing the Gift
- 18 min
Field guide· PDF
Turning the case into appeals and decks
IV Invite · Securing the Gift
- 15 min
Case study· PDF
Case statement examples annotated
III Discern · Securing the Gift
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
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Building a Major Gifts Portfolio
Move from reactive asks to a managed portfolio: qualification, moves management, and a caseload you can defend.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
Annual Giving Systems: Calendar & Segmentation
Graduate from one-off appeals to a segmented, scheduled program with lapsed-donor recovery built in.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
Monthly Giving That Compounds
Sustainers are the closest thing to endowment a small organization has. Launch and grow a program built to last.