How a Case for Support transforms your grant writing from a scramble into a system—and why every nonprofit leader needs one before sending another proposal.
Every week, I watch passionate nonprofit leaders do the same exhausting dance: a grant deadline appears, panic sets in, and they spend days — sometimes sleepless ones — staring at a blank screen, trying to pull their organization’s story out of thin air. They write. They delete. They rewrite. And when the next opportunity comes around, they do it all over again.
It doesn’t have to be this way. And if you’re reading this, I’m here to tell you: there’s a better way. It’s called a Case for Support— and it just might be the most powerful document your nonprofit has never written.
“This is the most important document that nobody writes.”
What Is a Case for Support?
A Case for Support is a comprehensive document that brings together everything a funder — or anyone else — needs to understand who you are, what problem you’re solving, how you’re solving it, and why you’re the right organization to do it. Think of it as your organization’s master fundraising narrative, organized into one central location.
It typically includes ten core sections: your executive summary, organizational overview, statement of need, theory of change, program description, goals and objectives, evaluation plan, organizational capacity, budget overview, and funding request. Once built, this document becomes the engine behind every grant proposal, every donor pitch, and every board presentation you’ll ever give.
The beauty of it? You copy. You paste. You stop reinventing the wheel.
Why Most Grassroots Leaders Don’t Have One
Here’s the honest truth: more sophisticated organizations with full development departments — they have this document. They have fundraising teams who maintain and update it. But for most grassroots leaders? They’ve never even heard of it. And when I introduce the concept, the response I hear most often is: “I don’t have time for that. Just help me write the proposal.”
I understand that impulse. When you’re doing the work every single day — running the soup kitchen, organizing the basketball practice, serving women coming home from prison — stopping to build infrastructure can feel like a luxury. But I want to challenge that thinking, because the Case for Support is the work. It’s how you ensure the work you’re doing today can keep happening tomorrow, and for years to come.
From the Lab: Lessons in Real Time
In our recent Case for Support Implementation Lab, I had the privilege of working alongside two remarkable leaders — and watching the lightbulbs go on in real time.
Pastor Mattie Phillips is building a girls’ basketball development program on Chicago’s west side that goes far beyond the court — addressing equity in athletic opportunity, building leadership, improving school retention, and empowering young women who have historically been overlooked. She’d just submitted a small grant proposal, and as she walked us through her logic model, the connection became clear: every activity, every output, every outcome traces back to a deeper need that she could now articulate with confidence.
Mike Eldridge is a brand-new 501(c)(3) — congratulations, Mike! — developing an after-school program for children with autism and other special needs on Chicago’s south side. Mike is doing the essential groundwork: identifying the gap in existing services, considering FOIA requests to gather school-level data, and understanding that his program’s credibility will rest on his ability to document the need with specificity. That’s exactly what a strong statement of need does.
Both leaders are learning a new language. And like any new language, it takes time, repetition, and practice. The logic model, the theory of change, the needs assessment — these aren’t bureaucratic hurdles. They are the tools that help you think clearly, communicate compellingly, and ultimately, raise the money your community deserves.
“Funders fund solutions, not organizations. Make the community the hero of your story.”
Five Things Your Case for Support Must Do
Before you sit down to write a single grant proposal, your Case for Support should be able to answer these five questions with confidence:
Lead with the problem, not your organization. Funders fund solutions. The community is the hero of your story. Open with the urgent issue, grounded in local data, and make it impossible for a program officer to look away.
Quantify the need. National statistics are a starting point, not a destination. Drill down to your zip code, your neighborhood, your target population. Cite your sources — funders verify claims.
Show that you understand cause and effect. This is where your theory of change earns its keep. Don’t just describe what you do; explain why it works, and connect your activities to your desired outcomes through clear logic.
Prove you have the capacity to deliver. Your board composition, your governance structure, your prior funding history — these signal to funders that you’re a safe investment. Nobody wants to be the only funder in the room.
Make the ask clear and justified. State the amount, connect it to your program budget, and link the investment to specific, measurable outcomes. Your logic model is your budget’s best friend.
A Living Document, Not a One-Time Exercise
One of the most important things I want you to take away from this: your Case for Support is not a document you write once and file away. It’s a living resource. As your organization grows, as you add programs, as you gather evaluation data, and as community needs evolve — your Case for Support evolves with you.
Ideally, it’s not written by one person alone. Bring in your finance person. Involve your program staff. Have a board member who writes well review the narrative. Then let the full board approve it. When your whole organization is aligned on your case for support, you’re not just writing better grants — you’re building a more cohesive, mission-driven organization.
Ready to Build Yours?
In 90 Days to a New Nonprofit, starting March 2nd, we walk through building your Case for Support step by step — with workbooks, real examples, and live implementation support. You won’t just learn about it; you’ll actually build it, section by section, with a cohort of leaders who are doing the same.
Because here’s the truth I’ve learned in 30 years of this work: nonprofits don’t fail because their mission is wrong. They fail because their infrastructure is weak. A strong Case for Support is infrastructure. And infrastructure saves lives.
Valerie F. Leonard is the founder and Managing Director of Nonprofit Utopia, LLC, and has helped nearly 1,000 nonprofit leaders raise over $100 million using her proprietary ASCEND™ and LEGACY™ frameworks. Her course, 90 Days to a New Nonprofit, launches March 2nd. Learn more at nonprofitutopia.com.
