The Case for Support with Ben Jordan

We’ve been working with the Philanthropy Team at The George Institute for Global Health for a few years. They’re an interesting organisation: a fairly large global team but with limited public brand awareness. The work they do is large scale, aimed at solving some of the world’s biggest health related problems. The Philanthropy Team, led by Philanthropy Director Ben Jordan, is unusual in that they don’t currently have a high-volume individual giving program. Instead the team focuses on building deep relationships with high net worth individual donors to drive high value major donations.?

The organisation has been working on their “Case for Support” for some time and I sat down with Ben a few weeks ago to find out more.?

Nicole: Before we started working together, I’d not actually heard of a Case for Support. Can you give us a brief definition and explain why you think people should have one?

Ben: Absolutely, it is something that not all organisations have and I think it’s really important that they do. Essentially, fundraising is about storytelling. We ask donors and prospects to give to an organisation to enable its mission and goals, which is ultimately about having a positive impact in the world. And it can be really hard to articulate that because organisations by their very nature can be big and complex and do lots of different things. Similarly, the problems an organisation is looking to solve can also be big and complex and the journey to solving those problems is rarely a linear one.

As a fundraiser, we need to simplify that and present that in a compelling way to donors. And the best way to do that and articulate that is through a Case for Support that clearly outlines four things.

• Firstly, what are the problems we’re setup to solve and are those problems grounded in reality??
• Secondly, what is our vision for the future and how can we paint that in an aspirational way to inspire donors to give??
• Thirdly, what is the impact we’re looking to achieve? Is that better health outcomes, better economic status, environment status, more equality or equity in the world across different social issues and so on.?
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what do we need to make this happen? And this is important because of course it outlines what a donor can do.?

With a good Case for Support, it becomes the basis for everything that you do within fundraising.

Nicole: It sounds as though the exercise to produce a case for support can be beneficial in and of itself?

Ben: Yes, it can really create a culture of philanthropy across an organisation. It helps people understand what philanthropy is and how we need to present things to philanthropists. It engages all levels of the organisation as well from the board to new members of staff who are just starting their career. It’s a massive internal engagement.

It’s taken us two and a half years to produce our Case for Support and most of that is about getting internal buy-in from all areas and levels of the organisation.

We are at the stage of external consultation. We think this is compelling, we think this is a great idea but what do our supporters think?

We know we’ll make some changes as a result of consulting, but then we’ll have these great documents that the organisation and donors are all behind. You can then confidently launch a broad long-term fundraising campaign based on the objectives of your Case for Support.

Nicole: Do you see a place for a Case for Support for all organisations, even those that focus on small scale, high volume donors?

Ben: All income streams should be linked to the organisation’s wider mission: I don’t believe in isolated individual or regular giving campaigns. People want to know the gift they are giving is making a difference: the bigger vision and opportunity, that will inspire people to want to give more. If we focus on engaging people in the right way and the impact that we are having, money will just flow. So yes, I think every organisation, no matter how they derive their fundraising income should have a Case for Support.

Nicole: Now that you have your Case for Support, how do you now make sure it becomes part of your everyday work and not just another strategy document?

Ben: It's about bringing it into the everyday. So nothing we do from now on will be developed in isolation. It helps us create engagement strategies and present the narrative story to our audience in a compelling way. That will look different for different audiences, different problems and different solutions, but the story stays the same.

It also drives how we now report within the organisation and the project level: it keeps philanthropy at the forefront of people’s planning and thinking. Which in turn helps us report to funders and donors, which drives more donations. It becomes a self-fulfilling circle.?

Nicole: We’re often not great at “selling” ourselves right, but getting the messages out around outcome and success is as important if not more important.??

Ben: Correct! Some organisations make their fundraising about them, not about the outcomes they’re looking to drive. Big ideas solve big problems and that inspires big gifts

Nicole: Does a Case for Support make sense for all organisations, even small ones?

Ben: It’s all about right-sizing the size and depth of the document. A simple Case for Support can be just a side of A4. It’s all about helping fundraising professionals make donors part of an organisation and that’s what philanthropy is all about, making people part of a broader mission.

Nicole: What would you say to organisations looking to develop their Case for Support for the first time? What does an organisation need to have in place in order to start thinking about a Case for Support, in terms of resourcing and time for example??

Ben: It starts with basic principles: understand what is the problem your organisation is set-up to solve. What's the challenge? And what big level solutions should be in place to meet that challenge. If you can’t articulate the things that you are trying to achieve and how are you going to achieve them, why do you exist?

If you're starting to think about developing a Case for Support, or you have one that needs a bit of love, why not come along to our next InfoNation event (see below).

Next month, we get practical and talk about the best ways to do financial reconciliation in your fundraising organisation. This issue comes up again and again, so we’ll be sharing what SalesFix - Salesforce Consulting Partner founder Jason Lawrence thinks about the topic, along with some thoughts from Sadia (Khan) Hajal, CA from Exceleris Consulting . If your organisation fundraises and needs to reconcile your CRM with your finance solution, this is a must read.

I wish you all the success in your mission to make a difference. Keep striving for excellence, and together, lets continue to make a positive impact by sharing expert strategies for changemakers with Not-for-Profit Navigator.

Until next time,

Nicole

Article and Resource Recommendations

• Marketbase Plus: Check out Data Consultants Australia’s great database of contacts. Find people you want to connect with by industry, location, job title, and more.
• It’s tax appeal time for many not-for-profits in Australia. Remember, any donation over $2 to a DGR registered charity means you can claim back the tax in your return. The SalesFix team have been taking part in the PushUp Challenge, raising funds for a range of organisations that support those experiencing mental health challenges. You can donate to the team here.?
• Something for the future? Looks like Mastercard are introducing some significant changes to the way credit cards are used online. In Europe, by 2030 (just over 5 years away!), people won’t be entering their credit card numbers anymore but will be using biometric tokens. Something to consider for many not-for-profits who take payments for events and donations, for example. Yet another reason not to turn Salesforce into your payment processing engine: put the responsibility for keeping up with these sorts of changes into the hands of your Raisely , Funraisin and other online platforms. Thanks to Tammy Ven Dange for this update. Subscribe to her newsletter if you don’t already.

Upcoming Events to Attend

• InfoNation by SalesFix: 28 August, Melbourne and 1 October, Online. Join us at our premier NFP event as we focus on fundraising, specifically developing your organisation's Case for Support. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to engage with top industry experts and elevate your fundraising efforts. This event is free to attend, so pre-register here and be the first to secure your spot once tickets are released.
• Income Diversification: Benefolk webinar series, 6 sessions over 2 weeks: a real deep-dive into what’s possible. Register here
• Fundraising Forum: 27 - 29 August at Aerial Function Centre at UTS, Ultimo, Sydney. Check out what’s on the agenda
• Benefolk Expert Bar: 5 September, 1.30-5.30pm, South Wharf, Melbourne. Think the Apple Genius Bar but with amazing experts in the NFP sector. Register here

Melbourne User Groups

• NFP Group: July 25, 4pm. Attend virtually from anywhere in the world. We’ve not locked in the content yet! Register here
• Women in Technology Group
• Salesforce Group
• Marketer Group (Pardot)
• Marketing Cloud Developer Group
• Architect Group

On Demand Content from Salesforce

• Slack to onboard and enable volunteers.
• Increasing Donations through personalisation and automation
• APAC Nonprofit Forum: Program and Case Management?
• APAC Nonprofit Forum: Outcome Management