I wrote recently about the value of the Case Statement, and how it ends up saving valuable time when deadlines loom. With just a quick edit for character, word, or space limitations, you have all the best nuggets of your program or agency’s language, all in one place. All that language is pre-approved, saving valuable time at deadline. It’s an investment upfront that ends up paying dividends down the road.
And as I work with an agency that supports the time commitment needed to build the initial Case, I am finding still more benefits to developing one.
With a Case Statement for this organization now developed and in hand, I am able to churn out multiple LOIs in record time. And LOIs are fast becoming the preferred vehicle for funders as a first step to evaluating if a relationship with a non-profit should move forward.
My research for that org turned up a higher-than-ever number of funders requiring the LOI process before a full app can be accepted, showing me the tide is shifting – and that’s to everyone’s advantage, both funders and those who apply to them. LOIs are a lower-stress way to give a funder the thumbnail version of your agency and its program, and with a Case written, they are simpler and quicker still!
Of the dozen or so LOIs I have to submit currently, I picked one to start with. I probably spent more time on it than average, twirling and bundling my Case language around to fit their questions. But then it became a real-time tool for the next LOI, and the next and the next. All in all, I will probably spend an average of 1-1.5 hours on each. And they’ll be quality, since they already contain the best phrasing, the strongest stats, the choicest explanation of the need, and the most succinct project description.
With several LOIs submitted in rapid succession, it will be no time before I will be able to turn those prospects with “Must be invited to apply” status confidently into “Apply!” status.
The Case Statement is the key to unlock all the “definite Maybe” prospects into “definite Possibilities.” Basically I’ve written about a dozen LOIs in one go, thanks to the Case. The Case answers all the low-hanging fruit questions of a basic grant application, and that language has been vetted and approved by all the team members, giving me the confidence to inject it into LOIs or full apps.
The LOI usually doesn’t have a deadline to it, but its approval is tied to full application deadlines, so attention does have to be paid to timeliness. The more LOIs I submit that get approved and green-lighted to go to the full app phase, the better my chances at getting a full app out the door in their current grant cycle.
The LOI being accepted is no guarantee of funding, but it at least gives you a better than even shot of having all the work of preparing a full application being worth it. And with a Case Statement at the ready, I can bang out an LOI, making it the less-stressful method of being evaluated that the funder intended.
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