I’ve never understood non-profits’ hesitancy to invest in the development of a Case Statement for their programs. Imagine having all your best, well-crafted verbiage in one place so you can cut-and-paste, and then have time to customize and tailor an application to the funder or situation. Less stress and rushed hurriedness at deadline, and more opportunity to:
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- decrease your frustration level and allow time to make updates and changes when you’re not frazzled
- increase your productivity and capacity to look for and apply for more grants!
I sometimes find myself pulling my hair out shuffling through multiple versions of a program description to find the last, best one. The one with the most current stats. The one that was approved by department heads for the coming fiscal year. The one that was already edited down to 1,200 characters. Instead, I frustrate myself and give up and spend many MANY minutes I don’t have editing the same copy AGAIN.
Tick tock, tick tock. The meter is running and there’s no shortcuts here.
The answer could be found in a shortcut called the Case Statement, if only one existed! Let’s look at why and how it works.
What is this magical Case Statement?
- A Case Statement is a time-saving and organizing document
- It is a catch-all document where all the answers to the “low-hanging fruit” questions found in grant applications are housed, easily accessible and easily updated
- It can be for a program or whole organization (for General Operating grants)
What the difference between a Case Statement and a Case for Support?
The terms are often swapped, but they’re not interchangeable. There does exist a difference of opinion in which is which, but for my purposes, here’s how I define the two terms
What’s so great about the Case Statement?
- It helps the entire grants team as well as other departments
- If another development team member or another team in your agency needs verbiage to relay the ideas behind or impact of a program, one document tells them all they’ll need to know
- If you’re a small shop, you only have one place to look to have all the info you need to share about a program or initiative
- Each component helps in proposal writing
- By pulling out all the questions that you come across habitually in grant applications and making those the subject headings of your Case Statement, you generally can keep all your best verbiage for each answer handy and in one place.
- If I have a 4,000-character answer and I have to invest time in editing it to 1,200 characters, I keep all those versions in my Case Statement for future reference!
- If you have the Case Statement, there’s less time to devote to update all future apps when you:
- Are awarded a new grant
- Have any leadership or staff changes
- Move into the next fiscal year
If you don’t invest the time upfront on a Case Statement, you end up working feverishly against your deadlines. If at all possible, invest your time in this super-helpful tool and you’ll never have to worry about crunch time again!
PRO TIP: It’s also possible to work backwards, and create a Case Statement from existing proposals.
For more on this and other grant topics, visit my website.
