A Case for Support is a strategic document that outlines your school's mission, vision, and goals. It conveys your unique identity, demonstrating why you deserve support from donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders.
Your case for support is your internal document that serves as the foundation for all your advancement messaging.
Every outward-facing message your advancement team produces should trace back to this one document.
A strong Case for Support does four things:
Without it, your messaging is fragmented. With it, every appeal tells the same coherent story adapted for different audiences.
A compelling Case for Support includes:
As the saying goes (attributed variously to Walt Whitman, Will Rogers, and Dizzy Dean), "If you done it, it ain't bragging." Modesty gets you nowhere in fundraising. Your Case for Support is not the place to undersell your school.
What do you want this document to achieve? Is it an overall portrait of the school, or is it specific to a campaign or initiative? Get clear on the core message - the most compelling reasons a donor should give.
Who will receive this? Parents, alumni, foundations, corporate partners? Your core case stays consistent, but knowing your audiences shapes how you adapt it for different channels.
Your case shouldn't be written in a vacuum. Involving others, board members, faculty, alumni, donors, creates buy-in and strengthens the document. Involvement inspires investment.
Articulate your message clearly, in your school's authentic voice. What are the needs? What is the impact? What makes your school distinctive?
Gather impact stories, financial data, and testimonials. Prioritize authenticity over polish — real stories from real people are far more persuasive than institutional boilerplate.
The writer needs a deep understanding of your mission and vision. Use whatever tools help — AI drafting assistants, sample cases from peer institutions — but the final product must feel distinctly yours.
And whatever you do never be satisfied with the first draft. Always come back to it with fresh eyes.
Make it a collaborative process. Get feedback. Involve the people who might push back — the "sticky wickets" in your community. Addressing their concerns early makes for a stronger document and fewer surprises later.
Many cases for support fall short for predictable reasons:
Here's where many schools get stuck. They want a great Case for Support, but they don't have the foundation to build one from.
That foundation is a strategic plan.
Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document your school's intended direction. It helps you:
Without a strategic plan, your case for support is just an opinion. With one, it's a mission-backed argument.
A well-executed strategic plan gives your advancement team:
Once your strategic plan is in place, your Case for Support should:
Here's what this looks like in practice. Central Catholic High School's Case for Support grows directly out of their strategic plan. The plan identified three top priorities:
Those priorities became the core of every advancement message, including annual fund appeals, major gift conversations, and campaign materials. Each theme is brought to life through stories: a faculty member integrating new technology into their classroom, a new program for students with learning differences, a family whose child was able to attend because of financial aid.
The case doesn't just tell donors what the school needs. It shows them the human impact of their gift.
This is perhaps the most important point: a Case for Support isn't something you dust off before a campaign. It drives your messaging year-round, across every fundraising channel:
Think of it as the engine behind everything your advancement office produces. When your messaging is rooted in a clear, compelling, mission-aligned case, and when that case grows from a strategic plan your community helped shape, fundraising stops feeling like asking and starts feeling like inviting people into something meaningful.
If your school doesn't have a current, strategic Case for Support, you're leaving money and relationships on the table. And if you don't have a strategic plan to build it from, that's where to start.
The data drives the strategy. The strategy shapes the case. The case powers the ask.
Get that foundation right, and the rest follows.
Kevin Quinn is a Senior Partner at Partners in Mission. He can be reached at kquinn@partnersinmission.com. Adam Ehrmantraut is a Partner at Partners in Mission. He can be reached at aehrmantraut@partnersinmission.com.