Non-ProfitFree tool
Case for Support Writer for Nonprofits
A complete case for support built only from your facts: the need, your plan, why now and what gifts make possible, plus a one-page summary.
Free to start · Opens in your River workspace, ready to edit and share
How to write a case for support
A case for support is the written argument for why someone should give to your organization, and why now. A good one names the problem and your plan to solve it. It shows why you are the right people and why the work can't wait, then sets out the cost and what a gift will change. Because it uses your own figures and stories, no other charity could sign it.
Write the full version once, for your own team, with every fact, figure and source in it. Fundraisers often call this the internal case. Draw everything donors see from it: the brochure, the proposals, the one-page summary. Then everyone who asks for money tells the same story, with the same numbers.
Gather the facts first
Most of the work happens before you write a sentence. Collect these, and note the source and date of every figure, because a donor's advisor may check them.
The need
Local figures on the problem, each with its source and year, and one person's story, shared with their written consent.
Your results
What changed for the people you served last year, and how you measured it. Your annual report is a good place to start.
The plan and budget
What you'll build, start or expand, the total cost by major part, the timeline, and who will run it.
Money already pledged
Gifts and pledges committed so far, including your board's own giving, and any matching gift with its deadline.
Your financials
Your audited financial statements and your most recent Form 990.
Treat the 990 as the document a careful donor will check. In the US, the IRS requires you to make each return available for public inspection for three years1. Revenue, spending and program figures in your case should match it for the same year.
What goes in a case for support
Put the parts in the order a donor's questions arrive, and lead with the people you serve, not your history. Never describe a problem without your answer to it. BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a charity evaluator, checks for this. A charity whose appeal describes a problem without saying how it plans to address it2 does not meet BBB's standard for accurate materials.
A case for support template: the parts in order
| Part | The donor's question | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | What are you asking for? | "$2.4 million to turn four exam rooms into 10 and add a dental suite." |
| The need | Why does this matter? | "3,100 patients a year, 40% uninsured, and a six-week wait for a visit." |
| Your response | What will change for people? | "Appointments within a week, and dental care here for the first time." |
| Why you | Why should I trust you with it? | "Serving this neighborhood since 1962, with a clean audit every year." |
| Why now | What happens if we wait? | "A $300,000 match expires in June, and the waitlist grows every month." |
| The plan and cost | What will it cost, and who else is in? | "$1.5 million pledged and $900,000 to go. Patient billing pays the new staff." |
| What a gift does | What will my gift make possible? | "$25,000 equips one exam room." |
| The invitation | How do I take part? | "Join us: call Dana Reyes, our development director." |
The examples come from an illustrative clinic campaign. Use your own figures.
Make the need human, then prove it
Open the need with one real person. In one experiment, people gave far more to help Rokia, a 7-year-old girl from Mali, than to ease a food crisis described in statistics. When researchers Deborah Small, George Loewenstein and Paul Slovic added the statistics to her story, donations to Rokia fell3.
You still need the numbers, since donors want the scale. Keep them out of the story itself and give them separately: a few local figures, each with its source and year. For a US neighborhood or small town, use the Census Bureau's 5-year American Community Survey estimates. The standard 1-year estimates cover only areas with 65,000 people or more4.
Vague: "For more than 60 years, Eastside Clinic has been a beacon of hope for our community."
Specific: "Last March, Rosa waited six weeks for a checkup. By the time she was seen, her diabetes had gone untreated for a year."
Then the facts, on their own: 3,100 patients a year, 40% uninsured, four exam rooms built in 1962.
- Starts with one person. Rosa makes the need felt before any number appears.
- Keeps the numbers apart. The scale comes after the story, in figures a donor can check.
- Could only be Eastside's. Every detail belongs to this clinic, in this year.
Show why now and what's already pledged
Why now is often the weakest part of a case. A real reason carries a date or a cost: a waitlist that grows each month, a lease that ends, a roof that fails inspection, a match that expires. If you can't name one, find it before you write.
Then show how much is already pledged. In a field experiment for a University of Central Florida capital campaign, economists John List and David Lucking-Reiley asked groups of 500 households to fund a $3,000 computer. Letters saying 67% was already raised brought in nearly six times as much as letters saying 10%5. More people gave, and they gave more.
A capital campaign's quiet phase builds on the same idea: raise the lead gifts privately, then go public. The study quotes a 1999 Fund Raising School manual that advises waiting until "40 to 50 percent of the goal is pledged."
A matching gift with a deadline gives donors another reason to act now. Testing letters to more than 50,000 past donors, economists Dean Karlan and John List found that a match raised both the response rate and the money raised per letter6. A 2:1 or 3:1 match did no better than 1:1.
Lay out the cost and what gifts do
Give the total, broken into its main parts, then what's committed and the gap that remains. For a building or a new program, add how you'll pay to run it afterward. A donor asked to fund 10 exam rooms will ask who staffs them, so answer before they do.
Tie gift levels to real costs: "$25,000 equips an exam room" only if it does. List naming opportunities only at amounts your organization has set, and say what happens to money raised beyond the goal.
Spend it the way the case says
If the case says gifts will build a dental suite, be ready to show they did. BBB's standard expects a charity to show its spending matches what its appeals state or imply. If plans could change, say now what would happen to the gifts.
Test it, then cut it down
Before anything is printed, give the draft to two or three board members and a few donors you trust. Ask what's unclear and what they'd need to know before giving. For a capital campaign, feasibility interviews do this at scale: a consultant shows the draft to likely donors and reports how they react.
Then cut the full case down into the pieces donors will see, starting with a one-page summary for meetings and a brochure. Adapt it into a foundation grant proposal shaped to one funder's questions, and lend its best story to your year-end appeal letter. When a number changes, update the full case first.
Before you share your case
- The goal and what it achieves are in the first paragraph
- The need is local, sourced and dated
- Why now has a date or a cost attached
- Committed funds, the gap and running costs are all shown
- Every financial figure matches your audit and Form 990
- Every story has the person's written consent
Short on time? The tool at the top of this page drafts the full case and a one-page summary from your notes, and marks every missing fact as a gap to fill.
How it works
Start with what you're raising money for and why now, in a few lines or a pasted plan. Attach a budget, strategic plan, feasibility study or old brochure if you have one. River sorts your material into the parts donors expect and writes the full case into your workspace, with a one-page summary. It uses only your facts and marks every missing one as a gap.
Before you share it, River adds a short check: the gaps still open and the figures to match against your audit and Form 990. It also lists the five hardest questions a major donor is likely to ask, with what your case says to each, or that it has no answer yet. Then it names the weakest part of your argument.
Share your material
Say what you're raising money for and why now, or attach a plan, budget or old brochure.
River builds the argument
It sorts your facts into the questions donors ask: why this, why you, why now, what a gift does.
Get your case
The full case and a one-page summary open in your workspace, with every missing fact marked.
Refine and share
Fill the gaps, ask for a brochure or foundation version, and share it with your board.
What you get
- The full case plus a one-page summary of the goal, need, plan and impact for donor meetings
- A need section built on your local figures and sources, with one real story if you share one
- A why-now section tied to your deadline, demand or match, or a clear flag that it's missing
- The plan and budget in plain words: committed funds, the remaining gap and running costs afterward
- What gifts make possible at levels drawn from your own costs, with no invented naming prices
- A check before you share: open gaps, figures to match your audit and Form 990, and hard questions
Common questions
What is the difference between a case for support and a case statement?
Often there is none: many fundraisers use the two terms for the same document. When they draw a line, the case for support is the full argument, kept for internal use with every fact and source. A case statement is then a shorter public piece written from it, such as a brochure or campaign summary. Write the full version first, so every piece repeats the same facts.
How long should a case for support be?
There is no set length. The full internal case often runs several pages, while the pieces donors see are shorter, often one page or a short brochure. Write for the reader in front of you. A board member preparing for a donor visit needs every fact. A busy donor needs the goal, the need, why now and what a gift does, on one page.
Do you need a feasibility study before writing a case for support?
No. For a capital campaign the order usually runs the other way: you draft the case, then feasibility interviews test it with likely donors before you set the goal. Their reactions show which parts persuade and which raise doubts. For an annual fund or a new program, a review by your board and a few trusted donors does the same job.
Can you write a case for support for an annual fund?
Yes. An annual fund case argues for steady, unrestricted support rather than a building. It rests on this year's demand, last year's results and what each level of giving keeps running. Why now still matters: name what grows or stops without new support this year, such as a waitlist or a program you'd have to cut.
How do I write a case for support with River?
Type what you're raising money for and why now in the box at the top of this page, and attach a plan, budget or old brochure if you have them. River writes the full case and a one-page summary into your free River workspace, using only your facts and marking each missing one as a gap.
Will River make up statistics or figures?
No. River never invents statistics, results, quotes, donors, budget figures or prices for naming opportunities. Each missing fact appears as a marked gap, with the question you need to answer. If you give a campaign goal, it can lay out a gift range chart, labeled as a planning assumption to test with a fundraising consultant.
Is the case for support writer free?
Yes, it is free to start. Your case for support opens in a River workspace, where you can edit it, share it or ask River to change it. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
Sources
IRS. “Public disclosure and availability of exempt organizations returns and applications: Documents subject to public disclosure.” irs.gov (opens in a new tab)
BBB Wise Giving Alliance. “BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.” give.org (opens in a new tab)
Judgment and Decision Making. “‘If I look at the mass I will never act’: Psychic numbing and genocide.” doi.org (opens in a new tab)
U.S. Census Bureau. “Using 1-Year or 5-Year American Community Survey Data.” census.gov (opens in a new tab)
Journal of Political Economy. “The Effects of Seed Money and Refunds on Charitable Giving: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign.” doi.org (opens in a new tab)
American Economic Review. “Does Price Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment.” aeaweb.org (opens in a new tab)
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.