I see the case for support as the culmination of a trust-building process. So, as long as you’ve done the previous steps, any time is a good time for a case for support. In other words, what matters is not the physical booklet itself but how you developed it.
- How were the fundraising priorities determined?
- Were your top volunteers and constituents consulted? I.e. was it shared as a whitepaper, did you have focus group sessions?
- Was your wider community consulted? Were they able to weigh in via survey, town hall, or discussion forum?
- Did you report back to the previous groups on what you found at each stage and did you share the reasons the organization decided to go in one direction or another?
- Was there a regular stream of communication around this process? Ideally, with videos of the nonprofit leadership sharing their thoughts?
If the answer to most of these questions is no, then it doesn’t really matter at what time you release the case for support. People will mostly not care, especially the people that you want to invest in the project. Conversely, if the answer to most of these questions is yes then the timing almost doesn’t matter.
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