It’s Never Just About Writing
Many people think of us as writers, and we are, but writing is never all that we do, nor is it the first step.
In fact, there are at least nine steps involved in creating a fully designed case for support:
Planning: To understand the context for the project, we discuss things like timing, audience, design needs, and answer other key planning questions.
Research: We love research! We ask for lots of materials, including fundraising communications, marketing brochures, reports, and financial documents.
Interviews: Interviews might be one-one-one with a particular stakeholder or can take the form of “listening sessions” with a small group in a guided conversation.
Answer essential questions: Once we’ve gathered as much information as we can, we answer the 10 questions that should be answered in a case.
Writing: NOW it is finally time to start writing the narrative.
Review and Revision Stage 1: There is always some back and forth between us and the client as we refine the case and correct any errors, and edit for length if we are limited to a specific page count.
Design: Design isn’t just something we hand off to a colleague. It’s integral to the writing process. Picture a designed brochure compared to a white paper—one is visually engaging with shorter blocks of copy. The other likely looks like an academic document. Knowing which you’re going for in the end influences how—and how much—we write. And once that writing is approved and handed off to a designer, we continue to refine copy and advise on layout.
Review and Revision Stage 2: During the design phase, copy can be revised, whole sections can be moved around, and new photos may need to be taken. Even with the best planning, you can’t always know how something will turn out until you actually see it. Staying flexible is critically important.
Approval: Woohoo! The client has signed off and can begin to take the case on donor visits, send it out to prospects, make printed copies (or we can do that as a 10th step), and use the language to inform direct mail, social media, and other communications that support the overall fundraising effort.