Your case statement captures the need, logic, and heart of your capital campaign all in one place. It is a persuasive piece that serves as the foundation for creating campaign donor appeals, grant applications, and other campaign materials.  An effective case statement gives a compelling summary of why your organization exists and deserves philanthropic support; and then lays out your campaign vision, why your cause matters, and how donors can support you. Here are the key components of an effective case statement. 1. Determine your audience Before drafting your case statement, understand who your target audience is. Are they long-time supporters, new prospects, or community leaders? How much backstory and context do they need about your work? What are our shared values, interests, and priorities? What is their understanding of your work? Why do they care about your cause? How can you frame your message to align and resonate? Is there an opportunity for you to inform and enrich their perspective in a positive way? Be sure to tell affirmative stories and focus on positive solutions.   2. Illustrate community need This isn’t about what your organization needs - it’s about the needs of the community you serve. What challenges is your community facing? This is a great opportunity to use external data and facts to persuasively illustrate complicated problems and add credibility. This is especially important if your audience is unfamiliar with or even misinformed about your issue area.  3. Why us & why now? Position your organization at the forefront of addressing your identified community needs. Why is your approach the best solution to address the current and future community needs? Discuss your organization’s track record of success for meeting community needs and how, through this campaign, you will be able to better address them now and in the future. Create a sense of urgency! Why can’t this wait?  4. What’s our plan? This is where you get into the concrete, actionable details. What programs, services, spaces, or funding are you adding or expanding? Why is this plan best for addressing need and maximizing impact? What are your timeline, project, and partnerships?  5. Showcase the Impact Illustrate the positive outcomes of the campaign. Explain how the project will make a difference in the community or for the beneficiaries of your organization. How will the lives of individuals be transformed? Use testimonials, case studies, metrics or success stories to demonstrate the potential impact and the value that will be created for the community. How will the world be different because of the campaign? 6. Call to Action A strong Case for Support should always end with a clear call to action. Why do you need their support to make this vision possible? Why now? Encourage potential donors to take specific steps, whether it’s making a donation, attending an event, or volunteering. Make it easy for them to take action by providing clear instructions and contact information.  7. Refine & Revise As you develop your case, test it with key stakeholders to check that it is effective. Continue to refine your case to be clear, simple, and affirming. An iterative process will help you develop a strong, effective case statement that you will rely on for the entirety of your campaign! Need support developing your case statement? Ostara's seasoned team can work with you to craft an effective and compelling case. We'd love to hear from you - drop us a note .

The power of storytelling lies in its ability to connect with the audience on a human level. Sharing stories helps donors see themselves as a part of your work and how their contribution impacts someone else. The Edmonds Food Bank , an Ostara client, has done an incredible job of engaging their community through their social media efforts. Their Marketing and Communications Manager has completely revolutionized their social media strategy and has significantly increased their following by developing unique content that engages, entertains, and informs the audience of their organization’s work without always asking for donations. One day the food bank received several pallets of carrots that were delivered for distribution, but they looked past their prime and were droopy, having lost moisture while in transit. The Marketing and Communications Manager filmed their Distribution Manager as they conducted an experiment to try to save the produce. They filmed staff soaking the carrots in water and then did a taste test to show how the carrots perked up and regained the crunch, extending the life of the carrots that may have otherwise been discarded. They posted the video to social media and asked followers to share similar tips they know of. The point of the video was to show how the food bank often receives food that is not in the best condition, how they worked to revive the produce and shared how many families would ultimately benefit from having access to the produce. It was one of the highest viewed videos, had high engagement with followers and was widely shared.   Another great example of engaging content from this organization - a staff member took her convertible to pick up a food drive donation and when she returned to the food bank her car was completely full. She arrived with the top down; food piled up as high as it could be safely stacked. Another staff member pulled out their phone and filmed a video of the car pulling up to the building entrance and then volunteers helping to unload the car. This video, and the accompanying content, demonstrated the need for food donations as demand for food assistance continues to increase, shared how many families the food bank could feed with this single donation, highlighted a community run food drive giving recognition to the donor and provided information on opportunities to host your own food and fund drive and engage in volunteer opportunities.   As you think about creating content for your organization remember, not everything has to be professionally done and perfectly polished. Sometimes the most compelling and engaging content stems from something that may feel ordinary to you, but would be interesting to your audience.

The Ostara Group is in the early stages of planning a fall workshop on major fundraising campaigns - capital, endowment, or comprehensive. We are reaching out to our community to help inform our planning and are asking folks to respond to the below quick survey. Those who submit responses prior to July 18th will receive an early invitation with discounted registration, plus a 1-hour complimentary virtual consulting session in 2024 on your topic of choice. Thank you for your valuable input ! Community Input Survey

This article was written by James Perez. He is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from him and from the work he did while part of the Ostara team. Jose Marti, a Cuban poet, and writer, once wrote  Patria es Humanidad  which, in the context of the poem, translates to “Humanity is the only nation.” As COVID-19 continues to inflict damage on our health and the health of our families and communities, I look to Jose’s words as a reminder that we are fighting for something much bigger than ourselves. Recently my fiancé sent me an article about  Captain Tom Moore , a 99-year-old British man that decided to fight and support for something bigger than himself and in his own unique way. Captain Moore pledged to walk 100 laps around his garden (fancy British speak for a back yard) by his 100th birthday. With the assistance of his walker Capt. Moore walked 10 laps (about 27 yards) each day and set a goal of raising £1,000. All of the money raised would go to support the U.K.’s National Health Service Charities, a group of charities that support the staff, volunteers, and patients of Britain’s health care services. In four days, Capt. Moore met his financial goal, which he then changed to £5,000. By April 16th, Captain Moore met his walking goal, which he later changed to 200 laps. Fast forward to the stroke of midnight April 30th, 2020, the last seconds of Capt. Moore’s birthday. As his JustGiving campaign page closes, the final tally is released…£32,796,405 from over 1.5 million unique donors. Let me write that one more time but in long-form. Thirty-two million seven hundred and ninety-six thousand four hundred and five. All raised in support of the men and women on the front lines of the worst public health crisis of our generation. I still find myself getting misty-eyed thinking about this. Captain Moore’s true talent was not in some fancy campaign slogan, glossy one-pager, or perfect pitch. I see his success falling into two categories: a clear and well-defined mission and the undying belief that humanity, society, our community, whatever you want to call it, are inherently compassionate and, when called upon, will act. COVID-19 has a never-ending list of horrors that it brings to our lives, but that same life-threatening public health crisis has shown us what community means and the ability for one to be galvanized. Of course, people are reading this saying, well, what about people buying extra toilet paper or masks and selling them for extreme profit! Yes, those people exist, but I choose to put my energy and focus on people like Captain Tom Moore. Many of my clients asked in the first days of the stay at home order what they should be doing. Our answer slowly morphed into a very simple response of “call your donors and just talk, make sure they are safe and healthy.” Fundraisers are first and foremost relationship builders and managers. When I was a major gift officer, I never saw my role as asking people for money; I saw my role as a facilitator. If a prospective donor spoke about a general interest in education and believed that access to quality education would be an equalizer, then I would present to them the idea of supporting or starting a scholarship fund. Philanthropy is not sales; we do not provide you with a tangible commercial item. Philanthropy offers something far greater, a transformational impact on the community by a community. One of my biggest hopes coming out of this crisis is that we 1) see the ability of a motivated and compassionate community 2) find ways to galvanize them that don’t include a public health crisis. For more stories of hope from our community, be sure to check out the  Ostara Instagram page . Every Monday we’ll be highlighting a different nonprofit in our community and how you can support them during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers.  We’re here to connect.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. Have you ever been in a room with a board as they are wrestle with the decision to launch a big campaign fundraising effort? I find you can tell a lot about how the campaign will unfold based on their discussion. Board members are the leaders of the organization and campaign ambassadors. Their attitude about the campaign sets the tone from the start for staff, volunteers, donors, and the community. A campaign means shouldering additional responsibilities across an organization. I get curious about the campaign’s ability to reach a successful conclusion when I hear things like: “Can the staff raise the campaign goal?”  “How can we find new donors to support the campaign?”  “We have a lot going on in our organization. Can we outsource the campaign to a committee or consultants?”  Read: Campaign Fundraising is not your jobRead: We don’t think our long-time donors will step up with significant gifts.Read : We aren’t willing to make this campaign our top organizational priority. These questions can reflect an unwillingness to change or expand their commitments beyond the standard board role.You can help your board better understand their role in a campaign and set a strong example for other volunteers and community members by considering a set of strategic questions. Every board should grapple with the answers to these questions before voting to move forward with a campaign, which is often a significant investment of resources.  How would this campaign further our strategic goals and mission? How will this campaign transform our community with lasting change?  Are we willing to individually and collectively stretch for this campaign in terms of time, talent, and treasure?  What tactical steps will we take to make sure the campaign is our top organizational priority? Are we willing to make investments in staff and organizational capacity to support this campaign? Are we willing to share the opportunity to support the campaign among our current donors and network of friends, family, and colleagues? If we vote not to move forward with this campaign, what would happen?   If a board decides to move forward with a campaign, there’s one more question to consider: are we willing to put in the very real, often frustrating, but ultimately rewarding work to accomplish our goal?These questions should make staff and board members feel uncomfortable. A campaign is an extraordinary phase in the life of an organization. A campaign requires major evolution in how board and staff think about and approach fundraising. This change can be difficult but can ultimately lead to a higher caliber of annual fundraising thanks to the investments and expertise devoted to the effort. More importantly, a successful campaign can truly change lives for the better, transforming organizations to meet the complex needs of our communities. We are here for you and we will walk with you as you navigate this situation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to discuss how to shift your fundraising event plans, how to respond to funder inquiries about programs and services, how to manage remote work for your teams, or to navigate fears with donors or volunteers.  We’re here to connect.

This article was written by James Perez. He is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from him and from the work he did while part of the Ostara team. Who remembers Isaac Newton’s first law of motion… For those of you that did not use the internet to search for it, Newton’s first law of motion says that an object at rest will stay at rest unless affected by an outside force. Maybe because my father, a manufacturing engineer, used to try and get me to do physics problems for fun, this has been one of my personal and professional mantras since my teens. Newton is giving us really great life advice. If you do everything the same as you are doing now, nothing is going to change. If you don’t want things to change, great! If you are looking for change…something needs to give. One of the first things I teach clients in development coaching workshops is that you are more likely to be abducted by aliens while hanging out with Sasquatch, than you are to receive an unsolicited, out-of-the-blue gift of any size from an unknown person. A large number of organizations wait for the donor, funder, foundation, corporate partner, or even paid member to contact them about making a gift. The next thing I reflect on with coaching clients is whether they are currently “putting out a fire” with their funding requests or are following a donor strategy that was compiled at a team meeting. Most, but not all, fall into that first category. This is passive and reactive fundraising, and it is  not  where we want to be. We want to be dynamic and proactive.A dynamic and proactive fundraiser splits their portfolio into thirds: Solicitation  – whom am I asking this year? Cultivation  – whom should I ask next year and how can I cultivate that relationship? Stewardship  – whom did I ask last year and how can I maintain a relationship with them? This fundraiser spends their time reaching out to their solicitation segment to set up donor meetings to put together well researched and crafted proposals that demonstrate the donor’s interest and where it aligns with the vision of the organization. Dynamic and proactive fundraisers take the strategic vision laid out by the Executive Director and Board, identify key funding priorities, and cultivate prospects who have expressed interest in those areas. They reach out, invite, encourage, and inform the donor of the progress within their area of interest. Finally, they spend time stewarding the donors in their portfolio that made a gift the previous year, actively sharing impact reports and updates. The dynamic and proactive fundraiser must be set up for success by the organization as a whole. Funding priorities must be laid out in a strategic plan or an annual development plan, somewhere that is easily referenced and can be recited on the spot. When we fail to create a big picture framework, we run from fire to fire, leaving our development teams mentally, physically, and psychologically exhausted. If we keep putting out fires, we will never have the time to step back, write a plan, and galvanize a new future. We will stay in motion down the same path unless a force affects a change. In human terms, a relationship will stay motionless unless we reach out. The message is simple –if you don’t ask, they won’t give. Without a vision for the future, you only exist for tomorrow, which will not inspire a donor. Newton may have written the laws of motion three hundred years ago, but I think they are just as relevant today and can be applied directly to our profession. If you’d like to learn more about how you can apply these principals to your development plan, check out our new cohort learning program. During these sessions, participants will learn and gain confidence in understanding the foundations and essential principles of fund development. Registration is now open!  Click here  for more info.

We would love to hear how your organization has been adapting to provide services to your clients and how we can support you during this time. Please reach out to us online here . Once again Spring has sprung! And all I can say is, thank goodness!  After 2+ year of a global pandemic, a social justice reckoning that is both long overdue and nowhere near its completion, and a world very nearly gone mad, it feels like we all need a bit of extra sunshine in our lives these days. So, like I do each year at this time, I’d like to share a little Happy Ostara message. I’ve been asked the meaning of Ostara countless times, and for me, it’s both personal and profound.  But when I named this company in 2009, I never imagined how much its significance would resonate today, thirteen years later.   You see, Ostara is about new beginnings.  Making a fresh start. Weathering the hard times and embracing the new period of growth that will surely follow. (Given what we’ve all been through, and are still going through, I’d say we’ve certainly earned a bit of an emotional reprieve.) So, I encourage all of you to take a moment, take a breath, and acknowledge how alive you are and how much what you do every day means to those in your community.  It’s important, difficult, and transformational work.  It can, and often does, take a toll.  But it can also uplift, engage and energize us.  It’s a new world today.  There are new paradigms, new technologies, and new opportunities around every corner.  There are also challenges the likes many of us have never experienced before. These challenges are not lost on us. We didn’t just skate through these two years unscathed.  Many of our long-time clients know that we’ve had our own opportunities for change. But we’re leaning into this change with our eyes, and our hearts, wide open.  We’re re-focusing and re-doubling our efforts to meet the needs of our clients as they navigate this new world.  In the coming months, you’ll see announcements about new Ostara team members, and new Ostara service offerings as we do the same.  We hope you reach out if you need help, or if you just want someone to run an idea by.  We’ve always made it a significant part of our company ethos to be here for you.  If you know anything about Ostara, you know that. What tomorrow (or even later today!) might bring, we can’t know for sure.  But we can support each other.  We can help each other.  We can create new beginnings for our community, our families, our world.  Let’s make that happen…together. Happy Ostara!

National Limerick Day, May 12, 2022 And now for a word from Ostara To our clients both near and afar-a Who are taking the reigns And planning campaigns, We offer this brief Magna Carta: (Article I: Leadership) Your leadership must be prepared, Committees shall duly be chaired, All will give in good measure Their time and their treasure And networks be happily shared. (Article II: Community) Begin with your deepest investors And community messaging testers To ensure there’s potential And those influential To be your best friends and connectors (Article III: Core Assets) Neglect not your staff and your culture Your fundraising infrastructure Your plans and your mission Your values and vision All under a skillful conductor If you’re wondering “what’s our potential?” “Do we have everything that’s essential?” Our team’s seen it all And we’d welcome your call To discuss our approach and credentials.

How outpouring of community support has created opportunity The last two years of pandemic, worsening systemic inequities, and more recent struggles with inflation, supply and employment costs1 have continued to drive up food insecurity throughout our community. However, one positive note has also occurred: many of our food security and human services client organizations have been the beneficiaries of a tremendous outpouring of resources and support. This has resulted in area food banks, lifelines, and pantries funding their reserves and considering how to strategically invest in future sustainable services.  “the number of food-insecure people in our state doubled to 1.6 million people” - FOOD LIFELINE – COVID REPORT Many leaders of these organizations have recognized the incredible opportunity they have to move away from their typically hyper-frugal approach into a longer term, invest-in-the-future stance that has included the hiring of additional staff capacity, expanding their services, and even moving out of older, less client-friendly facilities and into newer remodeled or even custom-built locations. The Ostara Group actively encourages this strategic approach. Many of these organizations are working in inadequate space – negatively impacting distribution and access, with too few staff, all of whom are working incredibly hard to keep people fed and taken care of. Staff are amazingly dedicated, but frequently lack the necessary bandwidth and resources to offer sustainable services that meet increasing needs. This confluence of factors has led to requests for support in planning, both strategic and campaign, as well as hiring support and interim staff leadership, as each organization considers how to best grow and mobilize their organizations to meet their community’s food security needs. In the past 12 months alone the Ostara Group has engaged with 8 different food security clients in campaign readiness, planning, and counsel – for those engaged in or completing campaign fundraising. Sometime in the future the pendulum will swing back again into equilibrium across the non-profit sector, but for now, while the proverbial iron is hot, many of our clients in these service areas are striking the right note of investment in their internal workings and staff to ensure a stronger future and a higher level of service to their clients and customers. For more information regarding Ostara planning, leadership, and fundraising services, please contact us at 206.209.2022 or visit our website   Contact Us – The Ostara Group . High Inflation Leaves Food Banks Struggling to Meet Needs ( philanthropy.com )

The challenge of finding and keeping top talent is being felt by many in our community. Like many issues that face our economy, the 2023 “great resignation” and the hiring crisis in America is hitting nonprofits especially hard. It has always been a challenge to attract and retain younger talent in the social sector, typically offering less competitive wages and professional development opportunities. Now with many staff feeling burned out, reevaluating their career paths, and facing economic pain, recent articles such as in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Forbes have given voice to nonprofit leaders wondering how to retain their people and pivot to offer the kind of flexibility and compensation that frontline workers are demanding. But what about the turnover at the top?  Executive Director and Director of Development/Advancement roles have also been notoriously hard to keep filled with top talent. It is often cited that the national average for a Development Director tenure hovers between 15-18 months. Though this trend is nothing new, we have noticed an uptick in top positions vacating our local client community lately. We have walked alongside many through their transitions as either interim leadership or as hiring advisors. Here are a few observations and encouragements we would like to share:  Pay attention to the pressure points . Leadership is a shared responsibility, and whether as a board chair, an E.D. or a function/team Director, it is important to maintain trust and unity at the top and act in accordance with your core values. Under-mining, over-reaching and under-resourcing are common pitfalls that just might nudge a critical leader past their tipping point.  Remember, people matter . If facing a leadership vacancy, take the time to honor and celebrate one’s contributions, and offer reinforcement to those left to manage through the disruption. Create a healthy transition, attend to frayed nerves, formalize and compensate for any interim ‘stretch’ assignments, and contract outside help to relieve the pressure. Your people, and your reputation as a fair employer, will thank you.  Stick to your principles . Don’t let urgency lead to hasty solutions, but also don’t delay the inevitable. Ensure you follow equitable hiring practices, prioritize strong leadership competencies and track records among your candidates, and allow yourself to go back to the well if the right hire does not materialize at first.  Seize the opportunity to engage leadership . This may be the moment when a committee chair, a leadership team, or a community ambassador decide to show-up to support the team and rally others around your shared goals of organizational stability and fundraising success. It is also the time to diversify your team’s donor relationship connections through sharing in stewardship calls and visits.  As seasoned leaders know, change is scary but is often for the better. If a key staff person is leaning out the door, a people-first approach with a vision for the future can help everyone feel valued and remain invested in your organization’s success, whatever may come. Contact Ostara if you foresee a possible leadership transition in your future, and would value some perspective and a skilled partner to come alongside you.

The Ostara Group has been privileged to work in partnership with several food banks throughout Washington state. At Ostara we believe in the power of bringing community together to face problems shoulder to shoulder with our clients and the sector as a whole. Last month, our team had the opportunity to spend the evening with leaders from six of our food bank clients where we discussed crucial issues faced by our regional food security nonprofits.    Representing a variety of communities in the Puget Sound region, the group honed in on two challenges that were impacting each of them: The inability of local community food banks to compete with the widely publicized narrative that larger, regional organizations in the food security sector are better positioned to utilize donor dollars in a more efficient and impactful way. Food banks continue to struggle to meet the need for services as inflation has outpaced the donation of food and dollars. Food banks work tirelessly to meet the increasing demand for food assistance while trying to navigate the increasing costs of operations and soliciting the necessary funding to ensure their customers have not only nutritious foods, but food that is culturally significant to the diverse populations they serve.    Two countermeasures evolved through our discussion – the impact of consistent messaging to build community and donor awareness, and the importance of having transparent conversations with major funders, private and public, about organizational challenges.    Awareness leads to informed donors.  Effective marketing campaigns generate awareness among audiences, both new and existing, who have yet to fully understand the breadth of an organization’s work.  Creating this level of awareness rquires a coordinated marathon of activities to build interest over time which in turn generates greater engagement. When designing awareness campaigns, ensure that the campaign supports upcoming milestones and leads to new types and levels of participation. Start with coordinated informational posts that educate donors about your mission, pieces that work to build engagement and interest, then culminate with an ask to take action – such as volunteering, formal and/or informal advocacy, and supporting the organization through a donation.    It is a continuous cycle that builds engagement over time. Focus on fostering a deeper understanding of your organization’s mission, initiatives, and the societal issues you are aiming to address and work to cultivate a sense of community and engagement with your audience that encourages active participation.   Harness the collective power. When operating within a sector that has competing narratives, join forces with organizations that share your mission to regain control of the messaging you want your community to hear.  There is strength in numbers. By collaborating with other likeminded organizations, you can amplify your message and shape the narrative that best serves your organization and the community.   The power of transparency. Your organization plays an important role in shaping and enhancing the community you serve. The ability and willingness to have transparent conversations with your major funders will enable you to establish a foundation of trust, foster strong relationships with stakeholders, and demonstrate your commitment to making a positive impact.  In the nonprofit space, public trust is of utmost importance and transparency is the key to ensuring continued success and support.  Be upfront about challenges your organization is facing and invite your funders to join you as a thought partner as you work towards creating the solution.    Our team is grateful to our community of clients and the incredible work they dedicate their time to in service of the communities we live and work in.

As I look back on this past blur of a year, I can’t help but get a little nostalgic. The passing of time marks our lives in myriad ways.  The birth of a child who, all too soon, launches out into the world ready to make their mark.  A valued employee who leaves to fulfill a long-standing dream of their own, while new colleagues come in to take up the mantle, and in so doing add their own experiences and perspectives to the collective. Clients with whom we’ve had rewarding relationships will move on, and new clients and projects come into the fold.  Lessons learned, some harder won than others, change how we interact with our friends, colleagues and ourselves. Change is inevitable.  How we manage that change, how we show up for it, or don’t, takes the measure of who we are as people and professionals. Over this past year, we’ve been doing a lot of talking about Ostara 3.0, as we’ve taken to calling it. Namely, how will we, as a company, adapt and grow to meet new challenges and the many opportunities now in front of us?  This organizational self-reflection has brought about some high-level changes at Ostara that you’ll begin to notice in our company language and philosophy.  As one example, where Ostara 2.0 had four service line areas – Grant Services, Campaign Services, Development Services, and Strategy and Facilitation Services – we will now have three areas of focus: Leadership, Planning and Fundraising.  Much of the work we do will remain the same, but elevating our top line perspective feels like it better aligns with where the sector is headed and better coincides with our clients, and the sector’s, needs. More information about these changes will certainly be forthcoming over the course of these next few months.  What I can say now is that we’re excited for what the future holds.  We have an amazing team of highly skilled consultants already part of the Ostara family, and are looking to partner with even more talented and experienced colleagues and clients as we continue to grow and evolve. In the meantime, keep reading our newsletters to stay up to date on our journey and to learn about opportunities to connect with us out in the community. (Or even just reach out to say hello!)  We wish you all a very happy, healthy and exciting new year!