Nonprofit
February 11, 2025
When you think of some of the most powerful marketing tools for your nonprofit, the humble case study probably doesn’t come to mind.
Most case studies are dull, drab and full of too much jargon. But what if I told you that this humble piece of content could become the foundation of some of your most powerful marketing for your nonprofit? The key is this secret ingredient: Storytelling.
As a nonprofit you are an expert, and expert in the needs of your community and an expert on how to solve those need. The case study is the tool to show your audience that expertise, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. Storytelling is the secret ingredient to showing that expertise in a way that is enjoyable for the audience.
More importantly the story you weave into your case studies can be the foundation of your future marketing campaigns. You can break your case studies up into bite sized pieces and share it on social media, printed flyers and more.
Not all case studies are created equally. The way your Written is going to change slight depending on which audience you are writing it for. Here are 6 case study focuses.
There are 6 nonprofit case study focuses:
“What was the ROI?”
The main questions The Return answers is “What was the ROI”? Case studies written with a focus on the return will primarily use financial and impact metrics to showcase the return on investing in your nonprofits work. The Return focused case study is written with Foundation and Major Donors in mind, providing evidence of social return on investment and measurable impact, the key things this audience is looking for.
Consider providing the following details:
“What visible change occurred?”
The Transformation focus is tailored towards your individual donors and your community, providing tangible evidence of the change your nonprofit has provided through your programs. What was the before and after? How did you program participant transform through this process. Use visual documentation and testimonials to showcase this.
Consider providing these details:
“How do you ensure success?”
The Method focus is for your peer organizations and industry sector leaders. Case studies written with this focus hammer down on the proof of effective, ethical and efficient program delivery. What is the process that your nonprofit has honed that ensure the success of every program participant?
Consider these details when writing a case study with a focus on Method:
“Can you prove it works?”
Does your nonprofit have specific metrics that it tracks? The a case study focusing on the Data might be a good approach. Data focused case studies are particularly effective when you are writing them with Grant-Makers and government agencies in mind, these organization value these kind of hard numbers and verified outcomes.
Consider these details while writing a case study with a Data focus:
“Who validates your work?”
Did your work get any kind of media coverage or awards? That’s the perfect information to include in a case study with a focus on the Prestige. Case studies with this focus are written to attract new supporters and other media coverage, leveraging external validation and credibility.
Consider these details when working on a Prestige focused case study:
“What makes your work special?”
I mentioned earlier that as a nonprofit, you are an expert. You’re an expert in the problems in your community, and with that comes expertise on how to solve those community problems. Are you positioning yourself as the expert when you write about the work your organization did? What unique approaches and solutions are you bringing to these social issues? This is the kind of content social impact investors and philanthropic leaders are looking for.
Consider including the following:
Remember, most compelling case studies will incorporate elements from multiple of types, but typically lead with one primary focus based on the intended audience and purpose of the case study.
At Ebert Design we apply design thinking to all our work, that is identifying and understanding who your end user is, and your case studies are no different.
Now that you know the six different case study focuses, you hopefully have a better idea of who you are writing this case study for.
To understand them even further, consider creating an Audience profile.
Use the following prompts to build out an audience profile. Plan on making 2-3 audience profiles depending on who you are writing your case study for.
About Them
Who are they? What
Motivations
What motivates this person to action?
Why do they do what they do?
Goals / Duties
What are they trying to accomplish?
Challenges
What’s stopping them?
Do some research on who you are writing to and what they are looking to get out of this case study.
How many times has this happened to you: you sit down to finally start writing your case study and you realize you forget most of the details of the work you did?
Instead of waiting till the very end to collect all the information, gather it as you go.
Use what we call the narrative tracker: A document we created to help nonprofits track their work as they go. This document includes prompts to inspire your writing and ideas for different photos you can collect as you go. Then when the work is finished you have everything documented to make creating your case study seamless.
Assign titles to team members with specific tasks as you go through the work
Get the narrative tracker document here.
Look, I get it, Storytelling is such an overused and abused term in the marketing world; but at its very core Storytelling can be powerful.
Our brains are hard wired to process information through storytelling, not just raw data. Our ancestors passed information from generation to generation by telling stories, not powerpoint presentations.
So what makes for a good case study?
A good case study follows a specific formula:
Let's break these down:
The case study title should ignite the reader's curiosity. Write titles that inspire intrigue and anticipation. Refer back to the audience persona’s you created, who are you writing this for? What would hook them into reading further?
But be consistent - develop a title format and style that spans your entire body of work. This consistency helps to build trust with your audience.
Remember to add visuals to your case studies to balance all of the text your audience will be reading. We want the experience to be enjoyable for them, not a chore.
Document everything as you go so you aren't scrambling after the fact. Go back to your impact narrative and refer to the shot list to get inspiration.
If necessary you can use stock images for sensitive subjects if necessary. Unsplash is a great resource for high-quality, free stock photos.
Infographics and other visual representations of data are also handy to have, especially if you are trying to communicate complex data visually.
Write the summary for all the "too long; didn't read" people. Keep it short, smart, and simple. Consider including the following layout:
The body should tell your program participant's success story in an engaging way. We can draw from traditional storytelling to structure our case studies. Let's look at typical story structure and how we can adapt it:
Here's how we can adapt the traditional story structure to your case study body. Each section has been renamed to better remember and align with your worksheet.
How long should each section be? Remember, we aren’t writing a literal novel, we want each section to be just enough to provide the details and create an engaging story.
Use the diagram as a guide for the relative length of each section.
The end of your case study is a perfect place for a call to action. What is the next step you want your audience to take after reading your case study? If you are writing this case study with a focus on your donors this is where we can tie back to the donor being the hero and enabling the transformation. If you are writing this with your program audience in mind then funnel them to and intake form to get help. Don't leave the satisfied reader without giving them a next step to take.
Hopefully these tips will help you when you are creating your next nonprofit case study. Remember to document as you go, keep your audience in mind when writing, and add storytelling elements for a better flow.
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