ABSTRACT Fundraisers must develop case statements expressing authentic organizational ownership to effectively lead resource development. Self-serving leadership and factions, however, can make developing donor-focused case statements problematic. During the case making process, fundraisers must navigate organizations' politically negotiated realities to partner institutional and philanthropic vision. Internal schisms surface as leadership faces potential change, a collective process analogous to death and dying. Case histories, organizational psychology, and family systems theory suggest that fundraisers can diagnose and react to leadership deficits and conflictual politics, using the case making process as an intervention focusing organizations on adaptation and achievement.