An ESSENTIAL Tool for Success
The Nonprofit Storybank
The key to producing consistent content is through the smart 'banking' of your organization's stories.
In the spring of 2020, I set out to interview a diverse range of nonprofits to better understand their most pressing challenges when it came to producing the kind of stories that inspired support and kindled donor loyalty.

Some responses were anticipated. Nonprofits that had tight budgets and small staffs simply didn't have the bandwidth to prioritize storytelling.
Other nonprofits felt at a disadvantage because their cause rarely generated dramatic constituent storie. One executive director told me that despite their convincing statistics–their messaging "just isn't as sexy as rescued dog stories". They were struggling to compete for attention and funding.
These concerns were soon overshadowed by the first wave of the pandemic. A crisis that would spark monumental disruptions across the nonprofit sector.
Although all the nonprofits acknowledged that stories had the potential to be the lifeblood of their messaging, as uncertainty loomed, even those that did use stories consistently backburned this aspect of their communication strategy.
During the peak of the pandemic, when motivational messaging was more critical than ever, private donations withered and staff cut. The subsequent loss of knowledge and experience only served to compound challenges around compelling narratives.
The pandemic made clear what experts in social change communication have long advocated; to remain both successful and resilient, nonprofits need to integrate a culture of storytelling.
And that is where the storybank comes in.
What can a Storybank do for your nonprofit?
A storybank can be created out of something as simple as a spreadsheet. No matter your budget, just start one.
Harness the Power of
Nonprofit Storytelling
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash | Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash