The Nonprofit Story: It’s Good for More Than Fundraising

It's no secret that effective storytelling–the ability to touch donor's hearts–makes fundraising campaigns more successful.

This is the main point of many books, articles, training and even national nonprofit storytelling conferences. They devote themselves to teaching nonprofits how to craft better stories and ask... What is the return on investment? How many more dollars did that story raise when compared to one with just data? How do we make stories more compelling so that people give more? How do we integrate them in "the ask"?

This focus is, of course, essential to nonprofit growth and survival. And these are questions you should certainly be asking when creating your next communication piece. It is the nitty gritty of nonprofit strategic communications.

Today, however, I ask you to zoom out with me and look at storytelling in a different light.

I believe this almost singular focus on raising money is missing something crucial. It’s ignoring the bigger role that stories play in an organization’s success. And how healthy nonprofits use storytelling to strengthen their entire ecosystem of service.

The secret sauce of resilient nonprofits is that they lean into a culture of storytelling.

Yes, ack! I know ‘culture’ has become a marketing buzzword and you are probably rolling your eyes. But my education is in anthropology. So to me, ‘culture’ is one of the most liberating and powerful words in my vocabulary. Culture influences everything - how we think, what we believe, and is the motivator of so many of our personal and social behaviors.

Back in 2014, an expert for advocacy communications, Julie Dixon, wrote about storytelling being a critical and often missing piece of nonprofit culture. I recommend this quick read, and keep returning to it myself, because its insights are (perhaps unfortunately) still fresh.

If you understand how powerful a culture of storytelling can be and start developing one within your nonprofit, you can tap into its potential to help you strengthen your organization and achieve your higher mission.

A nonprofit will never reach its highest capacity and serve its mission to its fullest until it embraces and values storytelling and story sharing throughout its entire ecosystem.

Having spent the last years researching the value of a nonprofit storytelling culture and the means to achieve it, I’ll be frank... I could talk your ear off all day about the benefits. But let me cherry pick and talk about two of the reasons I’ve found most important for smaller nonprofits.

Motivation.

The people who staff and volunteer for small nonprofits wear a plethora of hats. They are pulled in competing directions and work long and often thankless hours. Burnout is common and figuring out how to address it is a hot topic.

This is where encouraging and valuing story sharing throughout your organization is crucial. Everyone in support services needs fresh stories to remind them why they do what they do and to prove to them that, despite the challenges, they are making a difference. People get up every day and do hard things because they have a purpose.

You ask your beneficiaries for testimonials, but do you ask your donors why they donate? What is their story? What about your board members? Do you ask your volunteers why they show up again and again? Do you ask your staff to share the little wins every week with everyone at your weekly call-ins?

You not only get to experience motivating stories, but you are also valuing your community. There is no better way to feel empowered and valued than to feel heard.

And listening to stories costs your organization nothing.

In service of your higher mission.

If a nonprofit ‘goes out of business’ because its services are no longer needed, then that would be considered a rousing success, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it be incredible if there were no hungry children, neglected animals, or poverty? Yet, as impossible as it sounds, this is the fundamental purpose behind every nonprofit’s more practical mission.

For example, I’m working with a small animal sanctuary to put in some communication processes so they can be more effective. Their fundamental mission is to provide a haven for abused, neglected, and abandoned farm animals, especially those at high-risk for the slaughterhouse. They know what they can realistically do is tiny, “like we are trying to scoop up the entire ocean with a teaspoon.”

But in conversations with the founder, she expressed a much higher ideal. “We center our education around the plight of farmed animals, vegan solutions, and want to use our outreach to help make this world a safer and more compassionate place for all beings.”

How can NPOs support these nobler dreams? Through storytelling! When a nonprofit continuously engages in thoughtful and compassionate story sharing about the issue they are addressing, they reach far beyond the limitations of their own services. They have the opportunity to shift people’s perceptions around their cause and motivate others to start similar organizations in communities across the globe. They have the potential to start movements. To change the world.

In fact, I consider it an imperative. Let's aim to put ourselves all out of business!

How do you use storytelling in your organization? Share in the comments and let’s start a dialogue on all the ways stories can strengthen your nonprofit!


Watch for the Research Brief that I’ll send out at next week. It offers additional reasons why investing in storytelling is so crucial for NPOs and it also talks about storybanks. It reviews how this tool can help make the challenging job of managing stories easier, and how it supports storybanking–a method that supports the culture of storytelling in your organization.


Photo by Mizuno K: https://www.pexels.com/photo/frustrated-woman-sitting-by-desk-12912149/
Photo by Mizuno K: https://www.pexels.com/photo/portrait-of-office-worker-12903012/

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