Art of Storytelling for Nonprofit Communications
Finding & Using Great Stories to Illustrate Work of Nonprofit
Aug 12, 2009
Nonprofit organizations often build their missions around the scope of a problem – a percentage of the population in need of a basic service or a number of children born with a particular health problem, for example. It is this very appropriate view that can harm organizations as they try to communicate with key stakeholders.
A Nonprofit Story is an Illustrative Example of the Organization’s Work
Nonprofit staff charged with interacting with organization stakeholders – like donors, government officials and media representatives – often find it valuable to spend some time “in the field.” By interacting with organization beneficiaries, volunteers, program staff and members of the community, the staff members will return to their desks with stories. These stories enable the nonprofit representative to speak credibly, with passion and about a bite-sized piece of the organization’s work that will resonate with their audience.
“If you heard that a certain type of fox is endangered, would you be moved to act?” asks the author of Stories that Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers Into Your Most Powerful Sales and Marketing Asset Casey Hibbard, in the August 10, 2009 online magazine CMS article “Help Nonprofits Sell Better with Stories.”
“How about if you heard that a mama fox was trying to keep herself and her litter safe as their forest disappears?” she continues. “Information in the context of a story is dramatically more compelling than straight facts.”
Ways to Capture and Use Nonprofit Stories
Hibbard offers nine tips for integrating stories into nonprofit communications:
- Leverage praise letters by asking the person who wrote a nice note if his comments can be used. Consider asking for more details to complete the picture.
- Ask the people you serve to share their stories.
- Identify story “witnesses” – individuals in the position to see successes firsthand and report back.
- Make it easy for witnesses by giving them tools for reporting back and actively soliciting their contributions.
- Share within the team so members of different departments can use the same stories for their purposes.
- Stay positive. Talk about successes, and when talking about need, offer the positive solution.
- Mix the media to tell stories in different formats.
- Find a talented volunteer to collect stories.
- Vary story perspectives to include volunteers and sponsors as well as beneficiaries.
Building a Story Bank
As the nonprofit organization begins to build a culture of storytelling, it is important to remember to find a way to “bank” the stories so staff members across the organization can take advantage of the collected stories.
In the April 2009 issue of Free-Range Thinking, Andy Goodman of the Goodman Center writes that a story bank “generally serves one purpose: to provide a central repository where you can easily and quickly find a story that enlivens whatever point you want to make.”
Storing the stories doesn’t have to be complicated or costly, says Goodman. His research uncovered organizations that used custom databases with photo cross-references as well as organizations that used simple spreadsheets or shared electronic folders.
Organizations might consider soliciting stories for their story banks online or in newsletters. BarackObama.com urges its readers to “share your story about the economic crisis” through an online form so that they can “be made available to the public to show how critical it is to support the economic recovery plan.”
Put the stories to work by integrating them into nonprofit communications, from annual reports to newsletters, governmental affairs materials to fundraising case statements, and more.
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