When I served with the United States Peace Corps between 2000 and 2002, I learned the value of storytelling to communicate messages.<\/p>\n
I had arrived in Senegal, West Africa with a group of 100 other volunteers, most of us just out of college and inspired to change the world. A group of us were trained as Health Educators, and lived with Senegalese host families in remote rural villages, with no electricity or running water.<\/p>\n
The other Peace Corp volunteers and I spent hours preparing comprehensive health training. Since we were in rural Africa, many people could not read, so we filled binders with visuals, comics, diagrams, and the like. We thought we had all the bases covered.<\/p>\n
However, what we soon realized is that all the carefully-compiled, WHO-approved research in the world does not mean the slightest thing to people in the villages. Statistics and research alone just don\u2019t compel people to take action and to change behaviors that have been going on for years. We needed to collect and share stories in order to really connect with people and educate them on health care and disease prevention.<\/p>\n
Storytelling gets at the heart of how humans process information. Jeremy Hsu, senior writer at The Scientific American, found that personal stories and gossip make up 65% of our conversations<\/a>. Sixty-five percent! (I\u2019m willing to bet that percentage increases when we communicate online).<\/p>\n When we hear stories, we immediately relate them back to an existing experience to determine how we feel about it. Humans are inherently narcissistic in this way\u2014but this characteristic is exactly what makes storytelling so effective for marketing purposes.<\/p>\n There is no doubt that online communication, especially social media, prioritizes stories. This is good news for nonprofits and charities, because organizations across the world are making a significant impact on the lives of others, and they have inspiring stories<\/a> to tell.<\/p>\n But it can also be overwhelming, as nonprofit marketers, development directors, and communication staff face intense pressure to find and craft fabulous, unique, inspiring, and emotional stories about their work.<\/p>\n All nonprofit professionals and volunteers need to start thinking of themselves as storytellers first, rather than simply Executive Directors, Development Directors, or Board Members. A comprehensive marketing and fundraising plan<\/a> is of no use without good stories to fuel it.<\/p>\n While the thought of finding compelling stories, collecting them, and then mastering various digital outlets to showcase them may give you anxiety on top of all your other responsibilities, I assure you that in even the smallest nonprofit organizations, this can be done well.<\/p>\n Great storytelling is the best way to capture the attention, as well as the hearts and minds, of your supporters. A study conducted by Yale University researchers found that providing data on a charity\u2019s impact does not translate into more money and more gifts. In fact, the subjects of the study tended to give more when presented with an emotional story and no data at all! The hard truth about storytelling versus using data to connect with supporters is that people do not remember bullet points; they respond to emotion. And feelings, not analytical thinking, drive action and donations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stories will help you express your mission to people who may know nothing about you or your cause initially. Statistics may shock and awe for a moment, but they will rarely get people to take action. And action is the key, because that is what nonprofit communication is all about!<\/p>\n Using modern digital tools like websites, email newsletters, and social networks are vital to get your stories in front of a critical mass of people.<\/p>\n Telling the world great stories will inspire more people to take a desired action (i.e., change a behavior, sign a petition, attend a rally, donate), and make it easy and desirable for your current supporters to share the story with their networks.<\/p>\n Creating a culture of storytelling at your nonprofit all comes down to education, inspiration, and information. Here are some ways to do it.<\/p>\n First things first. Get influential and powerful people in your organization on board. You may be surprised to find out that not everyone believes in the power of storytelling.<\/p>\n So, how do you convince them? There are a few ways:<\/p>\n Your donors and constituents expect the information you share with them to be interesting, unique, and compelling. They expect transparency, authenticity, and a bit of personality. They want to know that their gift made an impact, and they like to know-how. This is where heartfelt stories come in.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s attention-starved, content-saturated world, we all must function like media companies\u2014discovering and disseminating timely, relevant, and interesting information to our target audience. In fact, according to Nonprofit Tech for Good<\/a>, of social media users who support nonprofits online, 56 percent said that compelling storytelling is what motivated them to take action in the first place.<\/p>\n As a nonprofit leader raising money and support for your organization, it is essential to be able to tell a variety of stories about your work and the people that benefit, since this is the kind of information that works best to cut through the online clutter.<\/p>\n Today, charity:water uses Instagram to tell the stories of families who have been given access to clean drinking water. The Denver Rescue Mission<\/a> shares success stories from its clients on Facebook with accompanying photos. The St. Baldrick\u2019s Foundation<\/a> uses its blog to showcase real-world stories from the children it has helped through funding cancer research. Share Our Strength uses its website to showcase true stories from its No Kid Hungry<\/a> campaign. The examples (and the potential for storytelling using social media) are never-ending! (And are a good reference when starting your own nonprofit\u2019s storytelling campaign!)<\/p>\n“All nonprofit professionals and volunteers need to start thinking of themselves as storytellers first<\/em>…”<\/em> <\/i>tweet this<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Nonprofits Of All Sizes Can Do Storytelling<\/strong><\/h2>\n
“Telling the world great stories will inspire more people to take a desired action<\/em>…”<\/em> <\/i>tweet this<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
1) Get buy In<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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2) Know That Donors EXPECT Stories<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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