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Why Does Your Nonprofit Work Matter? Tell the Story!

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Once upon a time“I never really understood what our nonprofit did until I heard what we did for my friend.”

That was a Board member speaking.

Let Me Tell You a Story

The nonprofit the Board member (let’s call him Paul) served was trying to end poverty in the local community. Preventing evictions, and keeping people in their homes, was a key to keeping families from sliding into poverty.

Paul had joined three years earlier. He had faithfully attended Board meetings every month. Then, somebody he knew personally lost his job and couldn’t pay the rent. The friend and his family were threatened with eviction. Desperate, they called Paul. He called the program staff.

Paul followed the case over the weeks and months. He heard how the staff helped his friend go to court and get more time. Then, they helped the friend apply for help paying the rent…and the heat, gas, and electric bills.

Still, without enough income, the friend could not afford to stay in that apartment. If he did nothing, he and his family would end up on the street. Paul watched in amazement as the organization where he served on the Board found his friend a new place with a lower rent and helped move his family in.

Attending Board meetings had not shown Paul the real reason the organization needs to exist. He found that out from his friend’s story.

Tell the Story First

Why do people need your services? What are you trying to do? This is what Andy Goodman calls the “Nature of Our Challenge Story.” Do you really want to show why your work matters? Don’t give me facts and figures. First, tell me a story.

This is hard advice for nonprofits to take! We are so used to being told we are “soft-headed idealists” and challenged to produce data. The truth is that funders who demand measurable outcomes are pushing us in the wrong direction. Even they need to understand why our work matters before they can tell how much. The why is a story.

What’s important when we talk with funders is crucial when we reach out to donors. If you want me to act, you have to touch my heart. Storytelling is the most powerful way to do that. As Network for Good tells us,

Donors tend to give twice as much when presented with a story about an affected individual, as opposed to reading huge abstract numbers of the overall scope of a problem.

What Makes a Tale a Story?

Not every way of saying what happened is a story. Let’s quote Andy Goodman again: “To make sure you cover all of the basics of story structure here are the beginnings of 7 sentences that can help you with the process.”

  • Once upon a time… (This starts the story off and introduces our protagonist)
  • And every day… (This will set up how life was before the Inciting Incident)
  • Until one day… (This begins the action of the story with the Inciting Incident and the Goal)
  • And because of this… (This introduces the barriers or obstacles the protagonist faces)
  • And because of this… (There could be several barriers)
  • Until finally…(This ends the story with the Resolution)

Let’s try that out! In the Comments section, take a stab at telling the “Nature of Our Challenge” story for your nonprofit. More than 1100 readers of this blog can give you advice on how to make your storytelling better…and I will chip in, too.

Why does your work matter? Tell us the story!

Nonprofits, Sit Around the Campfire and Share Stories

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Where do you see yourself in five years?  That’s a classic interview questionStories at Work. But it’s a question that nonprofit organizations should ask themselves too–and the answer should be a story.

Not just a number. Saying “We’re going to serve 25% more people” is fine, but it says nothing about how you’re going to reach that objective.

Not just a statement. Saying “We’re going to offer art education to every student in our neighborhood” is inspiring,” but without a vision of how to get there, it may remain empty words.

Telling the Where Are We Going Story (as Andy Goodman of the Goodman Center calls it) is a way to share your vision, inspire your people, and make them all the heroes of the story. It’s the only way of describing the future that helps create it, too.

Where Are We Going?

I can think of two different ways of telling the story of what will happen if your organization succeeds. One is what the world will look like at the end. The other is the travelogue of how you intend to get there.

Take the statement we made above: “We’re going to offer art education to every student in our neighborhood.”

Story #1: Five years from now, a mom walks into our center. By her side a small boy stands, fidgeting, not meeting our eyes. “My son draws all the time, and he’s good,” Mom says. “But no one ever taught him how to get better.”

“We will,” you say. “Sign up right here. Son, do you draw with pencils, crayons, or computers?”

Story #2: Tomorrow, we’re cleaning up that classroom. Next week, we’re hiring an art teacher. He gets a budget to go buy supplies. In the mean time, we’re going to put the word out with flyers, email, and social media, in English, Spanish, and Chinese, that we have an art program for children who live in this neighborhood.

This year, we’ll arrange with the museum for free field trips. We’ll take children’s artwork and tell their stories to local businesses and raise money for the program. We’ll expand. In five years, everybody will know about it, and we’ll have enough teachers, supplies, and space to serve everyone who wants it. (That’s where Story #1 begins!)

Storytelling around the fire

Businesses Use Storytelling Too

“We’ve never had a policy manual. The way we pass along our values is to sit around the campfire and share stories.”

That’s the CEO of a $1.3 billion company talking.

Elizabeth Weil, in Fast Company magazine, interviewed many business leaders about the power of storytelling. The Where We Are Going story is a basic tool of corporate leadership.

“Leadership is about change,” says Noel M. Tichy, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School and the coauthor of The Leadership Engine (HarperBusiness, 1997). “It’s about taking people from where they are now to where they need to be. The best way to get people to venture into unknown terrain is to make it desirable by taking them there in their imaginations.”

In other words, by telling them stories.

Fundraising Tuesday: So What’s Your Story?

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stoytellingWe’ve already discussed how you’ll raise more money if you stop talking about you and make your donor the hero of your story.

That’s a lot easier to do if you actually tell a story.

Stories Are More Than Just Timelines

Not every way of telling what happened is a story. Just because something has a beginning, a middle, and an end doesn’t mean it’s a tale that will capture the imagination and move people to give.

A story has a narrative structure. That sounds hard, but it’s actually very easy. As Andy Goodman tells us,  “To make sure you cover all of the basics of story structure, here are the beginnings of 7 sentences that can help you with the process.”

  • Once upon a time… (This starts the story off and introduces our protagonist)
  • And every day… (This will set up how life was before the Inciting Incident)
  • Until one day… (This begins the action of the story with the Inciting Incident and the Goal)
  • And because of this… (This introduces the barriers or obstacles the protagonist faces)
  • And because of this… (There could be several barriers)
  • Until finally…(This ends the story with the Resolution)

Is What You Wrote Actually a Story?

You can tell a story without using the exact phrases that Goodman suggests. If you look closely at a story that sticks with you, however, most of these elements will be there.

For instance, last week I told you The Tale of the Rigged Raffle. I could have told it in those exact words.

  • “Once upon a time,” there was a married couple, Dennis and Rona, who were very different from each other.
  • “And every day”–well, every week at least!–they looked for a synagogue they could share.
  • “Until one day,” mutual friends invited them to Temple B’nai Brith.
  • “And because of this,” they met an adorable older couple who really wanted them as members of the shul. But Rona and Dennis weren’t sure yet.
  • “And because of this,” the older members rigged the raffle so that Dennis and Rona won a gigantic bottle of syrupy sweet Manischewitz wine. They didn’t know how to refuse it.
  • “Until finally,” the older couple told them to donate it back to the Temple–as everybody did! Rona and Dennis were charmed, and became members, and renewed their membership happily ever after.

Look at the appeal letter you’ve drafted. Can you find these story elements in it? If not, it’s time to rewrite!

Why Storytelling is Worth It

If you want me to act, you have to touch my heart. Storytelling is the most powerful way to do that. As Network for Good tells us,

Donors tend to give twice as much when presented with a story about an affected individual, as opposed to reading huge abstract numbers of the overall scope of a problem.

Touch my heart AND my wallet. Tell me a tale that shows how I can do something great by donating to your organization.

So, what’s your story?

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