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When Multiple Photos are Better than One

February 4, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Thanks for coming along for the ride as I learn how to get more visual in nonprofit communications!

Let’s say you have a bunch of photos from a nonprofit event. How do you use them to tell your story?

Often, the best thing to do is to find just one photo, of one person, that says what you want to say. Your audience will focus in on one person better than two, three, or a hundred.

(That’s especially important when you’re trying to raise money. One story will win donations. Many? They’re likely to be forgotten.)

When is it better to use multiple photos? When you can combine them to tell a story.

What Makes a Story a Story?

A story is not just one darn thing after another. It’s not a timeline or a list of events.

A real story has a character you care about, who wants or needs something and can’t get it. They try and try. They get into trouble, and maybe they get help. And at last, you find out whether they succeed.

Here’s a very simple story about someone I care about. His name is Rocket J, and he’s a cat.

The Cat and the Closed Door

One morning, Rocket J wanted to go out. It was a very cold morning, and his concerned person, Dennis, thought that Rocket J would be better off inside. “No!” the cat said. “I want to go out!”

He came up to me with an earnest expression. He went over to the door. He turned round and round until his silly human finally got the idea and let him out. Then he ran to the street, just to show he could.

Indoors, his blonde brother, Sunshine, looked out the window quizzically. “I don’t think that was very bright of Rocky,” he said. “Look how cold it is out there! I’m just going to sit on the furniture and look out at the world.”

Your Visuals Can Do Better than Mine!

I took these photos on my iPhone, selected them, and uploaded them to Facebook with the comment, “Outdoor cat and indoor cat.” I’m not the world’s greatest photographer, as you can plainly see, but my Facebook audience loved the story.

Besides taking better photos, I know you can improve on what I did. You can:

  • Edit photos you have stored on your computer or phone.
  • Change the sequence, if you need to, so the action becomes more clear.
  • Pick the right number of photos so all of them are shown at one glance. (You can create an album on Facebook if you want to let your most interested viewers go look at them all.)

What are your  tips for better visual storytelling?

(They don’t have to involve cat pictures.)

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Fundraising Tuesday: What Nonprofits Can Learn from My Cat

December 13, 2016 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Clark-2112

Do you donors know where their money is? Take a lesson from Clark Bar’s vet.

“Uh-oh, we’re almost out of Clark Bar’s medicine,” I thought. “Time to order it again.”

Clark Bar was a venerable gentleman cat of 18 years. He had a problem with his thyroid, so I gave him soft tablets of methimazole mixed in with  his wet food. I ordered the tablets from a compounding pharmacy out of state.

When I submitted the order by email, I received an acknowledgment immediately. Then, the pharmacy called to let me know they would be talking to the vet, to get authorization for the refill.

The next day, they called to say they expected to receive the authorization within hours and would fill the order as soon as they did. They emailed me to let me know when it was filled, and they sent me the FedEx tracking number for the shipment.

All in all, it took less than two days for Clark Bar to get his medicine–and I never wondered for a minute where my money had gone or what I would get in return.

Can your donors say the same?

Your donors are looking to you to mix up a cure for a problem they care about. It’s probably not their own problem, any more than Clark Bar’s thyroid is mine. But your donors care. They care intensely.

Are you leaving them wondering what difference their donation is making, from one annual report to the next? Or are you helping them follow it at every step, through great stories in your newsletter, email, blog, and social media?

Show the donors how they’re making an impact on their cat–I mean, their cause. They’ll order (I mean, donate) to you again.

And here’s a shout-out to Porter Square Vet and BCP Veterinary Pharmacy, for their great communications.

P.S. Clark Bar passed away in September 2015, rejoining his sister Lois in that great cat show in the sky. But I am still grateful to the pharmacy that I knew he would always get the help he needed. Please, make sure your donors know what you are doing with te money they give.

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Your Nonprofit’s Impact…on My Cat

May 7, 2015 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Clark-2112

Do you donors know where their money is? Take a lesson from Clark Bar’s vet.

“Uh-oh, we’re almost out of Clark Bar’s medicine,” I thought. “Time to order it again.”

Clark Bar is a venerable gentleman cat of 18 years. He has a problem with his thyroid, so I give him soft tablets of methimazole mixed in with  his wet food. I order the tablets from a compounding pharmacy out of state.

When I submitted the order by email, I received an acknowledgment immediately. Then, the pharmacy called to let me know they would be talking to the vet, to get authorization for the refill.

The next day, they called to say they expected to receive the authorization within hours and would fill the order as soon as they did. They emailed me to let me know when it was filled, and they sent me the FedEx tracking number for the shipment.

All in all, it took less than two days for Clark Bar to get his medicine–and I never wondered for a minute where my money had gone or what I would get in return.

Can your donors say the same?

Your donors are looking to you to mix up a cure for a problem they care about. It’s probably not their own problem, any more than Clark Bar’s thyroid is mine. But your donors care. They care intensely.

Are you leaving them wondering what difference their donation is making, from one annual report to the next? Or are you helping them follow it at every step, through great stories in your newsletter, email, blog, and social media?

Show the donors how they’re making an impact on their cat–I mean, their cause. They’ll order (I mean, donate) to you again.

And here’s a shout-out to Porter Square Vet and BCP Veterinary Pharmacy, for their great communications.

 

 

Share this:

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