non-profit storytelling & donor relations
DESCRIPTION
Vanessa Chase's slide deck from the 2014 Association of Donor Relations Professionals Conference.TRANSCRIPT
Non-Profit Storytelling: The Basics You Need to Know to Build Better, More Loyal Relationships with
Donors
Vanessa ChaseThe Storytelling Non-profit
Share Your Thoughts
What’s one thing you know about storytelling?
Why Storytelling
Common Problems
Resonating with donorsCommunicating clearlyBeing creative
A Broken Approachyou’re not able to connect in an impactful way
donors don’t understand
they feel unconnected, so they sever ties
donors stop caring
STORIES AS SOLUTIONS
Stories help bridge the Donor Knowledge Gap in two key ways: The Organization
they provide context
they emotionally connect your donors to the cause.
The Donor Knowledge Gap
The Donor The OrganizationStories
Share Your Thoughts
Is your organization doing a good job of bridging the
gap?
What Is Storytelling
Storytelling is the process of combining facts and narrative in order to communicate a message
and an emotion to a target audience.
Donor Relations + Storytelling
demonstrate accountability
provide context
make donors the hero
avoid too many facts
used in many touch points
Telling Your Stories
DEFINE YOUR GOAL & CORE MESSAGEKNOW YOUR AUDIENCECHARACTER & CONFLICTCOLLECTING STORIES
SHARING STORIES
Your Goal
let strategy drive your efforts identify a goal and a core message what is the end goal of telling this story?
what is the overarching message that you want
to convey?
(the reason why someone would answer
the call to action)
Core Message
University of Toronto
http://boundless.utoronto.ca/story/holly-zoe-katia/
Know Your Audience
Am I your donor?
Know Your AudienceCreate an audience profile
Character
Client Staff Members
Board Members
Volunteers Donors Community Advocates
Conflict
conflict is the problem that your character needs to solve
conflict’s solution makes your donors feel like a hero
Cancer Care Connection
Collecting StoriesKNOW WHAT THEY NEED
“Tell me a story.” is far too broad, be specific:
“I’m writing our donor stewardship report and I want to be able to share a story about someone from (program
name). Ideally, someone who has had a positive experience in the program and you think has really
benefited from it. Do you have any thoughts about people who might be good to speak to?”
Collecting StoriesCREATE TOOLS
Put tools and systems in place to collect stories:
create a story collection form
send out a monthly email
Sharing StoriesUSE YOUR STORY STRATEGY
When/how will you be communicating with donors?
What opportunities do you have for storytelling?
Sharing Stories
Is what you’re doing working for your donors?
Humane Society of New York
The Organization
http://www.pinterest.com/pinterestpower/non-profits-on-pinterest/
Mercy Ships Canada
The Organization
http://mercyshipscanada.com
UNICEF USA
The Organization
http://on.fb.me/VFxuVT
Subject Line: Your Impact in 16 Photos
STORYTELLING CAN TRANSFORM YOUR NON-PROFIT
STORYTELLING CAN TRANSFORM YOUR NON-PROFIT
The most important stories are the ones you tell yourself and the ones you tell
each other.
QUESTIONS?
Share Your Thoughts
What’s one thing that you’ve learned today?
