Nonprofit storytelling

Storytelling is a subtle skill that is fundamental to communication. As well as conveying information, storytelling also speaks to people on a deeper level, and builds empathy, understanding and insight.

We’d like to highlight a couple of the most interesting aspects of stories before we dive in:

1. They're baked into our existence as humans and predate written communication. We are born to love stories and use them to share important information. We are hardwired to listen, hear and recall details from stories, more so than facts and figures. Storytelling is part of the fundamentals of communication in all cultures, countries and groups of people.
   
2. Stories are not limited or held back by technology: we don't need to build expensive tech solutions to share compelling stories, but we do need a strong understanding of the cause we're sharing and the people we're sharing that with to give them impact.

When we talk about storytelling there is an important distinction to make: there are different ways stories play a pivotal role in the success of fundraising and supporter strategies as a whole. Stories should form part of your general communications and the way you share your cause and your work. This will help bring to life why you're doing what you're doing and why it's worth helping you.

However, alongside this skill set, there is a more nuanced approach to storytelling that is just as important, and that's how your supporters are all living out their own stories, in which you can become a part.

Storytelling to younger audiences

Unlike previous generations who have had to adapt to it, Gen Z audiences have grown up with the constant presence of social media in their lives. They are able to connect with individuals around the world who are telling their stories, which are deeply personal. If we think about how differently Millennials experienced the Iraq war in the early 2000’s on relatively filtered TV news, basic websites and in newspapers and magazines compared to today’s Gen Z viewing live streams from Ukraine and Gaza, watching TikTok’s from warzones, from people’s homes, seeing individual people over time during the war - this is going to have an impact on how they perceive world events. They’ve been exposed to so much, and felt connected to individual people. Bear this in mind when you consider how you communicate with this audience: they’re super well informed and connected, and have had authentic, direct contact with individuals rather than more sanitised, edited media broadcasters. Stories that hold back too much will not feel as authentic to this audience.

Stories and donation funnels

Storytelling forms the heart of most nonprofit campaigns, however the story is sometimes lost when people enter nonprofit websites. A failure to continue the story, or reflect it from the campaign can cause a moment of disengagement that prevents someone from donating.

If you accidentally introduce this moment of dissonance into the donation funnel, you’re effectively doing the same as the “butt-brush” effect identified in the world of real world retail shopping: people will abandon their task even when they are highly motivated to continue.

Your website donation journey needs to give the supporter the same reinforcement of the story's message, when they land on the donation screen, during their donation process, and if you want to encourage donor loyalty, especially on the completion screen and follow up communications.

How to assess and improve your storytelling skills

The basic criteria your stories need are simple: a start, middle and end, an event, a setting, and a character that people will want to win (whatever that might mean in their setting).

You don't need complicated plot lines or heaps of detail. People simply need to connect with the character, understand the setting and how that character can “win”. With those simple pieces to the puzzle, people can slot themselves into how they can help that character win.

Characters and people

Be wary of putting your organisation as a character in the story, and if you do feature, make sure you check you’re not playing out a saviour role that donors may find repelling rather than appealing.

Don’t over complicate your stories with large groups of characters: people form stronger connections with individuals over groups. This is why movies, comics and books all focus on characters that are recognisable and individually identifiable, and this plays out in research done into donations too (this is known as “compassion fade” and “the identifiable victim effect”).

Engagement

There are a number of problems that stories can suffer from that can be easily solved by how they are told and structured.

There must be a purpose to your story

Your story must showcase the problem and opportunity your organisation plays in improving or resolving a good outcome (whatever that might be). This is how you can show the impact you have and bring it to life.

The hero must be able to win

Can your story ever reach a positive conclusion? If the cause you’re trying to support is feeling too out of reach this can be where supporters lose engagement: is the winning too impossible, too insurmountable?

It doesn’t have to be a perfect win though for people to believe in the cause and get behind it. I like to remember how in Rocky, Sylvester Stalone managed to balance a story of an underdog losing, while making him win with the way he told the story (while Rocky “lost” the fight to Apollo Creed, he “won” in his life).

Is it clear who the hero is?

Using individual characters (people or animals etc) will help to bring focus into the story. You’re not creating Lord of the Rings. Avoid groups of people where possible, and focus on an individual to keep the story clear and easy to follow.

The main character needs to be likeable and someone your target audience will engage with.

Is it simple and memorable enough?

Is it lacking an event? Is there actually a story, or is it just statistics?

Stories should be memorable, so donors connect with them before, during and after making a donation or signing up to support your organisation. If you rely too heavily on factual statistics, you risk dissolving the human message your story is trying to convey. Some facts and figures are fine, but too many will overwhelm.

Ensure it's clear what the event is, and how it impacts your main character. An event can take many forms, some examples being: the cost of living crisis, a natural disaster, war, an injury, illness or diagnosis, the loss of a loved one, or passing a qualification. The event is something that changes the life of the character, and that takes them on a journey of some sort and makes the story memorable.

The standard format for a story is:

1. Establish normality: “Maria lives with her family and is the only income provider”
2. The event: “She had an accident at work and lost some of her eyesight, and was unable to work and feed her family”
3. Resolve the event: “Through our scholarship programme she learnt a new skill that enabled her to start a business”
4. Conclusion or the “new normal”: “She now supports her family again and has taken on a member of staff who in turn supports their family too”

Consider the “peak end rule”

The peak end rule is a psychological heuristic (like a rule of thumb) that says that the experience people have at its peak and end largely govern how they feel about it, as opposed to feeling an average feeling based on the complete experience. While people may forget facts and details about a story or an experience, they will remember the way it made them feel for a lot longer. Your ability to give your supporters and service users, positive and memorable experiences will go a long way to build loyalty.

Both the stories you share in your campaigns and content can be influenced by the peak end rule, as can your interaction design across your website, especially for key journeys like your donation funnel and volunteer registration. Thinking about how you make people feel will help you to see how you can play a greater part in their lives.

Playing a part in your supporter's stories

On the flipside of how your organisation tells stories, are the stories that your supporters tell themselves, and want to tell other people. These stories are important when it comes to building relationships that go beyond a single donation, and become part of people’s identities.

Storytelling for your donor's/supporter's personal life stories

Most people strive to be the hero in the life story they are telling themselves. Each of your potential and existing supporters is a hero in their story. Your position as a nonprofit is to work out the role you play in your supporter’s lives.

There are three specific aspects to your role in your supporters' life stories that warrant specific attention.

1. How involvement with your organisation impacts how they feel about themselves in their personal story

Following an engagement with you, such as watching a TV advert, seeing an online ad, reading a news story about your work or talking with a friend or family member about the work you do, you have the chance to stir up that individual’s personal life story and take a place in it.

The person might feel just enough spark to take an action, if the story they have understood chimes with something they want to fold into how they think about themselves, but only in a small way. This could mean they make a quick donation that gives them a little dopamine hit, but it is rapidly forgotten, and the experience doesn't become a bigger plot line in their story. This is because you've failed to build a relationship following the engagement, and the spark didn’t take hold.

Or, they feel a stronger connection and want to do more to keep feeling good with you (and telling themselves that they're doing good). This is where follow up communications from donations (and other interactions) play a big role in continuing the story, and the engagement with you. Your donation success page and follow up emails are critical here.

Things you can check now:

Is your cause and impact simple and easy to understand in your marketing activity as well as on your website? Do the two tie together?

Do the stories you tell about your impact feature individuals (or small groups of people), and do they clearly express the impact your organisation had on that person (or animal or place - delete as appropriate!)? There is some evidence to suggest that supporters respond more to stories that feature individuals, and feel less connection to those in groups - so check yours to see if you're structuring your hero’s stories and consider how these will resonate with potential supporter’s own personal hero stories they are telling themselves.

How do you follow up donations and registrations? How do you prompt engagement and further action in your thank you messaging and emails? Do these contain further elements to your story or are they dead ends? Dead ends stop relationship building - make sure you give people an onward journey and encourage them to take it.

2. How involvement with your organisation impacts how other people think about them now

If you’ve successfully shared your mission, and your cause feels valid and something a supporter feels proud to associate themselves with, you’re more likely to generate action where the supporter publicly advocates for your work. This might take the form of sharing that they have donated, sharing a campaign, taking part in fundraising or another activity that highlights their role in your story in a public way. When they do this they’re adding to their personal story and showcasing themselves, and their positive actions to those around them.

This can also take the form of virtue signalling, where they simply share articles or posts on social media to show others that they are “good” but they might not take actual action off the back of the activity. Or they might wear a pin badge to show their support but do no further. This isn’t as useful to you as a meaningful relationship, but still has some limited value in extending your reach.

Your authenticity, credibility and desirability to be associated with, all come into play here. If we think about how the RNLI challenged Nigel Farage’s comments about them, they created a situation where they attracted new supporters and reengaged existing ones by making their cause something that people wanted to identify themselves with, and wanted to publicly align themselves to: it became part of their personal story and identity. By taking a stance themselves, they emboldened others to do the same.

You can’t take supporter’s motivations like this for granted though: a relationship goes both ways. How you continue to communicate and engage with supporters is essential for them to feel like they are actually making a difference and that you are worth being part of their ongoing story.

Responding to people who openly support you is really important to show your appreciation, and to signal to them that they are making a difference. Your audience will segment into different behaviour driven groups that will have differing requirements for how you do this, so it's important to understand how they differ. For example, many younger supporters want to be given updates on how you are spending their donations, regardless of the size of their donation: 36% of 18 - 34 year olds expect to be thanked for a donation compared to 15% of over 55s (Source: Blackbaud Donor Behaviour Insights 2023).

Trust is easily lost, and people need to see and hear what you’re doing with their money and time if they are going to continue giving it to you.

Things to check now:

How do you engage with people that actively promote your work? How do you visibly acknowledge them and make them feel part of your work, and therefore your impact?

What do you do to maintain engagement with the people who are vocally sharing your cause? Look at how you manage your social media to check that you're making personal connections, thanking people and showing that you're part of their stories and that they belong.

Look at your approach to emails: are you sending your supporters regular updates on how their contributions have had an impact? Have you thanked them for their continued support?

With people that have made more significant commitments, such as fundraising through an event, look for ways to honour their contribution to give them both the feel good experience of being valued, but also the opportunity to share that recognition with the people they want to showcase their story to. This will keep their attention while also gaining new attention from their network (and we know from various research studies that people are more likely to give to causes that their family and friends share).

3. How involvement with your organisation will impact how people remember them in the future

At different points in life people question how they will be remembered, and as we age we're more likely to consider what our legacy might be. Being associated with a good cause is a way to create a positive memory for those they leave behind. This might be in the form of a lifetime dedicated to a specific issue, or a gift in a will.

When people assess how they want to be remembered, they look for stories that have impact and meaning that others will feel pride and comfort from.

This may well be a long way off the thoughts of your Gen Z donors of today, however, if you engage them now and set yourselves up to have supporters for life, you’ll be on their list of organisations they may want to give a significant gift to in the future.

Things to check now:

How long do your supporter relationships last? Are you seeing different behaviours from your youngest supporters? Are they getting what they need to stay in the relationship with your organisation?

What engagement do people that leave gifts in wills have with your organisation before they make the decision that you're a significant part of their lives and warrant recognition? How do you keep these people engaged?

Next steps

If you’d like a call to discuss how storytelling could be used to strengthen your campaigning and income generation strategy please get in touch. Our team has extensive experience collaborating with charities of all sizes to improve their communication and storytelling effectiveness.