4 Ways Nonprofit Storytelling Can Drive More Support

Storytelling is a longstanding human tradition. According to National Geographic, some of the earliest evidence of storytelling we have are French cave drawings that date back to 30,000 years ago! Now we experience and share stories every day in the form of books, news articles, social media posts, one-on-one conversations, TV shows and movies, and more. 

Clearly, stories have become an integral part of human communication, and learning how to harness the power of storytelling for your nonprofit is essential for improving your marketing and outreach efforts. According to UpMetrics’ guide to nonprofit storytelling, sharing stories about your work can generate more awareness for your cause, increase engagement, and enhance your trust and credibility with your community.  

Another key benefit of nonprofit storytelling is that it can drive more support for your organization, whether yours is a new nonprofit or you’ve been around for decades. In this post, we’ll dig into some specific ways that nonprofit storytelling can help you secure funding and other forms of support from donors, volunteers, board members, community leaders, and more. Let’s begin!

Whether your mission is to support nontraditional female college students pursuing STEM degrees or protecting and conserving a local river, your work is directly connected to real people and their lives and experiences in some way.

When you humanize your mission through storytelling, it brings these individuals and their stories to the forefront of your marketing and outreach work. In doing so, you transform your mission from a broad, impersonal statement into something that is relatable and compelling for your supporters. 

Let’s use the example of the river conservation nonprofit. Say the organization is planning a bikeathon fundraiser to raise money to fix the bike path along the river it protects. The organization could talk in general terms about flooding damage to the current bike path and the need for an overhaul. Or, it could highlight the story of George, a local resident who likes to use the path to train for biking races but hasn’t been able to because of the extensive damage. 

This humanized approach to promoting the event is much better at grabbing an audience’s attention and encouraging them to think through how a new bike path could benefit other community members like George. 

Stories inherently evoke emotions in their audiences, and emotions are a powerful motivator for action. Here are some examples of feelings you may want your community to walk away with after hearing your organization’s stories: 

• Empathy, to inspire understanding and compassion for those that your organization serves 
• Hope, to give supporters confidence that positive change is possible with their help
• Urgency, which can encourage your audience to act quickly on behalf of your cause 
• Belonging, to create a sense of community, demonstrate that supporters are part of something bigger than themselves, and show how much you value their contributions
• Pride, which in turn helps supporters feel a sense of ownership in your mission 
• Joy, to give supporters the satisfaction of having supported successful progress, outcomes, or transformation 
• Responsibility, to create a sense of duty to help the beneficiaries your organization serves  

One of the best ways to create these feelings in your organization’s audience is to pay attention to how you’re telling your stories. Using multimedia, in particular, can make a big difference as your supporters experience more than just the process of reading words on a page. For example, say you create a dedicated page on your website where you showcase beneficiaries’ success stories. You can easily add an emotional edge to each of your stories by supplementing text with high-quality photographs, videos, graphics, or even audio clips. 

Sharing your nonprofit’s wins doesn’t have to be something you save for your annual report. Storytelling gives your organization regular opportunities to showcase and celebrate the tangible impact it’s having on those it serves. In other words, it allows you to provide evidence that your organization is accomplishing what it sets out to do. 

Proving impact inspires trust and confidence in your organization and can make your supporters feel more eager to continue contributing to your work, as they can see a clear connection between what they give and the outcomes your organization drives. 

So, how can you do this effectively? It all starts with embracing a comprehensive impact measurement strategy. This will require you to do the following:

• Create an impact framework. An impact framework is essentially a map that helps your team conceptualize how it will measure its impact. Though there are many established impact frameworks out there to work off of, the main idea is to set objectives that will help you get closer to your organization’s larger goals. This will allow you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) so that you can see your progress toward those objectives. 

• Collect and analyze data. Next, you’ll collect data to measure your progress toward your objectives. You should turn first to your existing data sources, such as your donor database and marketing tools. Then, you can supplement that data with additional collection efforts, such as surveying your supporters or conducting focus groups. You can also take into account any relevant, publicly available information, such as census data or academic studies. You’ll then analyze your data for patterns and trends that tell the story of your impact. You may want to leverage a dedicated impact measurement and management platform to make this easier. 

• Share your impact insights. Next, it’s time to share your impact insights. This is where your storytelling skills will come into play. Ensure you’re using both qualitative data (such as beneficiary testimonials or photos from a recent volunteer activity) and quantitative data (such as the total number of hygiene kits you’ve assembled this year or the graduation rate of the high school students you serve). This will help you create well-rounded stories that appeal to your audience’s logic and emotions. 

To secure your community’s long-term support and engagement, prioritize efforts to cultivate trust and transparency. Storytelling can help you do this as you demonstrate what happens behind the scenes at your organization. 

Here are some examples of updates you can share to be more transparent with your supporters: 

• Detailed financial reports that include revenue, expenses, and how funds are allocated 
• Program impact data that shows the outcomes and effectiveness of your programming 
• The day-to-day work that goes into working toward your mission 
• Long-term strategic goals and your progress toward those goals 
• How decisions are made at your organization

Additionally, don’t be afraid to be open about challenges or mistakes your organization has made. At face value, it may seem like doing this would concern your supporters or make them stop their support. But being honest about both what is going well at your organization and what is not can actually boost trust. Plus, sharing your obstacles to success through storytelling opens up natural opportunities to call your supporters to action and get them involved in helping you course-correct. 

Humans respond well to stories, and have for thousands of years. Why not leverage the power of storytelling as you promote your cause and market opportunities to support it? In this guide, we’ve explored several ways storytelling can drive more support. Get started with storytelling today by examining how you can infuse inspiring narratives into your current marketing strategy!

Charles Sword is the Chief Revenue Officer at UpMetrics, a leading impact measurement and management software company that’s revolutionizing the way mission-driven organizations harness data to drive positive social outcomes. With a wealth of experience in business development and strategic planning, Charles is responsible for all aspects of market development for the company and is passionate about helping the world’s leading foundations, nonprofits and impact investors to drive accelerated social and environmental change. Mr. Sword has held leadership positions for multiple market-leading technology organizations including Blueprint, CAST, and iRise among others, and continues to hone his understanding of market dynamics and innovative strategies to unlock new opportunities and drive growth at UpMetrics