Stephen George shows how you can put stories at the heart of all your fundraising
Stories are what makes fundraising happen. They are everywhere, all the time, now, in the past, and waiting to happen. Most fundraisers know this, but practically, what do you do to really make the most of the stories all around us that connect and inspire?
The key to a good story, and to making it work, is a little bit of structure, some core ingredients and emotional connection, knowing your audience, and being personal and authentic. Every good story has a set up, a struggle and a resolution. Think of a joke – essentially a story. Stories are the way we have communicated forever. Around campfires, stories became the way to hand on wisdom, learning, and entertainment. Today, we have our campfires in social media, film, video, pictures, sound, phone, direct marketing – and still very much face-to-face. At the heart of all these techniques is emotional connection. The secret is to make the person feel something, to move them, so they take action.
What’s the story?
The first place to start is with you. What is your story? Where have you come from? Why are you here? What connects you to the cause you work for? These things are taken for granted, but they are the essence of you and how you connect with your donors and those around you. So write it down in a letter to yourself. What’s the connection you have to your organisation? Is it a personal story, an experience you’ve had yourself? Or is it about someone you know, or something you saw? For many, there is a defining moment when you ‘got it’ – a sort of light bulb moment. Find it, and write it down. If it feels right, try it out on someone you trust. Then hone it down to three or four versions, including a very short version. This is your story; the authentic you. It will connect you from now on.
From this, what’s your organisation’s story? So many times we forget the remarkable founding story. The usually single force, or personality, that made it possible. Find it, and bring it alive as a story. Some charities miss a trick in looking forward without connecting to the story of the past. In 1986, Esther Rantzen, presenter of That’s Life, suggested a programme on child abuse, from which a helpline was set up and a charity launched with a single donor underwriting it for the first three years. In this is such a story, such inspiration and humanity. It doesn’t matter when your founding story happened, but for every organisation there is one. Craft it, and learn it.
Then there is the cause itself. Donors want to connect. Whatever the channel, the story must shine through. So it’s important you tell it from a person’s point of view. The best carriers of your message are in the story of an individual. In direct marketing, the story of a person with a name, her challenges and ways to overcome them will work better than saying 150 children need this or that service. In legacy fundraising, the person on the front line delivering your service works just as well.
In the book Do Story by Bobette Buster, she advises storytellers to tell the story as if to a friend, and to make sure you give some context, like time and place. She suggests sharing one ‘gleaming’ detail to bring the story alive, showing vulnerability and using all the senses. Charity Water is one of the great storytelling charities, with a page called 'stories' on its website. In one such story, the water project manager writes her story of her work through the eyes of the people she meets. These are her words: “This is when I met Helen Apio. While most women hung back politely, Helen jumped toward me and screamed two inches from my face. Technically, it was singing. But the high-pitched shrieking was so loud and reverberated with such energy and emotion. I knew I had to talk with her. She told me about the new freshwater well in her village. ‘I am happy now,’ Helen beamed. ‘I have time to eat, my children can go to school. And I can even work in my garden, take a shower and then come back for more water if I want! I am bathing so well.’
A story. Powerful.
The tools to tell a tale
When thinking of the ways we can find and capture stories, we need to have the right tools in place. The ‘fundraiser’s story toolkit’ can help. In this you will need a smart phone, a notebook, a pen and your eyes and ears. The smart phone gives you access to several tools. Firstly it takes notes. Some are daily journals that prompt you to write a diary. Alongside this, a smart phone allows you to dictate a story first hand. The best will convert your speech into text. They also allow you to interview people using audio or a video. Get a mini tripod for your phone on a desk, and you have a quick interview kit.
This toolkit allows you to go and experience something to find a story and retell it. Trips to the field, and donor receptions or events, will give you access to people. Three simple questions can generate great stories:
- How did you get involved?
- What’s your story?
- How has this made a difference?
Ask them these questions while you video or record them, or just write notes (and write it up in full later). Maggie’s created a volunteer ‘narrator’ role. The purpose was to stimulate stories through volunteers, and to identify staff members who collected stories and passed them on. This way, stories become a current, live and ongoing currency.
Tune into stories. They are everywhere. Films, books, TV and most importantly in you, where you work, what you do and who you make a difference to. A few practical steps can transform how you fundraise and how your donors can change the world.
Stephen George is a freelance fundraising and management contributor to the not-for-profit sector. For more from Stephen George on this topic read here
