Telling your non-profit story is an essential piece of your fundraising strategy. Your non-profit’s story story must be clear and compelling. It should translate online, in printed materials, on social media or in person. Above all, you want generate empathy and motivate donors to give to your organization.
The number one purpose is to move people to support your cause. Telling your non-profit story is your first chance to introduce your charity and the difference it makes.
According to DonorBox, stories are beneficial because they:
7 Must-Have Elements When Telling Your Non-Profit Story
Before writing the story that will support your fundraising strategy, you’ll need to gather some info. You may want to interview key people in the organization, for instance, or dig into some past charity statistics.
Pull together details about:
Overview
Mission & Vision
Beneficiaries:
History:
Leadership:
Impact:
Keys to Telling Your NPO Story
Next, it’s time to package your story for different marketing channels. Your fundraising strategy will likely leverage multiple digital and offline tactics, so the story must translate across your website, social media, at events, and in person.
1. Outline your champion.
2. Structure it like a real story.
Sometimes the hardest part of writing is simply getting the order right, according to Network For Good. When you feel passionate about a project, or you’ve been immersed in the cause for years, it can difficult to objectively communicate with your audience.
Consider the following structure points every writer follows:
3. Bring your story to life.
Now consider the best ways to present your story to your audience. For example, it will live on the ‘About’ page of your website. Additionally you can bring it to life through:
- – Use high resolution photos. Photos can easily be scaled down but not up in size.
- – Avoid using tiny photos, especially on your website. Large images make a larger impact.
- – Use the “rule of thirds” when cropping. This means you want to place the focal point of your image off-center.
- – Leave space around your subject. Show context by including some of the surroundings.
Inspirational Stories from Top Non-Profit Organizations
Take a look at these non-profit stories that inspired us.
ASPCA: The ASPCA does a great job of establishing their beliefs and mission. They use photography of suffering animals to create an emotional response in the viewer. And they clearly outline their response and success with visual call-outs.
The Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy relies on breathtaking images of natural habitats. These photos draw the reader in so TNC can deliver their statement in a simple format. Similar to the ASPCA, they prominently display numbers that show their impact and motivate people to get involved.
ChildFund International: ChildFund International presents their champion and conflict clearly in a few sentences, saying:
“Worldwide, 570 million children live in extreme poverty, vulnerable to many factors that threaten their well-being. Children need protection, support and care at each stage of childhood to stay safe, healthy, learning and on track to achieve their potential. ChildFund works with local partner organizations, governments, corporations and individuals to help create the safe environments children need to thrive.”
They share clearly the people they’re supporting, the reasons their cause is important and exactly how they’re making a difference.
What non-profit organizations do you think are doing the best job creating an emotional connection with donors? Share your favorite NPO story in the comments below.