How to Gather Stories at Your Nonprofit

Between 1933 and 1935, the American classicist scholar Milman Parry traveled to remote mountain villages in Bosnia, where he made thousands of hours of recordings of farmers singing epic poems recited entirely from memory. Their tales were captured on small aluminum discs that could record five minutes of audio at a time.

I’m telling you this to make a point: gathering stories is a lot easier than it used to be. With all the tools at our disposal today, it’s a crime that more nonprofits don’t seize the opportunity to display the value of the work they do through engaging, persuasive, emotionally compelling storytelling — be it from the people you benefit, your staff, or your volunteers.

But — our niche opening example aside — it’s tough. Nonprofits are generally lean organizations: everyone’s working at capacity, and marketing often has to take a back seat. That’s why we’re here to share how to gather stories at your nonprofit that you can use to engage new donors and spread your message.

Why do nonprofits need to be storytellers?

97% of nonprofit donors are motivated by the perceived impact of their gift. That idea might seem obvious at first: after all, it’s not a surprise that most people give to make a difference! But step back and think about what that really means: It means showing donors what their gifts accomplish is absolutely critical for your organization.

Storytelling isn’t the only way to do this, but it’s one of the most powerful ways. There’s a famous Maya Angelou quote that “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” A good story makes you feel something. It leaves an impression that only the most overwhelming facts and figures can hope to equal.

And when you get those numbers working side by side with your storytelling? That’s when you’re really cooking.

6 Tips for gathering stories at your nonprofit

1. Record your achievements

Do you keep a running tally of your achievements on LinkedIn? Do you update your resume whenever you accomplish something?

If so, good! I commend you. But if you’re anything like me, a lot of those things get stored away in some mental filing cabinet until nine months later you’re trying to list your achievements and you can’t recall any of them. You remember that award you got, sure, but you can’t list the 15 other major things you achieved this year that didn’t come with a check or a title.

All this is to say: make sure to record what you accomplish! And by “you,” we mean everyone in your organization. Set up a mechanism for people at your nonprofit to make note of milestones throughout the year. It’s as easy as setting up a Google Form. Encourage your team members to record praise they’ve received, goals they reached – anything that you can draw on later to show the good you do.

2. Conduct interviews (and record them!)

We all know the power of a good testimonial. That’s why you should record interviews: with the people you help, with your team members, with the organizations you partner with, etc. It can take a little doing, but it will pay off in spades when you have firsthand accounts of the work you’ve accomplished and the difference you’ve made in people’s lives with text, audio, photos, and video to back it all up.

How you choose to record them is up to you, though for our money we love Riverside. Designed for podcasts, Riverside records video in 4K, creates separate studio-quality audio tracks for each participant, is easy to edit, and produces accurate, searchable transcripts you can use to edit your recording the way you would a document. You’ll be shocked by how quickly you can go from recording an interview to producing a 30 second clip ready for use on your website or in an email.

3. Get buy-in from your board

For many nonprofits, marketing is still an uphill battle, and getting buy-in from board members is a crucial step in the process. There’s an old fashioned view (you can still root it out if you do some digging) that every available dollar should go to services and that marketing should be the first line item to cut when you tighten your belt.

That’s why it’s crucial to show your board what a difference good marketing makes. (And not to put the horse before the cart, but telling compelling stories about your work is one of the ways you can convince them.)

4. Incentivize staff to share their experiences

Your staff members are deeply involved in your nonprofit’s mission and work, and that gives them unique and authentic perspectives. They’re on the frontlines of the work you do, the ones most likely to know the intimate details about recipients whose lives have been changed by your services.

Find ways to encourage them to share their experiences. Highlight their contributions in internal communications, newsletters, or during team meetings. Create ways for them to pass their experiences along to management and the marketing team (or person!) through the Google Forms suggestion we mentioned above.

5. Make use of video

It’s old news by now that video content is king on today’s internet. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, heck even YouTube (kidding): if they didn’t used to incorporate video, they are now. One study found that incorporating video increases the amount of time users spend on a website by 88%, and it goes without saying that seeing and hearing someone speak engages viewers directly in a way few other media can.

While it has a reputation for being expensive, everyday there are more and more tools to easily produce short video content that you can incorporate into your marketing materials. Don’t think documentaries, think Instagram reels. Just 30 seconds of footage from people sharing their experiences can grab a lot of attention.

6. Develop a content calendar

This is where you put it all together. Putting together a content calendar will help you make consistent and strategic decisions across multiple platforms in order to maximize engagement with donors and volunteers.

Start by identifying your goals (what realistic goals do you want to achieve?) and segmenting your audience by determining which groups you’re attempting to reach through which platforms: Donors? Volunteers? Beneficiaries? The general public?

Decide what types of content you want to produce (see our list below) and how you plan to leverage them. Put together a calendar with important dates for your fundraising goals for the year and determine what themes and broader issues you want to address with your content.

The bad news is putting this thing together can be a lot of work. The good news is you can start small and build from there. The more time you give yourself to be thoughtful and strategic about your marketing, the more it will pay off dividends in the long run.

Ways nonprofits leverage storytelling to raise funds

Okay, so you’re gathering stories, but how do you use them? Let’s look at some examples.

Impact stories

An impact story is any long-form content that shares the experiences of the people your organization benefits. Whether they’re blogs or articles in a quarterly newsletter, these pieces give you a chance to really explore how your organization made a difference in someone’s life.

Take Volunteers of America Southeast, for example: a nonprofit that provides housing and vital services for a number of different populations in need throughout Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Each month we interview individuals from their programs: from formerly homeless veterans who found stability through their transitional housing program to mothers fighting addiction at one of the only facilities in the southeast where women are able to live with their children while they receive full-time treatment for substance use disorder. These impact stories, featured on VOA Southeast’s website, vividly display how the organization makes a difference in people’s lives.

Email appeals

Email appeals are still one of the most powerful platforms at your disposal for connecting donors to your cause. (Over a quarter of nonprofit donors say email is the communication tool that most inspires them to give.) A compelling story, whether it’s concisely told in the email, embedded in a video, or linked to a longer account, can create the urgency and emotional appeal you need to engage lapsed donors or generate interest in an upcoming event.

Short-form social media content

Let’s face it, sometimes a 30 second message is the only thing that can break through the doom scrolling. Short-form content — the sort you’d see on TikTok or, as the joke goes, 2 weeks later on Instagram Reels — should be a vital part of your outreach strategy. As we noted above, producing video can be expensive, but there are more tools than ever today to help you create shorter pieces of content that can break through the digital noise. Placing a powerful story at the center of that content is one of the surest ways to succeed.

Annual reports

A well-crafted annual report is a major asset for your organization. More than just a yearly check-in, it can be a brochure for the work you’ve accomplished. It’s a perfect venue for telling your story, highlighting your mission statement, thanking your donors, and sending a message from leadership about the past year’s achievements and the new goals on the horizon.

For two examples we’ve produced for our clients, check out:

• The 2023 Pinellas Education Foundation Impact Report
• VOA Southeast’s 2023 Annual Report

Case studies

There’s a phrase in the nonprofit world: “No numbers without stories, no stories without numbers.” Nowhere is this more relevant than in case studies. Whether printed or online, studies give your organization a chance to harness together statistics and individuals’ experiences into an especially compelling message about the value of the work you do.

Focus on a particular project, program, or person’s story. Explain the challenge you had to overcome and how you went about it. Tie the details of your individual case together with facts and figures about the broader problem you’re addressing in order to emphasize the work that remains to be done and the urgency of your case.

FAQs about nonprofit storytelling

How do you interview someone for a nonprofit story?

As Barbara Walters, Terry Gross, or even Sean Evans will tell you, interviewing people is an art unto itself. Start by knowing your goals and doing your research. Find out as much as you can about the person ahead of time, but balance that with research into the topic you’re interviewing them about. Once the interview starts, try to establish a rapport: don’t go on and on about yourself, but share a little about who you are and why you’re interested. Most of all, try to listen carefully and go with the flow: be prepared for the interview to take unexpected directions and follow up on topics that seem especially important or meaningful without rushing forward to the next question you prepared.

What are the ethical considerations in nonprofit storytelling?

Whenever you tell someone’s story, it’s important to respect the dignity, privacy, and agency of the people involved. Depending on the kind of work your organization does, privacy may be an especially important consideration when you’re looking to share stories about the difference you’ve made. That’s why you should always get informed consent from the people involved, respect the nuances of their experiences, avoid bias or stereotyping, and be truthful and respectful above all else. If it’s important not to share identifying information, one route to take is creating hypothetical “user journeys” that capture people’s experiences without revealing their identities.

How can I measure the impact of my nonprofit storytelling efforts?

With any marketing efforts, it’s always important to establish clear, achievable objectives at the start and to regularly assess the success of your efforts by reviewing key metrics such as donation rates, volunteer sign-ups, website traffic and engagement, email open and click-through rates, social media engagement, and user survey responses.

Where can I find resources to help me with nonprofit storytelling?

At Big Sea, we recognize the incredible value and wide diversity of value nonprofits bring to the communities they serve. We’ve worked with organizations that build stronger families to prevent child abuse; nonprofits that conduct environmental research and educate the public; nonprofits that bring history to life in dynamic new ways.

Whatever your organization does, you can trust Big Sea to tell your story powerfully and effectively — and in a way that moves the needle for your engagement and fundraising goals. Contact us today to tell us your story.