Tell stories
Beth Kanter’s post about her process for raising funds as part of the America’s Giving Challenge tells the story of Pharoth, an orphan in Cambodia. The story reinforces the all-important point that Beth makes:
…all nonprofits need to use stories as part of their communications and fundraising. Research and studies have shown that donors are more likely to give if they are hear a story about one person who has been helped by the charity versus numbers and statistics. I now have a collection of stories about the Sharing Foundation.
[Via BlogHer - Social change, Non-profits & NGOs: Stories, Conversations, and Supportive Network are Key for Social Fundraising.]
It’s easy to think of charities who use the story technique, who ask for a dollar a day for a named person, for example. But there are also still many organisations who would benefit from working a little harder on putting stories to statistics.
Stories engage our human hearts and allow us to feel that the ‘problem’ is manageable. We can’t help hundreds, or thousands or millions who need a particular service, but we do feel able to improve the life of Josephine or Johnny.
What are the stories in your organisation?
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January 31, 2008 1 Comment
