Your Story: How to Inspire Others to Care, Act, and Give
Presented by Merle Benny
June 17, 2015
Presented in collaboration with The Foundation Center New York
We all love a good story! Learning to gather and tell stories is essential to the success of a nonprofit organization. On June 17, 2015 we had a full house at the Foundation Center as I shared ideas (and some Girl Scout cookies) as we explored the opportunity to grow through storytelling. Here are your 3 steps to success:
3 Steps to Reach your Goals through Storytelling
1. Storytelling is fundamental to your success. Nonprofits need friends – they become your advocates, volunteers and donors. Friends become friends because they have an emotional connection to your organization. Nothing moves us more than a good story. Following a simple, fairy tale format helps us become good storytellers:
Once upon a time…
Unfortunately…
Thankfully…
Happily ever after.
2. You have a great story to tell. Everyone has a wide range of life stories to draw from. Look for those that enlighten your reasons for caring about the vision of your organization. Who influenced you? What life experiences caused you to choose your work? Once you’ve discovered your own stories connect them to your founder’s story. Become a story telling organization – gather stories everyday (don’t wait for the big breakthroughs, the little victories are worth sharing). Make it easy for everyone in your organization to gather and share stories.
3.You can use stories to reach your goals. Because decision making is emotional you can use your stories to move people to laugh, cry and give! Stories are perfect for presentations, websites, social media and videos. You, your staff, board, clients or members are all potential storytellers. The more you tell your story the more you gain and the better you get at telling it. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Merle Benny champions nonprofit leaders. In addition to storytelling, Merle provides creative marketing and fundraising solutions to organizations. She blogs at Nonprofit Champion and can be reached at 973-510-7652.
