This document provides guidance on how to tell effective stories to raise more money for nonprofits. It discusses that stories are important because donors care about characters they can relate to. A good story has characters with needs, a believable plot tied to the mission, and a clear call to action. Stories can be found by talking to those served and asking engaging questions. Stories should be told succinctly everywhere possible, including websites, newsletters, social media and more, using compelling photos and videos. Tying stories back to the mission is important.

1. Nonprofit Storytelling:
How to tell better stories and raise more money
Elizabeth Turnbull
July 14, 2010
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3. Today’s Speaker
Elizabeth Turnbull
Turnbull Marketing Group
Hosting: Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership
Assisting with chat questions: Chris Dumas, FirstGiving

4. Once Upon a Time...
• Who cares?
• What makes a story “good”?
• Where can I find a good story?
• How do I tell a story
effectively?
• Where do I tell my story?

5. Who cares?
• Everyone with money to give.
And that means that you care,
too.
• Fewer charity dollars going
around means that you have to
step up your game and make
your mission relevant to your
donors.
• If you don’t have a story to tell,
then what in the world are you
doing out there?

6. What makes a story “good”?
• Characters you can relate to
• A plot you can believe in (and
that’s relevant)
• Well-executed
• A call to action that moves you

7. Characters you can relate to
• Personable
• Sympathetic/Vulnerable
• Have a fulfillable need
• Have a succinct story that
relates directly to your
mission
• Whenever possible, not you

8. A plot you can believe in
• No conflict, no need
• Clearly expresses the need
• Has a story-like feel (think
feature story in your favorite
magazine)
• Ties in directly to your
mission
•
gn.
Great Depression Campai
Food For The Poor. 2009.The
Relevant to your donors
• Succinct
• Invites the reader into the
character’s world

9. Well Executed
• Good writing (or script)
• Descriptive — try to
involve all of your
readers’ senses
• Clear and easy to read
(or watch)
• Professional quality

10. A call to action that moves you
• Direct—no
• Urgent—Why me?
hemming and
Why now?
hawing
• Repeated • Doable

11. Where can I find a good story?
• Everywhere! Every single
living thing in the world
has a story—the hard
part is seeing it
• Start at home
• Talk to the people you
serve
• Be nosy—ask questions
that touch the heart

12. Be nosy
• What do you hope/pray for?
• What do you want for your
future? For your children’s
future?
• How has our organization
helped you? What was life like
before we began to help you?
• What do you want to tell our
friends and supporters?
• Why should our friends &
supporters help other people
like you?

13. How do I tell a story effectively?
• Focus on the details that pull at the heart
strings—make them weep
• Be succinct—leave out the dry information
• Hook your audience from the very beginning
• Use action words, present tense and
adjectives
• Don’t just tell a story—show it
• Tie everything back to your mission

14. Hook, Line...and Wallet
• Imagine...
• Come with me on a journey...
• I want you to...
• I need you to...
• Start with a quote from the main character
• Transport your audience directly to the scene

15. Mahalia
Climbing the sagging steps leading up to the
dilapidated house teetering 6 feet off the ground in
Georgetown, Guyana, I keep my eyes on 8-year-old
Mahalia, who bounds ahead of me with no apparent
fear of falling through the rotted wood. She leads me
inside, where missing floorboards, bowing walls and a
rusted piece of tin—more a strainer than a roof—
form what bit of space she has to call home. I have
come to listen, and Mahalia is just about to tell me a
secret.

16. Where do I tell my story?
• Use them everywhere you can—online, brochures,
newsletters, fundraising letters, benefits, annual reports
• Illustrate with compelling photos
• Send your audience online for the rest of the story—websites
shouldn’t be just content-driven, they need to be story-driven
• Make short videos—feature the people you serve whenever
possible
• Tell one good story in each e-Newsletter
• Use your blog to tell stories, not to give status reports

17. On Your Web Site

18. On Your Web Site

19. On Your Web Site

20. On Facebook

21. On Facebook

22. On Facebook

23. On Twitter

24. On Twitter

25. On Twitter

26. Happily Ever After
• Pull at heart strings
• Be succinct
• Make it personal
• Tie it back to your mission
• Tell stories all the time, everywhere you go

27. Let’s keep in touch
ll
Eliz abeth Turnbu
roup.com
email : elizabeth@tbullg
ull
twitter : @ejturnb
.5072
telephone: 919.741
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