Storytelling tips for nonprofits to drive donations in 2018

Data suggests that people respond more to stories than to numbers. It has to be something that could rile up people’s emotions to make them act and contribute their resources towards something. With so many issues and organizations trying to catch the limited attention of people, it only gets pertinent to get more creative in your pitch. It has to be something that people could relate with, to help you build a connection with them. Connections are what are important to drive people to associate themselves with a cause.

Once you are successful in building an emotional connect with your potential donors, not only will the donations come in huge numbers but you will also gain long term supporters who would be eager members of your community.

This makes the art of storytelling really important for any organization. More so for nonprofits. With this backdrop in mind, we have compiled a few storytelling tips for your non-profit to learn from to drive donations in 2018.

Bring out a Central Character

To allow people to relate well with your story, you need to introduce a character that people could relate with. It’s always a character in every story that people generally associate with or root for. It doesn’t have to be any different even in your nonprofit pitch. It has to be a single character that you focus on in your story and not a whole gamut of characters. Include details about the character and let people share something in common with it. With this it gets easier for people to see the effect of their action on that one character rather than seeing a lost cause that they can’t associate any positive result with.

Elucidate the Conflict

Now that your audience is concerned about the well-being of your character and are invested in it, it is time to introduce the conflict that your character finds itself in. It is important to do this to let your audience empathize with it and root for it.

Call to Action

Now that the audience knows your character well and the problems that it has, it is time to show them how they could come in and make a positive impact in its life. How they could help change its situation and help it go back to normal. The goal of your story was to move people and make them act. To donate for your cause and be a supporter of it. Therefore, it is only imperative that you include an actionable call to action that people could follow. Show them how their action could bring a positive change in your character’s life.

Usage of Visuals

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Using images, GIFs, videos would make your audience connect better with you. Supplementing it creatively in your story would go a long way in determining your success.

Articulating a great story and sharing it with your audience will not only help you to drive your donations but would also make a lot of people to take up your cause and actively go about it. Let’s adopt the above tips to make 2018 a great year when it comes to fundraising for non-profits.

BONUS: How to inspire others by storytelling?