I help missionaries, leaders, and organizations tell powerful and effective stories that inspire action.
What to do when the stories aren't pretty...
Ah, the transformation story! Someone was hurting. Things were all wrong. Then your donors stepped up and your organization was able to do life-changing work. Those stories are powerful and effective, and we love to tell them!
But you and I know it's not always that clear.
What if you don't know whether your intervention worked?
How do we tell a story when it's just the beginning of a long process of change?
How do we tell stories when we don't know the ending?
I believe some of our internal conflict over these stories is our fear of giving donors a not-so-perfect picture of our mission. On the one hand, we're seen as the experts. But really, there are so many factors beyond our control. We cannot fix it all.
I'm not talking about taking responsibility when we mess up (more on that another time). I'm thinking about those interventions where we did our best, and it seemed like things were okay. We saw change. We may have shared a story from a beneficiary who made a radical turnaround because of our work.
But a few months later, they were right back in that unhealthy situation. Do you tell that story?
You probably don't want to (or need to) highlight that person's personal setbacks. But there are stories you can tell around the experience:
- Explain the process of change your beneficiaries go through.
- Focus on one aspect of the change process and help supporters understand why it's such a hurdle.
- Share a story about the setting that causes difficulties in the change process.
- Feature something in your work that deals specifically with one of those hurdles.
When you tell stories like this, you show that you're the expert. You're giving donors one more reason to trust you to tackle this problem.
Have you told stories like this before? What response did you get?
Kay Helm
Mission Writers, Life & Mission Podcast
Kayhelm.com
Listen to this episode on the Life & Mission podcast.
P.S. If the only problems with your stories are spelling and grammar (maybe a misplaced word or two), then you might need ProWritingAid. I use PWA to clean up my writing and find embarrassing mistakes before my stories go out. On sale now, for up to 50% off! Click here (affiliate link for one of my favorite writing tools).
Kay Helm
I help missionaries, leaders, and organizations tell powerful and effective stories that inspire action.
When you talk to people about funding your mission, do you get a “yes” every time? Does that make you hesitate at the next opportunity? I think it's important for us to remember even the best don't succeed at every try. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes won the Most Valuable Player award (again) at this year's Super Bowl. He threw 46 passes in the game, but only 34 were caught by teammates (and one was intercepted). During the season, "just" 67% of the passes he threw were completed. In school, 67%...
In the Food Network show Chopped, chefs compete to cook the best dish based on a basket of mystery ingredients. Just before contestants present their first dish to the judges, they must answer the question: What would it mean for you to win? The winner gets $10,000, but winning Chopped means so much more than money. This is the story element of the show. Each chef is playing for something personal to them. Some play in hopes of winning seed money for a new venture. Some play to prove...
Do you feel alone in your fundraising work? A lot of us do. And, in our isolation, we somehow convince ourselves that people will think less of us if we ask for help. Or we don't want to "bother" anyone. Or, we think people are too busy. As you craft your essential stories, case document, and other key elements of your fundraising story collection, you have a tremendous opportunity to engage supporters – not by sending out more information, but by asking for their advice. Simply invite some...