#Impact in storywriting full#

When you focus on a single person’s experience, the struggle becomes real and the impact that you’ve made on that person’s life is easier to grasp. But the key is picking a memorable story that’s rich in detail and drama while also reinforcing the value of your mission. This person can be either someone that your nonprofit has helped, a member of your executive team or staff, or a volunteer. Oftentimes, the most powerful way to tell the story of your organization is to tell it through the lens of one person’s journey. Make them feel something and then make them believe in your mission even more with supporting metrics - in that order.Įxample: Charity Water does an excellent job of engaging the reader with a sense of place and character while using stats judiciously to show impact with this story.

#Impact in storywriting full#

Instead, hook your readers (or viewers) immediately with a story that’s full of tension, emotion and conflict. While relevant data does provide evidence that you’re making a difference, don’t let the numbers overshadow the human element. One common mistake that we see is the tendency to include loads of data in the belief that the more statistics you can cram into an impact story, the bigger the impact you’re showing. Here some of our favorite tips for giving your impact stories more, well, impact. And putting out compelling stories is more important than ever because the competition for donations is only growing more fierce. Or perhaps they don’t have anyone on staff who’s a strong writer or don’t have the budget to hire professional storytellers.īut good nonprofit storytelling is easier to pull off than you might think. Maybe it’s because they haven’t created a culture of storytelling within their organization. At some nonprofits, mention “impact stories” and you’ll hear a collective groan.