The Power of Storytelling: Building Bridges for Nonprofit Impact
Your Goal
The goal of your nonprofit organisation is to fulfil your mission, to create change around the problem that you have set out to fight, to change the lives of those affected by this problem. Thats what it all comes down to.
As simple as it sounds, in reality it is a huge challenge.
You face obstacles everywhere you look. First of all you need budget, so how do you attract donors?
Then you need a motivated and capable team, so how do you find and motivate those amazing people?
Now that you have budget and team, how will thsey influence decision makers and raise public awareness? And so on.
The Gaps You Are Facing
The list of obstacles is endless. With every move you make, new obstacles come your way. Dealing with these obstacles can feel overwhelming and frustrating, as the the success of your nonprofit is determined by how good you are at overcoming these obstacles.
Kindra Hall in her book “Stories That Stick” describes these obstacles as gaps, rather than daunting immovable blockages. Instead she defines these gaps as the spaces between what you want and where you are.
One very obvious gap in the nonprofit sector is the void between mission and impact. So the question must be: How do you bridge the many gaps in your work so you can make amazing progress on your mission?
Building Bridges
The answer is you need to build bridges.
No matter what gap you face, you must master three elements if you want to build bridges that are strong enough to get your intended audience to - donate, volunteer, collaborate, change policy etc - and those elements are attention, influence and transformation. This aligns closely with the standard description of a marketing funnel (this dirty word “marketing”, I know). But there is value here. Even if you are not trying to sell anything, you still need your audience to know you and the issue you fight exist (attention), then you need to compel your audience to take your desired action and lastly, it would be much in your favour to transform your audience into long lasting supporters, in order for you to gain momentum and build a movement.
The Problem
The problem is - and I see this way too often when I scroll through social media or when I open my email inbox or even when I attend conferences where people from nonprofits or mission driven businesses speak - most nonprofits are really bad at building bridges.
For example how many times have you been sitting in the audience at a conference, where you really wanted to listen, where you tried your best, but the presenter on stage throws slide after slide at you filled with numbers and text. And the presenter reading every single number and word out loud doesn't make it better. Your try to stay focussed but your mind continuously slips away and you catch yourself thinking about what you’ll have for dinner tonight. I must admit, this happens to me on a frequent basis. Do you agree with me when I say, that this is a lost opportunity for the nonprofit to garner interest, excitement or support? Will you tell all your colleagues and friends about this amazing work they do and check online how you can support their cause? Will you wish for their success, feeling it deep down at your core?
Probably not. And all this because the nonprofit failed to build a proper bridge.
How To Build Proper Bridges
Kindra Hall puts it beautifully: “The easiest, most effective way to build bridges that capture attention, influence behaviour, and transform those who cross them, resulting in gaps that stay closed and bridges that last, is with storytelling.”
On Raising Awareness
We all experience this. (I actually experienced it this morning.) Your phone rings and on the other line is some sales person who is trying to sell you a cheaper phone subscription. I feel both sad for the person on the other end, and on the other hand I am looking to end the conversation as fast as possible, giving the sales person as little time as possible to do his/her pitch. Why? Because I didn’t agree for the sales person to steal my attention.
Storytelling on the other hand is different. A good story with capture my attention and I will give my attention with pleasure, knowingly or not. The mechanism behind this is a concept called “narrative transportation”. It happens when you feel the story where the line between the narrative and your own experience fade.
On Influencing Your Audience
Its just scientific fact. Stories have this effect on us, that as we lose ourselves in a story (narrative transportation), we adopt the perspectives within the story. We are helplessly falling for the emotional message, and we will align with it. If you are curious how this works, read “The Science of Storytelling” by Will Storr (link below).
On Transformation
Again, this is also just science. Stories burn themselves into our memories. For me, the movie Don’t Look Up for example sticks in my mind almost every day. Im reminded of it almost daily when I scroll my LinkedIn feed. Its a movie about a nearing catastrophe (analogy for climate change), and all we humans do, is discuss about anything but the right thing to do, which would be to actually fight it. If you didn’t see the movie, I invite you to watch it. But also, I will share an example of strong storytelling below, which I guarantee you, will stay with you for long.
Let me give you an example for how to tell compelling nonprofit stories:
Here is a story that I find to be an excellent example for effective storytelling.
This story is published by charity: water, a non profit with the mission of ending the water crisis within our lifetime. The story is told so much better in video than I could ever write. So please have a look here: https://youtu.be/SHQWUERptAM?si=he7y_hM5Yssvc8dW
