4 Essential Stories Your Non-profit Should Be Telling
By Keagan Perlette
Connection is the heart of non-profit storytelling. Strategic stories help community-minded organizations establish meaningful, long-lasting relationships with supporters. With the right stories, non-profits can clearly communicate the impact they have on their community and motivate more people to join their cause.
There are four types of stories that non-profit organizations need to be telling consistently: the origin story, the impact story, the vision story, and the values story. In this article, we’ll go over these four non-profit storytelling examples to help you start sharing the stories that matter. |
The Origin Story
Your organization’s origin story is a powerful tool for inspiring action and building relationships with your audience. An origin story describes why your organization came to be and establishes the foundation of your non-profit narrative. The origin story goes beyond your mission and vision statements. It’s a chance for you to share the challenges or needs that your founding members saw in the community and talk about what motivated them to make a change. The origin story also lets your audience in on the passion, empathy, and determination that drive your organization to do what it does. Telling this type of story helps your audience see themselves in the work you’re doing and gives them a sense of personal connection with your organization—making it more likely that they’ll get involved.
The Impact Story
Impact stories come from your community. They highlight the change that your organization is making around the causes you support. Impact stories don’t necessarily focus on your organization’s success. Instead, they uplift the voices and lived experiences of those who have benefitted from the work you do through ethical storytelling. Impact stories tell current supporters how their involvement is making a difference. When they can see how important their contribution is, they’re more excited to continue engaging with your organization. Impact stories also show potential supporters exactly what they could be a part of if they join you.
The Vision Story
Vision stories can be connected to your origin story, but they focus more on the future than on the past. Your vision stories should be rooted in your values and point in the direction of your North Star. They talk about the transformation your organization is working towards. Audience members that share your organization’s vision for the future are more likely to invest time, care, and funds into the work you’re doing because it aligns with their personal purpose. Vision stories are aspirational, but they also show audience members the tangible actions that can help make even the wildest dreams possible. This helps audiences feel that contributing to your cause will move the needle and contribute to that vision coming to life.
The Values Story
Values stories are the cornerstones of non-profit storytelling. Values are the deeply held beliefs that make up your organization’s overarching why. They reveal what’s most important to your organization and how you define big philosophical concepts like justice, equality, and what it means to live a good life. Your organization's values are a vital point of connection between you and your audience. When you talk about your values, you can strengthen the relationships you have with supporters who share those values. Relationships that are based on shared values have longevity. As time goes on, consistently sharing your values story with your community will create a sense of cohesion and bring deeper meaning to all the individuals involved.
Craft stories that create positive change
When it comes to non-profit storytelling, what you say is just as important as how you say it. Perch Communications has helped countless organizations develop powerful stories and non-profit narratives that inspire people to get involved, increase funding opportunities, and drive policy change.
Our team of storytelling experts can help you craft captivating stories that resonate with your audience. Ready to get started? Book a free consultation.
Our team of storytelling experts can help you craft captivating stories that resonate with your audience. Ready to get started? Book a free consultation.