Once Upon a Time: The Power of Stories in Fundraising
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The document discusses the importance of using stories in fundraising. It notes that stories are more effective at engaging donors than facts and statistics because they appeal more to human emotion. The document provides examples of different types of stories that can be used, such as founder stories, donor stories, beneficiary stories, and legacy stories. It also provides tips for finding and writing compelling stories to include in fundraising campaigns.
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Once Upon a Time: The Power of Stories in Fundraising
- 1. Once Upon a Time: The Power of Stories in Fundraising Leah Eustace, ACFRE #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 2. Leah Eustace Principal & Chief Idea Goddess Good Works leah@goodworksco.ca blog.goodworksco.ca @LeahEustace #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 3. THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 4. Marketing clutter #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 5. The answer is in how your brain works #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 6. Scenario One: Karen Klein #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 7. Scenario Two: Darfur #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 8. Psychic Numbing Nicholas Kristof, New York Times #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 9. The future of storytelling Paul Zak #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 10. Appeal to the heart, not the head Artwork courtesy of Mark Phillips www.bluefroglondon.com #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 11. FINDING STORIES #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 12. Look and Listen
- 13. Invite • Website • Reply devices • Surveys • Welcome packages • Receipt packages • Newsletters • Facebook • Blogs ...and so on
- 16. Ask
- 17. INGREDIENTS OF A GOOD STORY #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 18. Passion #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 19. Hero #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 20. An antagonist or conflict
- 21. Result #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 22. Writing #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 23. EXAMPLES #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 24. Founding/Founder Story Jer’s Vision Bullied and discriminated against in high school. Challenged his school board and administration at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and used the settlement to establish a scholarship fund. The response was so overwhelming that he subsequently established a charity supporting youth across the country and internationally. #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 25. Donor Story #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 26. Beneficiary Story #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 27. Legacy Story #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 28. Your story #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
- 29. Questions? #LGBTPhilanthropy #InclusiveGiving @LeahEustace
Editor's Notes
- what do you hope we’ll accomplish today? What are your storytelling challenges?
- 1970s, the average person in Canada was exposed to roughly 500 ads a day. These days, that number is closer to 5,000. Cuba: lack of ads (anyone notice that?) So, “how do you get fundraising message noticed in the crowded modern marketplace?”
- Through stories. Stories get and keep the reader’s attention Help you communicate better Enhance credibility Linger longer in reader’s minds Get your message passed along further and faster People believe information more readily if it’s delivered in story rather than through statistics. And science backs this up…
- Who can tell me what’s going on here? June 2012 Bus monitor bullied by 4 boys in grade 7 Video posted to Youtube… soon watched by millions Boys make fun of her appearance, age, etc. One boy refers to Klein's family, saying, "They all killed themselves, because they didn't want to be near you." Max Sidorov, a nutritionist, author and Ukrainian immigrant living in Toronto who says he had been a victim of bullying as a child, started a campaign at fundraising site Indiegogo with a goal of $5,000, to help give Klein a vacation When the campaign ended on July 20, Klein's campaign had received a total of $703,833.
- Conflict began in 2003 One of world’s worst human rights crises. 4.7 million people affected 1.4 million living in camps Described as genocide As many as 400,000 dead Do you have any examples like this in your own fundraising? Perhaps you asked for money for a big problem and it didn’t get the same response as a relatively small problem?
- Nicholas Kristof: American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prize. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since 2001 widely known for bringing to light human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such as human trafficking and the Darfur conlict. has learned to use stories of individual people in his reporting: people donate more! inspired by the work of Paul Slovic Ordinary citizens were asked to contribute $5 to alleviate hunger abroad In one version, the money would go to a particular girl, Rokia, a 7-year-old in Mali In another, to 21 million hungry Africans In a third to Rokia, but she was presented as a victim of a larger tapestry of global hunger People were less likely to give to anonymous millions like Rokia. By they were also less willing to give in the third sceniaro, in which Rokia’s suffering was presented as part of a broader pattern In another experiment, people in one group could donate to a $300,000 fund for medical treatments that would save the life of one child – or, in another group, the lives of 8 children. People donated more than twice as much money to help save one child as to help save 8.
- Show video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHeqQAKHh3M How a story actually works… Stories are powerful because they transport us into other people's worlds and in doing that they change how our brains work
- human’s are not ideally set up to understand logic; they’re ideally set up to understand stories Engage their emotions Another Slovic experiment: People prepared to donate to the needy were first asked either to talk about babies (to prime the emotions) or to perform math calculations (to prime their rational side). Those who did math donated less. There is a universal story structure, and this structure, according to Paul Zak’s experiments, you can predict with 80% accuracy who will give.
- Listen to what’s being said around the proverbial water cooler Ask someone who’s been with your organization a long time to talk about the early days What’s your founder story? Talk to the people on the front lines Think about your own story… why are you doing the job you do? How have you been touched by the cause you work for? Keep an eye on social media At the end of every day ask yourself “what happened today that would make a good story?” Carry around a notebook
- Let’s look at some examples
- Youth Services Bureau in Ottawa
- -brainstorm with staff a few times a year -encourage staff to be thinking of the story of one -follow up with donors who write a note along with their check, fill in a survey, call -the more you ask, the more you’ll change the culture of your organization How else can you gather stories?
- There are ingredients every letter story needs. This is what takes you from ho-hum to good. Maybe even excellent.
- You need passion to tell a good story. Is suspect that everyone in this room has passion: we wouldn’t be overworked and under paid in the non-profit profession if we weren’t drive by that passion and that desire to make a difference. The more passionate we are in telling our story and the more authentic we are in our emotions, the more compelling we are as the narrator. Another way of saying this is we need some oomph in the narration.
- There needs to be a protagonist or hero in your story. You need someone who people find they respect or who is compelling, someone substantial but someone relatable at the same time, someone people identify with and feel some role in the stakes that that person is facing.
- If there’s nothing at stake, there’s no story. What is the hero up against? If there’s nothing in their way or there’s no conflict, it’s not a story. What is the person trying to achieve? Where is the natural tension in the story?
- Finally, don’t be shy. What you do changes the world. It does. So let us have closure in your story. Let us see how you are transforming things for the better. It is the end of every good story, and leaves us ready to hear your next one.
- Always write stories in the first person Write as you speak: short sentences and paragraphs Write at a grade 6 level (google “turn on readability stats in word” to find out how to do that) Like any fundraising appeal, the story should have an introduction, a problem, a solution and a result. You want to paint a picture in your donors’ minds so they pay closer attention, understand more easily and respond emotionally.
- Jeremy Dias was bullied in his high school. Despite efforts to make changes in his school, he was stopped by school administrators, and experienced severe bullying and discrimination on a daily basis. As a result of his experiences, he challenged his school & school board at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and after 3 years at the age of 21 was awarded a settlement Feeling strongly that the funds should go to making a difference in his community, he and a few friends founded the Jeremy Dias Scholarship, an award for graduating youth working to stop bullying in their schools. After launching the scholarship, the newly formed team received hundreds of e-mails and messages from youth across Canada and parts of the world who wanted more support. The team founded Jer's Vision, a registered charity that would work to support youth and stop bullying and discrimination of all kinds.In the last nine years, Jer's Vision has grown from a small committee to an organization doing programming across Canada and the United States, and supporting youth internationally
- Rockefeller website: “Each day, we are moved and inspired by the generosity and creativity of both established and emerging donors who genuinely want to leverage their wealth for the common good. This section of our website will feature profiles of individuals, couples and families who we feel are exemplary in their giving.” Jon Stryker, grandson of Dr. Homer Stryker, the orthopedist who founded Stryker Corporation, a prominent medical device maker, is a leading American philanthropist and founder of the Arcus Foundation. Stryker has focused his giving efforts on championing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights as well as great ape conservation. [Read more about Jon Stryker]
- Camp Changed My Life Thanks for that, Erica I’m not like every other teenager and I never will be. But Camp Ten Oaks has shown me that I can be whoever I want to be. And, nobody can ever judge me for that. I came out as gay when I was 13. I was severely bullied at school and it felt like there was nothing I could do about it. My social worker suggested I go to Camp Ten Oaks and that moment changed my life.I’ve now been to camp for three years in a row, but I remember not knowing what I signed up for that first year. I’m not normally an outdoors-y person and camp is, well, it’s quite rustic. I couldn’t believe it - not much electricity, outhouses, and never ending stairs!After a few days though, none of that mattered. I was just having the best time ever.For the first time I felt like I belonged. There are so many amazing people at camp. Ten Oaks was the first place I felt that nobody judged me. I can’t even put that feeling into words – it’s liberating - the best feeling in the world. Thank you for that!Every summer I’ve gone back to camp, it’s affected my life for the rest of the year. Because of Camp Ten Oaks, I can be more myself than I’ve ever been.I want to thank you with my life for your donation that makes camp possible, Jose. The Ten Oaks Project has helped and changed me in a way nothing else could.
- Horizons Foundation offers donors the opportunity to create named funds within the LGBT Community Endowment Fund, either as part of their own legacies or in honor of others. John and Jack first met at a party in 1959 and moved in together six months later. During their life together, John served as the executive director of the Hearing Society for 36 years and helped found the Rainbow Deaf Society in the 1970s. He also took part in the creation of Larkin Street Youth Services in the 1980s. Jack worked as the controller of a major corporation and volunteered as the accountant for the Hearing Society. The Fairy Godfathers Fund they inspired is dedicated to creating a world in which LGBT people with disabilities are able to participate fully and equally in all aspects of community and society. Grants from the fund will focus especially (though not exclusively) on LGBT people who live with hearing impairments. Jack and John want to encourage others to give to the fund to increase the resources available for LGBT disability issues, from expanded services for LGBT youth to more training for social workers, nurses, doctors, and people who work with seniors.
- Youth Line – Volunteer Voice in newsletter with donation appeal “In Novemer 2008, the Youth Line completed a round of volunteer training and through that we have gained 17 new peer support volunteers. One volunteer, Kim, is 22, she resides in Toronto and I had to chance to talk to Kim and ask her about how she felt about being a first time volunteering at the Youth Line and this was her response: Have you ever felt like coming home when you’ve never even been to that place before? That’s what Youth Line felt like to me. I am a recent out of the closet lesbian, well it’s still a work in progress and I was looking for somewhere to meet other queer people, somewhere I could learn things about the community and give back to it in some way. Having tried the bar/club scene a few too many times I wanted something with a little bit more substance, I found that at Youth Line. I found the passion the people there have for its cause and the wonderful purpose it serves in lives of so many. This passion and impact can really never be explained until you see it. I walked in there with my own concepts and conclusions still battling the whole idea that being gay was in some way wrong and now I am proud to say I have been saved! Life is never easy, being proud of who you are is that much harder but Thank God for Google, it led me to Youth Line and Thank God for Youth Line, it makes the steps on my journey in life fall a little more easily. Peer Support Volunteers at the Youth Line are given the opportunity to learn from each other and from Youth Line staff. The volunteers at the Youth Line, leave with more then just transferable skills that they can they bring with them in the careers; they leave with a fuller sense of self, a community of people they can relate to and a sense belonging, free from isolation, and that is one of the greatest contributions of the Youth Line.”