Nonprofits are great at collecting data but often fail to share their information in a compelling way. Stories are the answer. With live links to video examples, this Slideshare covers ten of the most important rules of effective storytelling for causes.

1. THE ART OF
STORYTELLING
Engaging
the Public in
Your Cause

2. Why use stories when you have facts?
A group of
grade 3
students was
given a list of
21 pairs of
words and told
to memorize
them.

3. They spent as
long as they
needed to
memorize the
pairs of words
and then were
sent outside to
play for one hour.
How many pairs did the average child
remember?

4. +
soap and shoe
Most of the kids remembered
only 1 of the 21 word pairs

5. Why use stories when you have facts?
A second group of
grade 3 students
was given the
same list of 21
pairs of words and
asked to put each
pair in a
sentence.
Then, they played outside for an hour.

6. “…
…”
“My sister put the soap in daddy’s shoe.”
The kids remembered an
average of 8 of the 21 pairs

7. Why use stories when you have facts?
A third group of
grade 3 students
was given the same
list of 21 pairs of
words and asked to
put each pair in a
question.
Then, they played outside for an hour.

8. “?”
“Why did Sally put the soap in daddy’s shoe?
The kids remembered an
average of 16 of the 21 pairs

9. Why?
Because in asking a question the kids
started to create a story to answer it.
+
1 out of 21
“...”
8 out of 21
“?”
16 out of 21

10. What should be the
goal of every story
you tell?
To persuade your audience
to engage in an action.

11. Stories have power. They delight,
enchant, touch, teach, recall,
inspire, motivate, challenge. They
help us understand. They imprint
a picture on our minds.
Janet Litherland

12. 10 STORYTELLING
BEST PRACTICES
1. Stories are about people

13. www.Subaru.com

14. 2. Stories are
relevant to your
audience

15. www.TakeThePressureDown.ca

16. 3. Stories are driven by desire

17. www.CanadianTire.ca/jumpstart

18. 4. Stories stir
up emotions

19. `
www.MoreThanMedication.ca

20. 5. Stories are fixed in time and space

21. We Love Our Land

22. 6. Stories show,
they don’t tell

23. www.CanadianHockey.ca

24. 7. Characters in stories speak
for themselves

25. www.BoostForKids.org

26. 8.
Stories are
entertaining

27. MADD Canada

28. 9. Stories have a ‘moment of truth’

29. ALS.ca

30. 10. Stories have clear meaning

31. MADD Canada

32. Slideshare by
Donna Barker.
Writer, speaker,
consultant.
www.donnabarker.com