Storytelling and Nonprofit Growth - An Association Management Company

February 2019 – Rick Szilagyi, Principal

I recently attended a webinar, sponsored by Wild Apricot and presented by Vanessa Chase Lockshin, titled: “3 Steps to Effective Storytelling to Grow Your Memberships.” The session dealt with the importance of storytelling to the growth of a nonprofit organization, and can be applied to growing membership as well as funding. At 30,000’, it isn’t surprising that telling a compelling story has more impact than, for example, merely explaining the benefits of membership, or the marketing benefits of different sponsorship levels. When we stop for a minute, and pull ourselves away from the numbers and other day-to-day work issues… we are all human. Vanessa began her webinar by asking this question: Which of the following is the most persuasive—statistics, benefits, or stories? Being able to tell a relevant story hits home.

Vanessa continued by exploring in detail the nuts and bolts of how to think about strategic storytelling and its relationship to your nonprofit. She reviewed all of the elements needed in an effective story, including, at the end, the call-to-action. She asked us to consider who within the organization may be the best person to tell the story. Potential subjects of stories may be members and constituencies, staff, donors, and volunteers. Vanessa reviewed how to uncover story ideas in our organizations, including the creation of a form to solicit stories, emailing members for stories about the organization, and asking for ideas at meetings. Different modes of communicating stories were also presented, including creating brief, 1-minute videos for social media and websites, and presenting stories at events.

But, while we think about all of the how-to issues, let’s not lose sight of what feels like a given – telling a relevant story hits home much more than citing statistics and detailing the benefits of various sponsorship levels.