Summer Institute for Alumni Relations Pre-Institute Sessions-The Art of Storytelling

The Art of Storytelling

Pdf Summary

The document discusses the importance of storytelling in the work of fundraisers and advancement professionals. It emphasizes that stories are meaningful, memorable, and impactful, creating personal connections with donors. The document suggests positioning donors as the heroes in the stories and highlighting how their acts of giving satisfy essential human needs. The Creative Equation, which combines resonance and demonstration, is introduced as a way to motivate donors. Finding the right balance between resonance and demonstration varies for each organization and constituency. <br /><br />The document also highlights the significance of storytelling for reaching and influencing the audience. It mentions that the human brain is predisposed to think in story terms, and effective storytelling practices can ensure that the story heard and recalled by the listener is the intended one. The document explains that storytelling relies on listening to donors' stories, aligning values with potential donors, and using photos to create emotional bonds. Consistency in storytelling efforts is crucial for success.<br /><br />Tips for effective storytelling are provided, including being clear and succinct, avoiding overly salesy language, creating characters, being specific, knowing the audience, constantly looking for stories, being genuine and authentic, engaging all the senses, including a call to action, using visuals, and evoking emotions. <br /><br />Charity: Water is mentioned as an example of a nonprofit organization that excels in storytelling. It captures different angles of impact, maintains a positive tone, and uses a virtual platform to connect donors with individuals from their global initiatives. The document concludes by reminding fundraisers not to forget the facts and to provide evidence of impact to donors after telling a story.

Keywords

storytelling

fundraisers

donors

heroes

giving

resonance

demonstration

audience

emotional bonds

Charity: Water