“They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.” CARL W. BUEHNER
Storytelling gets to the heart (and soul) of the matter when discussing philanthropy. As valuable as the printed case statement and the annual report are, their impact on your potential donors pales in comparison to your success in sharing personal experiences and feelings with them.
Here’s how to find and prepare your personal story, how to help colleagues do the same, and how to learn the personal stories of your soon-to-be major donors.
Start by creating your personal story about your organization. Recall a special experience, a memorable person to talk about. That becomes your living example of how your organization accomplishes its mission. If you haven’t been personally affected then find a story through your conversations with colleagues, by walking around the facility and asking clients, patients, students to share their experiences with you. Whether you receive permission to share names or simply tell their stories anonymously, the effect on those with whom you share those stories is the same.
Share the stories you hear and collect with your fundraising partners, especially with your CEO and key volunteers. Invite them to take the same walks and have the same conversations you have, and to collect their own favorite stories to share when they’re in front of those you all want to learn about the real impact your organization is having.
Then tell those stories to your intended audience, your most promising prospective donors. This opens their memory banks and their hearts to your next step.
Imagine yourself in front of a new possible donor. Would you rather talk about the cost of tuition and the beneficial effect of scholarships on the school or tell the heartwarming story of a real scholarship recipient?
Would you rather describe how a gift to fund a research project will help the researcher or tell the story of someone whose life has been improved by the results of that research?
Do you want to share statistics about the number of animals rescued or tell about the baby seal you helped clean after an oil spill?
Finally, invite those with whom you speak to tell their own stories. Ask the member of your board why he believes in your organization, why she accepted the invitation to serve. If need be, ask if there was a particular experience that embodies this. You can encourage storytelling by inviting your audience to reflect on a favorite teacher or nurse, on a walk through a nature preserve, on visiting an animal rescue center, on the visit by a disaster relief worker. Here is the genesis of this person’s story.
Ask the college alumna to share her best memory of her time at school, what continues to bring her back to campus, and why she provides financial support.
Ask the parents of a former medical patient to reflect on how they felt when their child was discharged, about their interactions with the medical staff.
Here’s a vital aspect of sharing stories. Keep them short and focused. Even rambling enthusiastically for five minutes will lose the interest of your listener so keep it simple. A good preparatory exercise is to write your story, then edit it. Pare it down to a single paragraph, ideally of no more than four – five sentences you can say aloud in about 60 seconds. You can always flesh out the details when you’re asked to. But your initial objective is to get the heart of your story into the heart of your listener.
Once you touch the heart magic can happen. Humanize, personalize your conversations about giving and see what happens. The stories your prospective donors tell you and their reactions to the stories you tell them will inform what about your mission and programs is most important to them. This becomes the beginning of your gift discussion.