Charlotte-Melbourne

 Author: Charlotte Francis

 

“The most powerful person in the world is the story teller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” – Steve Jobs

All our touchpoints and communications with donors – from newsletters, case for support documents, acquittal reports, sponsorship or major donor proposals and, of course, grant applications – require us to tell our story in a way that is engaging and will trigger a response. Not-for-profits are in the business of transforming people’s lives and creating lasting positive impact in communities. The story of who you are, why you exist and how you achieve those life-changing outcomes needs to be at the heart of everything you do. 

That’s why we run a story-telling activity in our half-day Grant Seeker Workshops. The process starts with a brain dump using post-it notes; this helps to get all your ideas out – the refining comes later. The beauty of this process is that it helps to free your creativity in a way that sitting in front of your computer screen might not. Another advantage is that you can run it as a group activity getting input from different teams in your organisation.

As copy-writer extraordinaire Tom Ahern says on building a case for support: “It is a matter of telling a good story, one that draws readers in and never lets them doubt for a minute that your organization is the greatest and your cause the most worthy. That doesn’t mean you have to exaggerate and embellish, or heaven forbid, lie. No, it means that you must write your Case for Support with heart, soul and passion—you know, that same heart, soul and passion that all of you bring to the work you do every day.”
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The key to telling your story well is to balance that very same heart, soul and passion with the facts, statistics and hard data. Can you demonstrate the need and back it up with research? And
can you communicate the social outcomes of your project - what will change for the target group, how will they benefit and how are you measuring that? Can you demonstrate the longer-term impact?

If you’re looking for story-telling inspiration tune into to Nancy Duarte’s TEDx Talk where she looks at how stories are hard-wired into our DNA (pre-literate societies used an oral tradition to pass on their history, knowledge and culture from generation to generation) and have the power to connect and create a physical response in the body.

You’ve heard it before but we’ll say it again anyway: people give to people not to projects, causes, buildings and arguments. Next time you sit down to write a grant, appeal letter or donor report, think about how you can best tell your story in a way that captures both hearts and minds.

See more information on our Grant Seeker Workshops

Charlotte-MelbourneAuthor: Charlotte Francis

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Kirk Pereira, Business Development Manager at Thankyou, a social enterprise founded in 2008 in response to global poverty.  Starting out as a bottled water company and now extending to food, body and baby care, Thankyou donate 100% of their profits to life-changing food, water, health and sanitation programs around the world. You’ll have no doubt seen and/or bought their products in your local supermarket. 

To date they have changed half a million lives and given out over $4.8 million to food, water, sanitation, and maternal and child health programsthankyou for people in need.

So how did the company go from being a group of friends around a table in Melbourne to a thriving business with over 40 products available in 5000 outlets in Australia (including 7 Eleven, Coles and Woolworths)? And what can we learn from their approach and  how does it apply to our grant-seeking? 

The take-aways from Kirk’s talk were:

  1. The importance of teamwork and alignment in the organisation, with everyone united behind the vision for the company. Charities that are working to a common goal where all the staff are part of the developing and owning the strategic and business plan are those that are the most successful. Funders like to see organisations that are well managed and governed.

  2. “The fear of failure kills off more dreams than failure itself,” said Kirk, and “Remember why you started.” Does this resonate with you?  Is your organisation afraid of innovation or are you adapting to shifting funding models, sectoral and policy changes? Is your board open to change? What is their appetite for risk? 

  3. Persistence and perseverance are vital to an organisation’s success. Thankyou’s journey was not an easy one, they encountered resistance, competition and closed doors when they first took their product to market but they persevered, never losing faith in their vision and goals.

    The same lesson applies to grant-seeking; don’t give up if your applications don’t at first meet with success -  seek feedback, build the relationship and keep trying. 

  4. Social media needs to be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Thankyou were very creative in their use of social media. They invited the public to help put pressure on 7 Eleven, Coles and Woolworths to take Thankyou products by producing and posting online videos demonstrating their support on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. In 2015 Thankyou achieved 77 million media impressions and 200 media hits. Check out their Coles and Woolworths campaign here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsvzYq2melM  

  5. Always remain positive. Don’t ask what will happen if a campaign doesn’t work, but what will happen if it does! 

  6. Clearly communicate the impact of your work. Each Thankyou product has its own tracking code enabling consumers to see the impact of their purchase on people’s lives in developing countries. They also prepare and send out email reports when projects conclude. How are you measuring and demonstrating the social and economic impact of your projects?