Friends,One of the pleasures of writing a blog is that you start paying attention to other blogs. I've been watching one for a while--Don't Tell the Donor.org, which is one of the most irreverent sites I've found in the nonprofit blogosphere. The site's conceit is that the author maintains anonymity because he/she works for a nonprofit and risks being fired if the opinions expressed go a bit too far. The author doesn't blanch at being a social critic of the practices and excesses of the nonprofit world, and the posts are insightful and supportive of those of us who work for or with nonprofits.
A recent one, entitled, The best fundraisers are those who can tell a story, features a video of Professor Brian Sturm from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "He describes storytelling as a way of organizing information, conveying emotions, and building community."
At our 2007 conference--MajorGiving: The Conference 2007, we held two breakout sessions all about telling your institutional story. While everyone's story-telling ability varies, it's clear that being able to talk about your organization in the most compelling fashion is a sure-fire way to gain attention and audience.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I held a "buzz party" for the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), on whose board I serve, and one of whose stories (a rather compelling one about their courage to produce a controversial work over the objections of a couple of board members) I told at the major giving conference. Because we live in Winchester, Virginia, which is about 40 minutes from CATF's home in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, we wanted to introduce the theater company to our community. We rented the local arts council, hired a local 15 year old jazz sax prodigy, and slaved to do the hors d'oeuvres ourselves. About seventy people attended, and for all of our efforts, what mattered the most was the mesmerizing and compelling story of the theater and its upcoming season that was presented by CATF's Producing Director. There's a certain evangelical quality about him, and I began to appreciate how this man lives and breathes the mission of his organization. The audience at the party was spell-bound, and I was told by at least a dozen of them that they were planning on attending this season.
I think we do a disservice to the organizations we serve when we don't communicate our mission and service in an exciting way. Humans respond to narratives, and, just as all books, plays and movies are, in essence, variations on the same myths that have been told for thousands of years, making our institutional stories new and relevant is central to our ability to win the hearts and minds of our donors.
Keep messages about your organization fresh and exciting and donors will respond!
Talk to you soon!
Bob
