| How do I share my organization’s impact more effectively? | Take your time to build a compelling story. Compile your information first and then pick the storytelling format that best suits the story. If you get stuck, try a template or switch formats. |
Great stories feel familiar. The ones that speak to us are the ones that touch us, and the ones we remember. We recognize themes like love or the search for justice. We recognize characters we’ve seen before, like caring mentors and power-hungry villains. Great stories have a cadence that we relate to, a rhythmic pulse that pulls us along as events unfold and lessons are learned. They sweep us away. Impact stories are no different.
If you work in a nonprofit, you want your impact stories to be great. You want to share your love of mission, community, and planet. You want audiences to feel inspired so they will join the cause or support your hard work.
When the success of your advocacy depends on public support or your organization’s financial health is on the line, you may feel a desperate need to move people with your stories. It can seem like getting enough people to support you at the right moment depends on the stories you tell.
The fingerprints of the digital age are all over the notion of impact measurement and storytelling. The assumptions baked into impact storytelling are hallmarks of our era: belief in the value of things like a goal and a strategy for reaching it, or the merits of learning and iterating as you work, or the wisdom of questioning what you “know” and looking for proof of results … these are all values of our time.
We focus on impact measurement more and more because it’s possible now: actions are more knowable and more measurable; observations are easier to collect and store and analyze; and information is cheap to save and share. We talk about storytelling, because there are so many different ways to tell stories; and because it is simultaneously more important, easier, and harder to reach people. (Easier, because the internet reaches into every pocket; harder, because there is so much chatter competing for attention.)
If you’re trying to tell impact stories and you aren’t happy with the results, you’re not alone. You’re probably on the right path, but you’ve just stumbled into one of the common mud puddles along the way. Here’s what’s happening, and what you can do to get unstuck.
In journalism, reporting is the stage when you collect information. Writing is the stage when you form it into a story. Journalists are taught that these are two distinct activities — the rest of us either never learn this, or we learn it after years of trial and error.
If your stories feel thin, superficial, or interchangeable with stories that any organization in your field might tell, it’s usually because you’re jumping to the storytelling phase too soon. A sure sign that you’re writing too soon is that you are putting 100% of the information you’ve collected into your story.
Don’t start writing your article, your video script, or your presentation until you’ve collected as much information as you can. Once that’s done, build your story; include the information that connects the dots and leave out anything that isn’t essential.
There are so many different ways you can communicate with people, from in-person meetings to online interactions. Even if you’re focusing on the web (where most impact reporting eventually lives), it’s good to be intentional about which format you are using and embrace its unique storytelling style.
What’s the best way to tell your story: Should it be a static file that looks like a print document so people can jump directly to pages they want to read? A video that will convey movement and emotion with a mix of sound and image? A scrolling, interactive webpage? A social media carousel where short, powerful points stand on their own?
Each format has its own rules and draws on different communications skills. Pictures might tell your story better than words. Stats may only tell a complete story once a designer creates visualizations. A long, thoughtful story may be more compelling than a series of several short stories.
Pick a format, then focus on the rules for storytelling that apply to that medium. And if you’re feeling stuck, switch.
We say “writing”, but we’re really talking about content creation. The exact same information can be packaged very differently for a written article, an infographic, a video, a speech, or a presentation.
Once you’ve picked your format, you still need to find the “right” balance between words, pictures, statistics, bullet points, and narrative.
This often means getting more people involved in the storytelling process — photographers, designers, and copywriters for example.
If you want to tell a great story that sweeps people along, the design and polish stages are hugely important. Information alone won’t inspire your readers: if it did, we’d all weep with joy or rise up in revolution every time we cracked open the dictionary.
Impact stories describe what happened in the past and the influence those activities had on the world. It takes time for impacts to occur, to be observed, and to be understood – so there has to be some space between what happened and when you try to talk about it.
“Happily ever after” sounds a lot more conclusive than “they spent a happy Saturday afternoon together … we’ll see how it goes from there.” You’ll never get that satisfying ending to your story if enough time hasn’t passed yet.
If you’re trying to describe the impact of something you are doing right now or something you just finished yesterday, it might be too soon.
Sometimes it feels like you need an impact story or a report to do everything. You want it to describe, explain, defend, and inspire. It doesn’t need to do all those things.
That’s a lot of pressure – it’s hard enough to tell a good story when nothing’s at stake. Even great writers and storytellers can feel intimidated by a blank page. They too can second-guess their skill, question whether they have anything worth saying. And these are people who love to tell stories!
The most important thing in your impact stories is to describe what you’ve done at the simplest level of detail. That’s why photos and short quotes can be so powerful. For the rest, be proud of the work you’ve done and trust that the love and enthusiasm will shine through.
For more information about impact stories and reports:
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