Non-Profit Storytelling - Part 2: 12 Key Moments for Non-Profits to Ask for Stories

Whether you’re looking to hear from a volunteer, donor, or board member, it’s always a good time to ask for a story. Capturing what goes on behind-the-scenes of your organization shows outsiders how you fulfill your mission and live your values every day. It also demonstrates that you care about why folks choose to get involved and what keeps them engaged. 

There are several key moments throughout the year to leverage stories even further. Here are 12 peak moments to ask for a story:

1. Before Organizing Your Annual Report: Most nonprofits compile an annual report that serves as a “year in review,” highlighting impact, progress, and recaps. Before you organize your annual report for this year, collect powerful stories that demonstrate how you actively work toward your cause; use stories to show volunteers, staff, and donors why the work you do matters and how it makes an impact on your community.

2. When Preparing Your Impact Report: Some nonprofits also publish an impact report, solely focused on showcasing impact. Got a specific program or initiative that was a success? Collecting stories from beneficiaries or volunteers to help paint the picture of the difference they made in a “real-time” scenario (Yearly.report).

3. While Developing Your Learning Agenda: Does your organization collect key learnings that your staff hopes to gain throughout the year? Oftentimes this information is collected at the beginning of the year and shared with program funders too. Once these stories are collected, review what you’ve learned to see what knowledge you have gained over the past 12 months. Use stories as a qualitative measure to track your progress overtime (Forbes). 

4. Ahead of Your Annual Giving Campaign: Annual giving campaigns support your organization's ability to raise money for programs, initiatives, and daily operations. What better way to convince a potential donor to give than by using a powerful story from a volunteer or beneficiary to demonstrate why? 

5. Onboarding Staff and Volunteers: Request a story about what your newly added team members are looking forward to accomplishing in their role! Who helped them get to where they are? What inspired them to join? These are all questions someone might be wondering before they join - experience stories are a great way to provide background and answer questions to help new staff.

6. At Your Weekly/Monthly Meetings: Want to develop a story collection schedule? At your monthly team meeting, make it a point to encourage everyone on your team to submit a story about what they’ve learned that month, a skill they’ve gained, or a why-I-do-this-work moment.

7. Nonprofit Anniversary Celebration: Is your organization approaching an anniversary? Looking for anniversary ideas? Collect stories in advance from those who’ve taken an active role over the past years. Highlight their voice and their experience at the celebration while also capturing a piece of your organization’s history.

8. Celebrating Milestones (Big and Small): It’s important that your nonprofit celebrates milestones big and small! A series of small outcomes oftentimes leads to something bigger! Milestones such as the launch of a program, leadership change, or celebration of a donor relationship are great content for stories. Nonprofit writer Ilma Ibrisevic from DonorBox emphasizes “offering unique opportunities to celebrate, to reinvigorate, and to learn” is key (DonorBox).

9. Staff and Volunteer Anniversary Celebrations: Planning to celebrate a staff member or volunteer’s work anniversary of 5, 10, or 15 years? Add meaning to the occasion by collecting stories from colleagues highlighting special memories of working together. Present these stories at the event and even share them on social media to show how much these team or volunteer members matter to you.

10. Before Fundraising Gala: Got a fundraising event soon? Ask your Board of Directors for a story about how they got involved and why they’re part of the organization. Share these stories at the event, on your site, on social media, in your newsletter, etc. to provide visibility and show appreciation.

11. After A Volunteer Event: Looking to hear from a volunteer about their volunteer experience? Request a story highlighting their experience and use this content to attract more volunteers in the future.

12. Before the End of the Year: As the year comes to a close, it’s always good to reflect on the past and ask to hear from your stakeholders. Especially during the season of giving, why not ask a volunteer to give a story (and even prompt them to donate)? Use this content for fundraising and engagement next year.

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Check out the other articles in our series:

Part 1 - Who to ask for impact stories as a nonprofit

Part 2 - 12 Key Moments When You Should Ask for Stories

Part 3 - How to use GoodSeeker stories Optimize Google Ad Grants

Part 4 - How to find nonprofit storyteller ideas from your nonprofit CRM

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Impactful nonprofit stories can be collected all throughout the year. Yet, prioritizing the collection of stories around these 12 key moments can help you leverage their uses and purposes, especially in the case of an event.

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