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What do you mean I am not the main character?

OK, Main Character Syndrome may not be an actual mental health diagnosis (for now), but most of us have that one friend who thinks the world revolves around them and they deserve all the credit and attention.

I am not saying we shouldn’t be the protagonist in our own story, BUT there is a fine line between advocating for ourselves confidently and thinking everyone around us is just a supporting character here to serve us.

We have to understand that sometimes we are the supporting characters to our family, friends and even complete strangers.

When those people share stories about their day around the dinner table, you won’t be the main character – they will. But that doesn’t mean you weren’t a meaningful part of their day.

It’s the same for nonprofit storytelling.

Let’s take a look at one of the plots we suggest nonprofits use when crafting a story: The Challenge Plot.

Think of almost any Hollywood movie where:

• An underdog wins
• A character goes from rags to riches
• A character triumphs against all odds

These types of stories inspire action and appeal to our courage and strength. People leave the theater thinking “I can do anything!”

The challenge plot is a basic, three–act structure:

Act 1: You start by introducing a character and her situation and goals.

Act 2: She faces obstacle to reaching those goals and the tension mounts. Will everything work out? Usually not until things get even worse.

Act 3: The action peaks and we get to the big climax where our heroine finally triumphs! We get a big emotional payoff in the end.

So what act do you think the nonprofit should first appear?

If you said Act 1, then your nonprofit may have main character syndrome. While your organization may have had a huge impact on the character, the story is not about you. It is about them and how they overcame. In most cases, your nonprofit shouldn’t appear in the story until Act 3 as just part of the supporting cast that helps the main character get over their barriers.

You have more than likely been told that client stories make great content for appeals. And they do. But a lot of nonprofits then mistakenly think that since they are using the story to raise money, they need the reader to know how important and awesome their organization is. This leads to the story focusing on the nonprofit itself instead.

You need to know that the people who allow you to share their stories DO NOT SERVE YOU and your nonprofit’s need to fundraise. You serve them.

You do not deserve all of the credit for their transformation. You are not the hero. They are. Make sure your stories reflect that.

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In the fund development world, messaging is your nonprofit’s pitch to funders. Its purpose is to provide a strong case for support to encourage partnership or investment. It’s your organization’s origin story, mission, and ideally, aspirational obituary. 

Messaging is a critical aspect of fund development. I am constantly reminding my clients that they will not win grants by pulling on the funder’s heartstrings alone: it takes a vision that can be articulated and activated. We have gotten so used to writing emotional stories and poverty-stricken narratives to try and get funders to support us. No more, friends. Remember: poverty porn does not raise more money– and it perpetuates the harmful structures that your organization is likely trying to dismantle. As responsible fundraisers/organizations/leaders/consultants,  we must create strong, clear messaging through asset framing. 

Here are the common mistakes I see communication professionals make when creating messaging and storytelling on behalf of their nonprofit organization: 

Mistake #1: Their vision for change is underdeveloped, unclear, or nonexistent.

It is CRI-TI-CAL to have an understandable vision. How we position our words makes a difference in building the confidence in front of potential and existing funders. The most successful messaging is specific and clear. When creating your case for funding, paint a clear picture of who you are, whom you serve, and what you plan to do to alleviate barriers. 

Mistake #2: They use industry-specific language or jargon in grant proposals.  

Imagine you are a grant reviewer: you do not have time to sift through the fluff. When I first got started in grants, I used a lot of jargon specific to the industry that the average grant reviewer would not understand. I quickly realized that I’m writing for my audience, not for me, when it comes to writing for funding.

Make clear points quickly. We all have an internal bias that influences how we perceive things and, thus, how we communicate. So, it’s essential to adjust your lens to your audience. In grant writing, we have two audiences: the client and the funder. Let’s explore.

#1. Be client-centric: Are you using people-first language? Are you using experience/perspective-first language? Tell the story in a way that tells funders what your clients encounter that is not disempowering to those that your organization seeks to serve.

#2. Be funder-aware: If the funders are generalists, is there ease of readability in your proposal? Can you articulate impact  that mirrors what they want to invest in? 

The words you write have more impact than you can imagine. As we all do our part to advance equitable philanthropy, we must be mindful of what we produce, our motives, and how they will impact our clients, communities, and partners. 

Glossary: 

Obituary: For the purpose of this blog, an obituary is your nonprofit’s “purpose piece” – it’s your written vision of what your organization hopes to accomplish, even long after you’re gone. 

Poverty Porn: The exploitation of historically underserved, underrepresented, and minority groups through written communications and visual media with the goal of raising money. 

Client-Centric: An asset-based lens in which we place clients as the heroes and center of their own stories. We speak to and leverage their unique value in creating change. Consider, how will the subject of this messaging feel when they read this about themselves? If it feels harmful, take a step back and pivot your messaging. 

People First Language: Writing with the acknowledgment of the person first before the challenge or barrier they face. 

Experience/perspective-first language: Similar to people-first language, experience-first, or perspective-first language is a way to center the human. A person’s identity does not equate to their lived  experience. Consider the term homeless person. An experience-first term that can replace homeless person is person experiencing homelessness. 

Generalists: For the purpose of this blog, a generalist is a non-niched donor or reviewer who has a basic level of understanding of and supportive stance for various causes. 

Sheleia Phillips, MPH, CHES is the Founder and Principal Consultant of SMP Nonprofit Consulting. A servant leader, Sheleia has dedicated herself to the growth and development of nonprofits for the past five years. As a Grant Writer and Fund Development Consultant, Sheleia has secured over $3 million dollars in grant revenue for youth development, education, and health programs. Read more about Sheleia here. 

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Storytelling is a powerful tool. It not only connects our donors with the individuals we are serving. It also allows those we serve to see themselves reflected in the stories of others. It gives real-life examples that can live alongside quantitative data. Long story-short, storytelling connects our work in meaningful, transformational ways to our community members. It is a powerful tool that, when used with an equity and justice lens, can honor the stories and experiences of those you serve and invite others into your movement or organization. 

However, when equity and justice are not considered and applied, when the focus of storytelling is simply to raise more funds or “awareness,” (which is often coded language for raising more money), we can harm those we purport to serve. This practice further conditions donors to the idea that they should respond primarily to feelings of sympathy and saviorism.

My experience with this balance around ethical – and equitable – storytelling is not just from a fundraiser and consultant, but also from a person with my own lived experience. 

In my first nonprofit role as a Development Manager, I worked closely with our Marketing Manager on our quarterly newsletter. We would comb through information about the families the organization served, hoping to find the perfect content to hook our readers and drive donations. We were rewarded when our collaborative efforts paid off – measured by dollars received, press opportunities secured, and increased online engagement. One spring, we highlighted the story of a local mom whose faith community was on our mailing list. Upon seeing her story, the church reached out to understand what more they could do to support her and our work. Though she agreed to an interview and knew we were highlighting her journey in our newsletter, she expressed embarrassment and shame when it seemed like her experience was simply being used to raise money. Indeed, we had crafted a narrative that didn’t highlight her strength, generosity or resilience, and in doing so, we caused harm. 

About five years into my nonprofit career, I found myself on the other side of the table. Shortly after the birth of my son, I suffered and survived a rare postpartum complication called a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD). A quick google search conducted by my aunt revealed very little information about my condition other than memorial posts and mortality narratives in medical journals. At the age of 28, I had become a new mom and a medical miracle. It came as no surprise when I was invited to share my story at a health organization’s gala less than a year later. 

I was excited to share my experience and raise awareness with the hope that other women might not have to experience what I did. And honestly, I thought I was excited to use what happened to me for “good.” That evening, the organization showed a video (that I had viewed in advance) of my husband telling the story of how we met, my pregnancy and my complication. Standing backstage, I could hear the audible sobs of the audience who believed I had died when the video concluded. My husband and infant son took the stage and “surprised” the audience by introducing me. I did my best to deliver my remarks in a compelling way and overall the evening was a financial success. However, I was hit with the reality that the organization had manipulated a room full of donors and used my story and my trauma in a way that was not true to my experience. Following that night, I knew then that I would never allow my pain to be used in that way again: perhaps to the detriment of causes who could have told my story with more care. 

In my time as a consultant, I have sat with dozens of organizations’ fund development and marketing departments as they pitch ideas and stories that could compel paddles to raise or online donations to flow. Storytelling is powerful and important, but when we consider other people’s stories, I ask that you consider the following things:

Practices for Ethical/Kind/Responsible Storytelling

Someone granting you the opportunity to share their story is a gift to your organization. It should be treated as such and handled with care. In doing so, it is important to remember the following things:

• Obtain their permission and consent to share their story. Make sure they understand how it will be used and what you anticipate happening from its use. Also, ensure their privacy, especially when it comes to minors, abuse victims or health information.
• Allow them to tell their story the way they want it to be told. You can advise on length or format, but this is not the time for you to serve as tone police or shape the narrative into something it is not. 
• Avoid stereotypes and perpetuation of white saviorism. Too often in our work, in an attempt to capture the attention of distracted donors, we try to create narratives that drive a greater sense of empathy and might spur donors to act. Those narratives are not reflective of the whole person whose story you should feel honored to be telling and thus, can create harm. 

“Poverty Porn” Doesn’t Raise More Money

In non-profit fundraising and communication, “poverty porn” is any type of media or storytelling that exploits a person’s condition (whether it be financial, health, et cetera) to generate the necessary sympathy for gaining supporters to a given cause. After 15 years raising tens of millions of dollars for non-profit organizations all over the country, I can say with complete certainty that engaging in this behavior is harmful to the subjects, and it will not solve your fundraising challenges. 

While from time to time, it might create a surge of revenue (but even that is rarer than you think), it does not create long-term committed donors and it will not allow you to more effectively serve the population on which your mission focuses. Furthermore, this work will require you to be more and more dramatic to garner the same amount of attention from your donors. 

If we instead focus on telling true stories, intentionally connecting donors with the work, and naming the systems and practices that have created harm for those we serve, we can better create long-term relationships with our donors that sustain our work. 

Although the harm created by poverty porn might be unintentional, the impact is real. It is time to deconstruct the “we serve them” narrative and instead consider how we can bring supporters and those we serve together to fix the broken systems that perpetuate harm to our most marginalized communities. 

Compensate Your Lived Experience Expert 

When we ask someone to share their story, we are asking them to relive their trauma – publicly – for the benefit of the organization. While many, if not most, people you serve are eager to support your organization and cause, it is imperative that we recognize the sacrifice they are making. I could not more highly recommend that you include stipends for your storytellers in your marketing budget. 

As nonprofits continue their important work across our communities, we must do our best to share the stories of our clients, neighbors and stakeholders with the care and dignity we would give to our dearest loved ones. If we are willing to commit to ethical and equitable storytelling, we open new doors for those eager to be in relationship with and expand our impact.

In 2015, Rachel founded Gladiator Consulting, a boutique consultancy with a holistic approach to nonprofit organizational development. Through Gladiator, Rachel has combined her knowledge of Organizational Culture & Fund Development with her deep personal commitment to centering community, seeking justice and creating belonging for those who have been disenfranchised or targeted by institutions, systems and policy.

To learn more about Rachel’s commitment and work, read her full bio.

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Just like every story you tell has a beginning, middle, and end, so do your story arcs. Each individual story you tell is one more step forward in that larger story arc journey — or it should be.

I like to compare your nonprofit storytelling to what we see on TV. Let’s use one of my favorite shows (that I just learned is ending next year!!): This is Us. This post contains minor spoilers.

This Is Us is a series. That series is made up of several seasons. Each season is made up of several episodes.

There are several series arcs. There’s the “Way Back in the Day” arc when the kids (Randall, Kate, and Kevin) were little and Jack and Rebecca were raising them. Then there’s the “After Jack Dies” series arc when the kids are teenagers and Rebecca is managing on her own. And there’s the third series arc, which is the Present Day, where Randall, Kate, and Kevin are raising their own families. We’ve even seen a bit of a fourth arc, where Randall, Kate, and Kevin are much older and their own present-day teens are adults.

During each season (which, again, is multiple episodes) we also have arcs that move these larger series arcs along. For example, in the first season of This Is Us, we got to learn a lot about Randall’s story. That particular season moved his character development forward in significant ways, through multiple episodes.

There was an episode where Randall made friends with other Black kids for the first time at the pool. There was an episode where Randall got admitted to the gifted kids’ school. Both of these also advanced the series “Way Back in the Day” arc. But we also had episodes in the Present Day arc where Randall is an adult. There was the episode where Randall first met his birth father. There was another episode where Randall tried to be the cool dad (he’s really quite the nerd otherwise).

So how does this instruct you about story arcs for your nonprofit?

The series arc is like the story of your mission over years. You may have a few different series arcs depending on your mission and how diverse your programming is. But you shouldn’t have more than a few. And if you just have one, that’s perfectly fine and easier for you to manage!

The seasonal arcs are like your campaigns or stories that unfold over time, often over months. 

The episodic arcs are your specific stories or even little sets of stories that you tell. 

If you are learning how to write good stories, you are writing the equivalent of those individual TV episodes. They have their own beginnings, middles, and ends in 43 minutes, or in your case, maybe 300 or 500 words.

But those individual stories should contribute to a larger seasonal arc. In TV, you might have 15 episodes adding up to a season. In your case, you might consider a seasonal arc to cover 8 emails in a multi-week fundraising campaign. Or every edition of your monthly newsletter for a year. How you define your season in this analogy really depends on your communications channels and pacing.

Over time — and we talking years now — all of that should add up to your series arc, which again, is really the big story or stories you are trying to tell to advance your mission.

Understanding this — how stories nest together into bigger stories or arcs or narratives over time — is what will leave a lasting impression with your community about the value of the work you do.

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We get a lot of questions about how to organize stories and photos.

• What are communications directors using now?
• What do they love/hate about their current system (or lack thereof)?
• We then developed this e-book to answer your basic questions like:
• Do you need a banking system for stories and images?
• What can you use to create a solid system?
• What is the cost?
• How can you get other staff members to contribute to the system?

Find the answers to these questions and more in this FREE e-book:

Storybanking and Photobanking: How to Organize Stories and Images at Your Nonprofit

We sent out a survey to our network, conducted interviews, read tech reviews and asked the pros to give advice about the benefits and challenges of collecting, organizing, and sharing stories – written and verbal. It’s all here in this FREE download.

Sign up for a Free Membership in our Learning Center to access. 

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“A story is a fact, wrapped in an emotion, that compels us to take an action that transforms our world.”

Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman

All of the five words I have in bold are essential to nonprofit storytelling success.

Your stories need to be true, or at a minimum, based in fact.

Your stories need an emotional hook that the reader can connect to.

Your stories need to compel people in some way, usually to follow through on your call to action, but at a minimum to remember you and keep reading next time you send them something (otherwise known as brand and reputation building).

Your stories need to help people see how their relationship with and support of your nonprofit transform the world (that’s why nonprofits exist).

If your approach to nonprofit storytelling isn’t doing these things, it’s time to take a closer look at how and why you are telling stories. Otherwise, all of your storytelling may be pointless.

That’s the conclusion reached by a few people who participated in my webinar today on the seven writing styles nonprofits should master.

After listening to me talk about storytelling as one of the seven styles, 21% of participants in the webinar thought their organizations were using stories too much.

When I looked at their comments, it was mostly because (1) the stories didn’t have enough emotion and (2) the connections to compelling actions were too weak.

As a nonprofit communicator, you aren’t telling stories to entertain, nor are you telling stories just to fill up a page. You need to tell the right kinds of stories.

Take a hard look at the stories you are telling. Pick the best ones and write more like those.

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Catch up:

Why Stories Are Important for Nonprofits

Storytelling for Nonprofits: The Challenge Plot

Storytelling for Nonprofits: The Creativity Plot

Storytelling for Nonprofits: The Connection Plot

To wrap up this little series, I wanted to share a free resource we have to help you organize all of those great stories (and images) you are going to be collecting!

We’ve researched various tools, conducted interviews, and talked to the pros to bring you:

Storybanking and Photobanking: How to Organize Stories and Images at Your Nonprofit

This 18-page free download answers questions like:

• Do you need a banking system for stories and images?
• What can you use to create a solid system?
• What is the cost?
• How can you get other staff members to contribute to the system?

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