Paola Espinosa

Welcome to The Doing Good Lab Podcast brought to you by Digizent. I’m your host, Paola, and I’m so glad you’re here. This is our space to explore strategies, insights and real life ideas to help nonprofits thrive in a digital world. Today’s episode is one we are especially excited about, the Art of Storytelling when it comes to donor engagement, a good story isn’t just a nice extra, it’s often the difference between a scroll and a gift. We will unpack what makes a story powerful, where it fits in your fundraising strategy, and how to craft messaging that speaks to the heart. To guide us through the conversation, I’m joined by Aaron Sandoval, our Chief Creative Officer, who will be navigating the discussion today. With us are Jim Killion, CEO of Digizent, and Lara Blaney, our brilliant lead copywriter. Welcome Laura.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Laura Blaney
Well, thank you Pao and thanks everybody for having me on the podcast. This is my first time and really glad to be here. I always say I’m a natural born communicator. I really did get born and was speaking as soon as possible. I love words. I love communication. As a child I was interested in drawing, but at some point I turned to words. I was on my junior high school newspaper staff as the art editor and then in my youth group at church I was the publicity coordinator. So I was in charge of all the posters and the flyers and if you had an event that you needed promoted, I was your gal and I would make sure people knew about it.

So then fast forward to college and majored in communication because I love everything and I couldn’t really pinpoint exactly specifically what I wanted to do. And now I’m glad. I did have a broad major on this side of my life in my career. So for over 30 years I’ve worked in strategic communication, whether that’s at direct marketing and digital marketing agencies. I’ve worked at two nonprofit organizations. I’ve also worked for two.coms as a senior content editor. I worked at Lifeway Christian Resources, which is a large nonprofit provider of ministry resources for the church. How did I get to Digizent? Well, a little over 10 years ago I was finishing up working at a nonprofit and thought I was going to go full time as a freelance writer.

So I noticed on my LinkedIn that I did not have a recommendation for my very first job, which was Killion McCabe and Associates as a junior copywriter. So I reached out to Jim Killion and asked if he would Give me a recommendation for one thing led to another and I began writing for Digizent. So I have been here for a little over 10 years. It’s been one of the highlights of my career. I love my teammates, I love all of the clients and organizations that we get to do good for doing good. And that’s our trademark, that’s our tagline. And I really take that to heart. And it means a lot to me that what I do every day is impacting lives all over the world.

Aaron Sandoval
And Laura, let me tell you, the team at Digizent and our clients and those being impacted are blessed by you. So we’re glad you’re part of the team.

Laura Blaney
Oh, thank you.

Paola Espinosa
Yes, we have had the privilege of being around you and witnessing your incredible work and your talent in action. You are really something, Laura. Thank you really much for sharing. Okay, let’s start this episode. So, Aaron, please kick us off. Why is storytelling important in the nonprofit world?

Aaron Sandoval
You know, why does it matter at Digizent, Our most important value, the one that drives us in everything we do, and that is that people matter most. And, and there’s so many applications of that. But the reality is stories communicate about people, right? You can talk about data and facts all day long, right? You can talk about, well, how many meals were provided for a rescue mission, how many bibles were distributed. Those are numbers, those are important. But there’s something about the story of, you know, Ben, who received a meal on a cold winter morning and that encouraged him, blessed him. That was one. It was a number, right? It’s one meal. But the story of the life changed. That’s something that touches us as people, because as people, we care about other people.

And the reason is if you’re a non profit, listening to this, people give to your mission. Not because you keep the lights on, not because you have facts and figures. It’s because they care about the people that you care about. And the best way to communicate that is through stories. It’s about that human connection. It really is what connects the emotion to the action. If I give, if I send a donation, it’s because of this story of somebody whose life was changed, whose life was touched. And so, you know, we’ve seen it over and over again. When you lead with a story, your response rates go up. When you lead with facts and figures, people might respond, but it’s the story that really connects with people. It, it, what, it. What helps us is people understand the impact in human terms. And so that’s why it really matters.

Laura Blaney
Well, and a good story can bring a good offer to life. So it’s great to have a good offer, but that really good story can just really enhance it and connect with a donor’s heart. And that’s what you want to do, you know, yes, it’s wonderful that I can help build a hospital in Kenya for a remote village. But if you tell me about the type of person I’m going to help when I help them build that remote hospital in Kenya, I’m even more inclined to give, because now I have a picture in my mind of who I’m helping. And so that’s what a good story can do. I think also a story, you can use that as a way to invite the donor into that story. They can be a part of more stories like that.

And it’s an opportunity to help the donor care because you. I need to have a reason as a donor. I need to care about what you’re asking me to do. So a story can help me get there and touch my heart.

Aaron Sandoval
Absolutely. Laura. I think we all agree the importance of the story, but somebody would say, well, how do I even start? Right? What does that look like? How do I. What if I don’t have stories? Right? What does that look like? You know, you’ve had lots of experience in this area. How do you start that whole process of the storytelling?

Laura Blaney
Right. Yeah. I mean, we may have organizations listening to this right now, or representatives from organizations who don’t have stories or they don’t think they do. So to that, I would say, you know, don’t quit listening to the podcast. Keep listening and first think outside the box. Put your MacGyver hat on. If you remember back in the 80s, good show, MacGyver, for the young ones. Check it out. It’s a great show. He always made do with what he had, you know, duct tape, a paper clip, and he could make a bomb or, you know, whatever he needed to make.

Aaron Sandoval
Stick of gum.

Laura Blaney
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So there’s almost always something you have that you can use. So some examples are, do you have annual report? Have you mined that annual report for everything that’s in it? And you can. You can use, you know, statistics from that report for something. You can use, you know, a president’s visit to a location from that report for something. You can also, you know, recent trips to the field, you know, if you. If you serve in a region or let’s say you’re, you know, a shelter, a humane shelter, you as the CEO or you as you Know whoever is signing your emails. Have you walked down to the shelter lately? Have you picked up a dog or a cat? Have you cradled them into your arms? Tell us what that experience was like, you know, looking into the eyes.

An animal that just wants a forever home and just wants to be loved. You know, you can do that. Are you a food bank? You know, do you have an upcoming distribution drive? Can you go and meet people who are in line? Can you talk with them? Can you get part of a story? Can you get a whole story? You can. Also, if you have, you know, connections, personal connections with maybe some of your major donors, would they be willing to share why they give to your organization? Would they be willing to let you use that story? That’s a powerful story. So it’s like, oh, I’m a donor reading this and I’m seeing another donor speak to me and tell me why they give. And that can mirror to me. I can feel the same way and I can do the same thing.
And then also sometimes you’re looking for volunteers for your organizations, which may be in addition to asking for funds. Go to those events where the volunteers are, talk to them. Why are they volunteering for your organization? Use that information in the future when you need more volunteers and you’ve got gold, you’ve got something in the bank to use.

Aaron Sandoval
And I think sometimes what people expect is I’ve got to find this story that shows an absolute transformation, right? Something that was in a really deep, desperate situation and because of X, Y, Z, now look at this, it’s just completely turned around. And, and that’s not always the case. Those stories aren’t always readily available. And so I think what you’re saying is when you put your, use the word mining, right, you put your mining hat on and you go digging deep. You can find real diamonds in there, even if they aren’t these radical stories. But they’re enough to show the human side of the situation, right? And so don’t necessarily sell yourself short because you don’t have this incredible story. Just start collecting these moments, these engagements, these human connections.

Laura Blaney
And you can also, you know, paint a picture too. Say, for example, you are a radio ministry and you can talk about, you know, because donors like you have given or are giving today, someone is hearing the broadcast that’s airing this very day that they might need to hear in this moment where they are going through a hard time or they may have chosen to end their life. You never know. But because someone gave this message, was on at the exact time that it needed to be. So there you go. That’s a picture you’ve painted. It may not be an actual story, but it’s a reality that’s happening out there and it shows the impact of the organization and how the donor can be involved in such a life changing moment like that.

Aaron Sandoval
Jim, you’ve seen many stories, you’ve read many stories of life impact, right? What are some of the elements that make a good story that come to mind to you that are important to be considered?

Jim Killion
Well, I think Aaron and thank you. And the points that have been made already are really good counsel for anyone trying to communicate the need of their nonprofits. So thank you, Laura and Aaron, I want to go to more of a conceptual principle level real quickly to show, just to illustrate how at the end of a story it’s what point are you trying to make? And don’t over complicate it, but also don’t feel too much pressure for everything to be totally obvious. Jesus had three years to communicate with people. He was trying to show and tell people what God was like in three years. But he only had two sermons, maybe a third. He didn’t preach at them. Even though stereotypically we think of religious people as preachers or Bible beaters or just screamers. He didn’t do that.

He told stories and he told simple stories, but he told stories that were easy to understand and easy to relate to. When he was trying to describe how God cares about every human being, how important we all are, he told three quick stories. One, he talked about a retired elderly woman who lost the coin. She didn’t have much money and everything she did to find the coin and how happy she was when it was found. He talked about a wealthy man at the other end of the spectrum who had lost the son. We think of it now as the prodigal son and how he regains his son. His son comes home. So retired woman, wealthy man. And then he goes to a rancher and this guy’s got sheep and one of them is lost. And finding that sheep becomes supremely important.

Jesus takes and says that’s what God’s like. He’s as passionate about finding and communicating with you as a woman who has lost a coin. He’s as passionate as a dad who thought his son was gone forever and dad and came back. He’s like a rancher who got his sheep back. Now think about that. Those are not complex stories. Those are really simple. They’re used to communicate relatable to his audience. It’s not like hold It. You’re sounding professorial here. Not at all. They could understand it. And his point was made. Same thing for us. And, you know, Laura and Aaron, you’ve already made some great points in that regard, particularly Laura. The stories, as you said, they’re right in front of you and sometimes are. Often those are the best stories because they’re the most real story, the most relatable stories, the most natural stories.

But we have to be sensitive to realize, oh, I have what I need now. I just need to relay it to my audience.

Paola Espinosa
And we heard stories all the time. Right. There are a lot of stories out there.

Jim Killion
There are.

Paola Espinosa
So what separates a truly memorable story from the forgettable?

Laura Blaney
Well, I think you need to breathe life into a story. You know, you can have just the facts, but sometimes just the facts aren’t going to do anything. They’re not going to move someone’s heart, you know, capture their attention. So what I try to do is find out what is interesting about the story and then tell it from the point of view that is interesting to me, what really captures my attention, what grabs my heart, because I know if I can convey that to the audience, they’re going to get it. It’s going to translate to them, you know, so if I’m excited about this story, that excitement is going to, you know, travel through the digital pathways and reach donors and potential donors. And I, and I can give an example of a story if y’ all like.

This is one that always makes me cry. So if I tear up, please bear with me. This is a story that we used for one of our clients, Slavic Gospel association, for their summer Bible camps campaign. Slavic Gospel association supports churches in former Soviet nations as well as Central Asia, Poland and Israel. And the story was used to encourage donors to support these summer Bible camps. Each summer that these churches hold, they either hold them, you know, on their church grounds or, you know, somewhere else in their. In their communities. But these camps are not just for children of their church. They’re for children in the community who may not know Jesus. They may come from at risk, you know, households. You know, they could be orphans. So in this case, the story was from a little girl in Central Asia named Diana. She’s.

She was 8 years old. She was a cancer survivor. And she found out that there had been an SGA summer Bible camp that had already happened in her community, and it was for children her age. But then somehow she found out about another one that was just for teenagers. And so this little girl and her grandmother got permission from the. The Church that was holding this camp for teenagers to Let little Diana, 8 years old, go to camp with the teenagers. So, you know, they, by God’s grace, they lifted the quote unquote rules and let her be, you know, in this teenager camp when she came back and this is where I cry after she went to camp, she said, I have never been to a camp in my life, but many times I imagined what it would be like.

Why didn’t I know about Jesus before he died for me? And you know, here I am again, crying. I’ve read that story and I’ve written it. I’ve read it so many times. This campaign was from two years ago, but it impacted me because that’s what a donor’s gift can help, you know, that’s the result, you know, because this child got to go to this camp. She met Jesus. Maybe she wouldn’t have met him anywhere else, but this camp was there at the right time, allowed this sweet little girl to go and her life was forever changed. So to me, I almost didn’t have to do anything to this story. It almost told itself. It was so good and we had to use it. And it was a successful campaign. We’re really glad it was.

And I believe that story was a large part of the reason it was a success.

Aaron Sandoval
I mean, talk about absolutely connecting to somebody. The impact of my gift isn’t just, oh, I had a lot of fun at the camp. It was truly life changing. And I think one of the interesting things about the way Laura, you tell a story and the way we try to do it at Digizent is this little girl. Her story is amazing, but ultimately the hero of the story, right, the person we’re trying to connect is who others would consider. The audience right there. The donor would think they’re the audience. No, no, the. The donor is the hero. But it’s in. The reason is because people gave because you shared a gift. This little girl was able to listen to a message that was life changing. And so as we think of setting up the stories, we think of retelling the story.

We have the privilege and the opportunity to connect it with the heroes, the donors, those who are making these things possible. And that just closes that beautiful circle of I care, I give life, change happens and I hear about that and then the cycle continues. And it’s a great way to connect, right? The organization, they’re the helpers. It’s not our organization did this. They’re the guide that helps the donor understand that you, donor, you’re the One who helped make this change happen.

Jim Killion
Let me just give you a sample story, see if it works. I’m a proud grandfather. Our granddaughter is four time all American golfer in college and she does some coaching now and she does some lessons. One group of lessons is for children, girls under 10 and it’s at one of the most prominent names in global golf. And the girls just fool around sometimes even trying to hit each other with golf clubs. But our granddaughter also has one one coaching with a girl of the same age. She’s about 10.

And this little girl is very serious about learning golf and so she pays a whole different order of attention to our granddaughter and she keeps improving and that’s the difference we can make when we have someone who’s interested in help and then we’re able to offer that help one one so that their life can change for the better. Now that’s just a real simple event, it’s true. But I tried to make a point there about the impact of personal directed care. So those, to Laura’s point earlier, those stories are all around us.

Aaron Sandoval
Let me switch gears here a little bit and let’s talk about how media has changed and the impact that the change in media has had on our ability to tell a story. Right. Laura, you were saying that you communicate through posters when you were in high school and things have changed a little bit. You know, social media was not something that you probably used a lot back then.

Laura Blaney
No, it wasn’t even around.

Aaron Sandoval
Certainly we’ve had it reframe how we tell a story. Right. We don’t have some of the long formats. We have to be short. Attention spans are very short. I look at my son and he’ll be sit there as we’re wedding in grocery store or whatever. And he just flew up and through these real quick reels on his phone and it’s three seconds of content. Move on to the next thing. How do you tell a story when you have all these different types of platforms and channels and different media and attention spans? Laura, how have you approached that when you think of telling a story?

Laura Blaney
Well, I would say start with the vehicle that will be the longest in your campaign. So that I’m thinking that’s going to be the email. Either the email or if you happen to have a landing page where you have a little more space. And I would tell the story first there because it can be a little longer. It’s not going to be, you know, super lengthy in your email, but it will be a little bit longer. And after I have it fine tuned there and kind of solidified. Then I can start recrafting it for other parts of the campaign. I can recraft it if I want to speak to it on the donation form that goes with the email.

You know, if I just want touch on it there, I can expand on it if we have a whole landing page that is part of this campaign. So and I can tell more parts of the story or you know, have more visuals, if you will, to go with it. But then for me, and this may not be for all writers, it’s the social media that’s the hardest for me. Cause it’s the shortest, it’s the briefest. You have to get in and out, you have to grab somebody’s attention. So I leave those elements last when I’ve, you know, I’ve worked with this story for all these other elements. And by the time I get to the social media post, I pretty much know what I absolutely need to pull from this story to put it in a very short post.

You know, Instagram, Facebook, et cetera. So that’s how I work through it. It’s. I start with the longest form of the story and then I keep whittling it down for each element that I’m working on.

Jim Killion
You know, it’s. That’s a great example, you know, and it somehow reminds me of that great Mark Twain quote. I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time. The time you spend to hone the story and get there. The other thing I want to throw in is that we’re talking about words and though you threw in, you know, the reels that your teenage sons are watching and many others. I don’t want to lose sight of video storytelling, the old ad age of pictures worth a thousand words. Sometimes it really can be. And we’re fortunate to be able to do a lot of short form video for the Salvation Army. Now, of course, the Salvation army is extremely well known. You don’t have to tell the audience who they are or what they do.

But the audience still needs to know that there’s opportunity and need and how they can help. And to do that with video and just a few words on the screen. Talk about whittling down. Laura. That’s kind of the epitome of that. And yet these short form videos that are under 30 seconds, sometimes even 15 to 20, still tell so much. So it’s not always about length. You know, there’s that great argument in Hollywood between. It’s hard to believe that A director in Hollywood would have an ego, but I’m told occasionally they do. And you know, the director falls in love with his three and a half hour movie and the guys that are trying to market it say, no, we gotta get this under two hours. An hour, 45 would better. Can you do it in 90 minutes?

And the guy just holds out for this. And what happens is there’s just too much there. Right. And you lose your audience. So the same thing is true for our stories. Let’s not fall in love with every obscure detail here. What does the audience really need to know, Want to know what helps them understand? And so that whittling, and that was just a perfect example or of. Of how to do it.

Laura Blaney
I do have an example of exactly that. Last week I had to write a 15 second and a 30 second script for a YouTube video ad and I had probably a good 20 minutes of footage to watch. This was for a healthcare nonprofit organization that helps people with a specific illness. And they have case managers who offer free resources for patients and, or their loved ones who are helping to care for them. So the footage I was watching was of maybe five different case managers and trying to pull a clip from one of them that showed, we’re here for you. We care. Call us. These resources are free. So I was able to find one sentence from one of the case managers who was the warmest case manager. Many of them were very, you know, just reading from a script on camera.

But there was something different about her. I looked at her and I thought, I’m calling you if I need help. You’re the one I’m calling. Because I knew.

Jim Killion
Great story.

Laura Blaney
Yeah. How she was talking was like a warm hug.

Jim Killion
Yeah.

Laura Blaney
Yeah. So I had to find the exact clip and then I was able to follow that up with on screen text that really presented more of the offer. But it was a challenge. Yeah. To get it in under 15 seconds and 30 seconds.

Jim Killion
But it’s fun too. You know, I want to brag on Digizent’s president for a minute. Digizent International has been around for 15 years and from day one, Rebecca Vanderwerff has been part of it. And her background is in video in her college degree. And one of the last things she did was work as student projects in Hollywood on movie trailers. Now we don’t do a lot of movie trailers here at Digizent, but we do do visual storytelling. She did a marvelous video for Susan G. Komen a few years ago, and it wasn’t a 15 or 30. I can’t remember how long it was, maybe a minute. But that video got shown on American Airlines for a month. And person after person would say, I was on this flight and I saw this video. Did you do that video? And she’d kind of modestly.

Well, yeah, I did. And then it won a national and international award. Now think about it. If you have a video that you’re watching on a noisy jetliner, you have to rely on visual storytelling and just a few words on the screen. But I use that to illustrate storytelling. As you’ve been saying, Laura and Aaron, storytelling doesn’t need hours, it doesn’t need thousands of words. It needs a heart. It needs a theme and it needs a vehicle to carry those words, those images.

Aaron Sandoval
And I think we think of video sometimes. It feels overwhelming. How am I going to get this great studio shot, this great drone footage? Some of the most impactful video we’ve had the privilege of using are from people just using their cell phones in difficult situations. Pastors in some remote village. That’s been. And it’s just real, right? It’s grainy, it’s moving, it’s shaky. But I can see the struggle and I can see the impact and that’s enough to be able to tell the story well. So don’t be afraid to just use the tool you already have in your pocket.

Jim Killion
Well, you know, years ago, one of our clients in a previous agency that Laura referenced was the largest rescue mission in America. And this time of year, meaning the fall quarter, acquisition and giving is critically important to rescue missions. And somebody decided they were wooed by what was then one of the hottest commercial agencies in LA and New York. And they instead of our budget to acquire donors, they went with this big name ad agency. They did beautiful videos, commercials, TV commercials of people camping out by the river. Homelessness was never more glamorous than that. They showed a homeless child on a horse riding through Griffith park in la. They showed another homeless child in a tutu at the valet lessons. They got 18 donors out of all of the money spent on that.

Aaron Sandoval
Now that was very polish.

Jim Killion
Yeah, they were out of touch. It was very polished video to your point, Aaron, but herky jerky, real video of real people in real situations with a real story, not a concocted. Here’s what your gift might do is always going to outperform. If I, if I had time, I won’t take it. But to talk about the control acquisition that we used, let me just tell you, it was a glamorous, but it was real. It was honest and it was understandable.

Laura Blaney
Well, and people respond to authenticity.

Jim Killion
Yes.

Laura Blaney
They. They can smell it, you know, they just do. Yeah. So don’t try. Don’t. You don’t have to be fancy, Dan. You know, just. It’s. It’s use the real story, the real information. Tell us like it is.

Jim Killion
Yes. And every life has a story.

Paola Espinosa
To start wrapping up. Let’s be honest. Nonprofits don’t always get storytelling right. So here’s a question for you. What are some of the most common mistakes we make when we tell stories and how can we fix them?

Laura Blaney
Well, I think, you know, one that we already mentioned earlier is making the story interesting. It’s easy to regurgitate the facts, but if you take an extra moment to make the story interesting, that’s gonna go a long way. So don’t forget to do that. Don’t just plop the story on the page like a news article. Take a little more care with it. I would also say trying to tell too many stories at once and. Or trying to tell too much of a story, sometimes you don’t need to put every single fact of a story in your story. Be the judge of what you think. Your, your audience, your donors absolutely need to know about this story.

Jim Killion
I think that’s one of the most important points. Laura, so well said. Another quick story. Some years ago, had a copywriter working for me, and he, if we assigned her a two or three, much less a four page direct mail letter, she would wander all over in her copy. There was too much information. She felt like every bit of resource and research that we had provided or the client had provided needed to be in there. And those were not pretty. But then we had other short form. It was back in the days, we called it a gram, sort of like a telegram, ish sort of thing. You had one page and it wasn’t a big page. She was genius at that because suddenly she realized, I don’t have room for all that other stuff.

I’ve got to go right to the heart of the story. And when we asked her to do that, she was fantastic. She was the best in the company at it. And so more words, to your point, Laura, are very seldom the best words.

Laura Blaney
Yes, definitely, I agree. Also, I would say burying the ask.

Jim Killion
Yes.

Laura Blaney
Don’t leave that until your last sentence. You know, say it early, say it often. Repetition is great.

Jim Killion
Yes.

Laura Blaney
You know, your. Your donor may not read the entire email. They may only read the headline, the sub headlines, the P.S. You know, so make sure that email is scannable and the ask is very visible in that. And then I would say my, this is a sidebar after you tell your story. And this is my pet, Eve. So if you’re an organization, please lean in and listen. Please don’t apologize for asking. You have an amazing cause and you need to believe in that and you need to want to tell everybody about it. So don’t apologize for asking. I mean, come have the mindset that your donors would be crazy not to be a part of this. I mean, it’s that good and you believe in it. So please don’t apologize.

Be bold and be proud of what your organization does because you are changing the world no matter what you do. So, you know, ask and ask again.

Jim Killion
Yeah, well, you know, I love that this is a very old story, but of the old country preacher in this old country church. But he was very effective. And so they decided to do a newspaper story back in the day of this guy. How do you do that? And he said, well, I haven’t had a lot of training. I’m not real polished. Well, no, just tell us what you do. He said, well, pretty much what I do is I tell them what I’m going to tell them and then I tell them what I told them and think ask opportunities there. Laura, you know, tee it up, don’t be mysterious and then get to the point and make sure you’re not apologizing for it and stick with the main idea.

Laura Blaney
Right, Right.

Aaron Sandoval
One of the things that I work with my 9 year old is remind him to say thank you. Right. He’s the kind of kid who like, here you go. Oh. And he runs off and enjoys whatever gift we give. Say thank you. That’s a great place for a story too. Right? It’s not just in the ask side of things. It’s in the thank you. It’s in the reporting back. It’s in the. Your gift allowed this to happen. Thank you. And so putting that back into the report, whether you call it an impact report or some form of cultivation piece with your donors, put stories in there too, because that humanizes the gift that somebody gave. It shows the impact.

Jim Killion
That is a huge and critical point. Aaron, thank you for adding that. Saying thank you promptly is so, so important. And don’t just use straight. Any fifth grader could write it. Thank you, Mrs. Jones, for your gift. We appreciate it and we hope you’ll give again. No, thank you, Mrs. Jones, for your gift. Because of your $25, a mother will have food for her children today. We appreciate Just as that mother will, what you’ve done with your gift. Thank you.

Laura Blaney
And if you can be specific, do so. I’m thinking about an organization that my family supports which helps rescue animals or stray animals that they find and they bring into the shelter and they rehab. And their campaigns are always focused on, you know, providing a certain surgery for a dog. And so when you have, you know, given toward that, they report back and they show you the picture of the dog after the surgery. Here’s what you helped do, you know, so if you have an organization where you could do something like that and be that personal and that specific, do it because your donors will love it. They’ll love seeing what they help do. They’ll love seeing, you know, Felix the cat, whoever got rehabbed, that they were a part of that and that they can actually see the outcome.

Aaron Sandoval
So let me just give you, the. Listener, a couple quick wins, a couple. Quick things that you can start putting into place right now as you think about storytelling in your fundraising program. Once start mining for those stories, now start looking for the stories. Start thinking, where can I pull stories from? They’re there. Just got to go and find them. So don’t be afraid to look for your stories. And as you build your entire calendar, think of how can you weave these stories? Not just the appeals, also the thank yous and the reports. Where can these stories fit into your full calendar? And when you’re ready to jump in, choose a story. Choose one story. Tell that story well. Don’t forget to frame your donor as the hero.

They’re the ones that allowed that really made that change happen, that life change, that impact happened. Put them as the hero. And then remember to frame the story according to your channel. Some might be short, some might be long. Think about where it’s going to be. Social media posts is going to be along a bunch of other stories. So think of the impact that’s going to have on it. So go find stories. Write them well, think about where you’re going to place them. And we hope this has been helpful to you all.

Laura Blaney
And before we close out, I would just want to share with our listeners about a free resource that you do not want to miss, especially if you’re writing for a nonprofit. It’s called the Storytelling for Nonprofit Copywriters Cheat Sheet, and it’s packed with practical tips to help you write stories that actually move hearts and inspire giving. We’re talking about do’s and don’ts here. Some of the ones that you’ve heard on today’s episode some real examples, emotional language tips, and just general ways to make your donor the hero of every story. So if you love a shortcut, and I do too, and you’ve loved what we’ve covered in today’s episode, this cheat sheet really pulls it all together. And it adds even more insight, including advice from Digizent’s very own copywriting team.

So again, whether you’re a writer at a nonprofit or you’re someone who’s not a writer, but suddenly and unexpectedly you find yourself in that role. Maybe you’re a little scared.

Just be sure to grab this free Storytelling for Nonprofit Copywriters Cheat sheet right now at digizent.com/podcast.

Paola Espinosa
Thank you, Jim, Aaron and Laura. This conversation was so rich with insight. Storytelling really is at the heart of meaningful donor engagement. At Digizent, we believe every nonprofit has stories worth telling, and we are here to help you tell them in ways that inspire action and build lifelong donor relationships. Thank you for listening, and we’ll see you next time on the Doing Good Laugh podcast.

For more information and resources, please visit digizent.com/podcast