Keep your story as simple as possible [Storytelling]

Life is complicated.

Your fundraising stories shouldn’t be.

Because fundraising stories exist to do just one thing: To make the problem you hope to inspire the donor to help solve as human and emotional as possible.

Everything in the story that doesn’t do that should be left out.

Let’s say you’re telling a story about a Mom and child. The child had a dangerous illness, but they had no health insurance, and several visits to emergency rooms had found no solutions. The child got sicker and the Mom more desperate. Your fundraising offer is to provide help for families like this.

When you interviewed the Mom, you learned she has three kids. You wrote down their names, genders, and ages. You also found out why the Mom was underemployed — it was a complicated situation that was partly the local economy and partly the absences caused by the child’s health issues. You also learned that the child had been struggling in school, and one especially diligent teacher had done a lot to help her.

Leave out:

• The other two kids’ names and ages. They play no part in this story. The only named people in the story should be the Mom and the sick child.
• Leave out the complex reason the Mom is underemployed. The fact that she is matters, but her employment situation is not a problem you’re asking the donor to help solve.
• The whole issue with the child’s education and the excellent teacher who has worked to help is a whole other story. Interesting, but not the story you’re telling here.

Fundraising is not journalism. We don’t have to give the who, what, where, when, and why. You only need the Ws that push forward the part of the story that does the job you’re doing: Making this situation real and human. Not abstract and statistical.

Tell the story that demonstrates the problem and the solution.

Donors don’t need to know all the details.

They need to understand:

• What’s wrong.
• How their gift makes a difference.
• What will happen if they don’t act.

Every detail that doesn’t do that can be omitted.

Details are great. They make the story more vivid and real.

Except when they are not about the central challenge.

Keep it simple!

More on Storytelling for Fundraisers.