Stories that motivate: 5 tips to simplify stories for power

Stories in fundraising exist to do one thing: To move donors’ hearts toward action.

Not to educate donors about our processes or the issues we face.

Not to explain the complex situations that underlie pretty much every problem in in existence.

Not to justify our ideological or philosophical belief that drive our organization.

Just to touch donors’ hearts. To make the problem we hope they’ll help us solve move from abstract and distant to real, heartbreaking — and solvable.

What does this mean for the way fundraisers tell stories?

1. Keep the narrative simple. Most real-life situations include twists and turns. Do you need to include all of that in your fundraising story? Likely not. Keep as close as possible to a straight-line narrative that shows the problem in one person’s life and points toward the solution.
2. Limit the number of “characters.” Real-life situations always include what storytellers might call “side characters.” The protagonists’ siblings. A beloved teacher who helped someone ask for help. They’re important in real life. But they can make stories more complex. Strip your story down to the main characters only.
3. Limit the details. While details — especially sensory details — can make stories more vivid and memorable, technical and background details that explain background can turn a powerful story into a cognitive challenge. Only explain what you must to move the story along. And that is less than you think!
4. Is the story too long? Okay, talking about how long a story should be is like asking how long is a piece of string. Sometimes a powerful story takes a lot of words to tell. But you may be able to tell a story in just two or three paragraphs.
5. Kill any in-house jargon. Your jargon and acronyms come in handy in internal discussions. That’s why you use them. And why they can easily creep into your stories. The problem: they turn stories into impenetrable noise for non-experts.

Fundraising storytelling that works best is as simple as possible.

More on Storytelling for Fundraisers.