Soapbox Engage Blog

Most people love a good story. Whether we’re watching our favorite TV series, reading a popular new novel, or listening to a friend talk about their recent vacation, storytelling engages our emotions and holds our attention. Plus, studies show that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone!

These effects are why organizations across different industries incorporate stories into their marketing content. For nonprofits in particular, storytelling can help your organization connect emotionally with current and potential supporters, show them your impact in concrete ways, and inspire them to take action.

To help you get started, this guide will walk through four best practices for meaningful nonprofit storytelling, including how to:

1. Choose Compelling Main Characters
2. Create and Resolve Conflicts
3. Support Your Stories With Images and Data
4. Tell Stories Across Multiple Channels

Before you dive into telling your nonprofit’s stories, first think about the way authors and screenwriters tell stories in books, shows, and movies. Good stories usually feature characters that audiences can connect with and contain a complete series of events. Use these elements to lay the foundation for your nonprofit’s stories while staying true to your mission.

1. Choose Compelling Main Characters

Since most of the stories you tell for your nonprofit will be relatively short, centre each one on one main character (or “protagonist”) who audiences will connect with. You have three general options for protagonists—from least to most engaging, they are:

• A staff member. While not the most emotionally impactful option for stories told in the third person, staff members can provide insider perspectives on your organization in specific types of content, like testimonial videos.


• A supporter. This is the most relatable option for fundraising content because it shows how potential donors and volunteers can benefit from getting involved with your nonprofit. These stories are also more emotional when the supporter tells them from their perspective.


• Someone your nonprofit serves. This option provides the greatest emotional impact, whether the stories are told in first or third person, so it’s best to focus most of your stories on these individuals.

With the exception of pet rescues and wildlife conservation organizations that may use animals as protagonists, your main characters will typically be real people. Ensure you obtain their consent before including their names and stories in your marketing content, and respect their wishes if they’d prefer that you refer to them by a pseudonym or refrain from sharing their stories.

2. Create and Resolve Conflicts

In addition to a main character, every good story starts with a conflict that the protagonist must face. If the story has a happy ending—as your nonprofit’s stories should compel audiences to take action—the conflict is resolved. To demonstrate your organization’s impact, it should be clear that the resolution came about because of your intervention, which your supporters made possible through their contributions of resources, time, or advocacy.

To see how this works in practice, let’s look at this example story an animal shelter might use:

Henry, a two-year-old orange tabby cat, came to our shelter when his previous owner could no longer care for him. During his stay with us, he was brought up-to-date on his vaccinations and treated for an upper respiratory infection. Our amazing volunteers played and socialized with Henry every day so he could go to his forever home happy and healthy. If you’re interested in helping more cats like Henry, visit our Volunteer page to apply today!

In this story, the main character (Henry the cat) faced the conflict of no longer having a home, which was resolved when he was adopted from the animal shelter. The details about the medical and social care he received demonstrate the difference the organization makes for the animals they take in, which is possible because of their volunteers. This leads nicely into the story’s call to action—signing up to volunteer on the nonprofit’s website.

3. Support Your Stories With Images and Data

Once you have the basic outline of your story in place, there are several ways you can enhance its impact. For instance, adding relevant photos or graphics makes your story even more memorable by putting a face to the name of your main character (if they’ve given consent to use their picture) or explaining a complex aspect of the story in an easy-to-follow visual format.

Additionally, according to NPOInfo’s guide to nonprofit data collection, “Data empowers your nonprofit to quantify and communicate your impact to the community.” Including relevant statistics alongside your stories makes their details more concrete and boosts their credibility.

Alongside the animal shelter story above, the nonprofit could include before and after photos of Henry when he first came to the shelter and in his forever home to help audiences visualize how happy he was to be adopted. Also, adding the written detail that Henry was just one of 200 cats adopted from their shelter in the past year would show that his story wasn’t an isolated case—rather, the organization regularly makes this kind of difference for the pets it rescues.

4. Tell Stories Across Multiple Channels

To give your stories the widest possible reach, tell them through all of your nonprofit’s marketing channels. Although you’ll need to adapt your storytelling to each format, this will engage many audience members’ emotions to inspire action.

Here are some ways to incorporate stories into common nonprofit marketing channels:

• Your website. According to Loop, the best nonprofit websites are both engaging and informative, giving visitors a complete picture of who your nonprofit is and what it stands for. You can support this purpose with storytelling in several ways, from embedding testimonial videos into your About page to interviewing individuals your organization serves for your blog.


• Email marketing. If your nonprofit sends out a monthly newsletter, consider adding a section for a featured story in each issue to share recent updates. For targeted email blasts, write a condensed story and then direct readers to your website to learn more so you can keep your message concise.


• Social media. Each social media platform lends itself to a different story format. For example, you could tell the same story as a text-based post on Facebook, a series of images accompanied by a brief caption on Instagram, and a short, vertically oriented video on TikTok.


• Direct mail. Although many nonprofits focus on digital marketing, direct mail is still useful for supplementing online communications and reaching specific audiences. Try starting a fundraising letter with a story to hook the reader before diving into your donation ask.

In all of these communications, ensure your stories align with the various elements of your nonprofit branding. Use the same tone, word choice, and font you use in the rest of your written content, and incorporate your brand colours into any accompanying images. Keeping these elements consistent helps audiences trust that the stories are true to your organization.

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By following the tips above, you’ll be well on your way to developing emotionally impactful and memorable stories that support your nonprofit’s mission. Don't be afraid to get creative, as long as your stories remain factual and on brand for your organization.