Most all advancement shops will curate stories to share about givers and sponsors.
For example, “Why I Give,” has to be one of the most ubiquitous headlines for e-newsletters and magazines produced by advancement professionals. These stories focus on the giver, “in their own words,” and highlight why they have made the decision to be generous.
This giver-centric storytelling is fine, but I’m not certain it connects and energizes the most readers with the same impact that stories curated for givers can.
Stories for givers are stories that aim to either create or reinforce a shared understanding of why your institution’s mission is personally and communally important. Stories for givers focus on shared values, shared agreements of what a “better world” looks like, and shared understandings of the critical nature of the needs your institution meets.
It can be easy to identify a giver and ask them to “share their story of why they give.” But their personal giving story may not connect and resonate with large swaths of your supporters.
It can be much more difficult to communicate the values, the vision for a better future, and the needs your institution meets that are shared and motivate cooperation among more and more givers.
But the most effective advancement professionals understand that compelling and shared stories about your institution’s values, and experiences people have had with your institution, and the goodness of your mission, are what bind people together and move them to behave with compassion and generosity. It is these stories for our givers that repeatedly move them to make a difference.
In fact, in all of human history, stories that are consistently shared are the only tools that have moved large groups of people into action.
