This video is number SIX in a series of 16 or so on how film can support your charity fundraising. Today’s subject is how do we appeal to today’s charity supporters.

TRANSCRIPT

I literally cannot think of an instance where a communication being put out by a charity would not be strengthened by checking it against a story structure. I cannot think of any communication that anybody can put could put out that would not be strengthened by holding it up against the story structure and say, does this have a beginning? Is there a conflict? Is there a question? What’s the question here? What’s the journey going to be? What’s the emotional high point? And what’s the conclusion and the call to action? There is no point in any supporter acquisition, supporter stewardship, in a charity lottery, in a raffle, in a legacy ask — I can’t think of a communication that isn’t going to be strengthened by reading it, by examining it with a critical eye and saying, does this fulfill the criteria of a story? You can take it to a slightly deeper level than that and say that we know that stories about individuals are more compelling than stories about populations, so that’s another place where the storytelling can be strengthened. So just ask, are we telling a story about populations here or are we telling a story about individuals? Because people connect with individuals, so even if you’re telling a story about a group, you’ll find that your listeners are connecting with one person in that group, so your story will be strengthened by picking the person with the strongest story, focusing on them, and allowing a greater number of people to have a deeper connection with one story then a more of a more superficial connection with a number of stories.