SCCFP The Art of Story Telling

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How to Find and Use Stories for Fundraising 1. In your many years of experience with your organization, you have undoubtedly had a wide array of experiences that potentially could become powerful fundraising stories. Here’s a series of questions that may prompt you to remember events and anecdotes that can be turned into usable stories: a) What has been your organization’s biggest setback, and how did you overcome or solve the problem? b) Who are the people in your organization that you admire the most? Why? c) Which of your staff members has impressed you the most? Why? What have they done to win your admiration and respect? d) What stories have you heard within the organization that made the biggest impression? e) What is the most outstanding story that you have ever heard that expresses your mission and values? 2. Your co-workers can also be a source of important stories which you can add to your organization’s repertoire. First, to find these stories requires that your staff knows that you’re in the market for a good tale that illustrates an important organizational value and involves some degree of heroism. Second, ask each of your staff members, from secretary on up, if they have a good story for you. And, on a regular basis seek new stories. It’s a good way to stay in contact with all your staff. 3. If someone brings a story to you that’s usable, write up the story and distribute it around the office. It’s a great way to recognize the hero of the story as well as reinforce your organization’s values, vision, and concerns.
How to Create a Good Story There are many things to consider when taking a raw experience and turning it into a teaching story that can be told and shared with others. First of all, you must establish the time of the story in order to facilitate transporting your audience to a different world, with different values, and a different place. For example, “When I was a boy, my father and I set out on a trip across the country in our old Model T Ford . . . .” Or, “When I worked in the Sarasota office, there was another technician named Jeb Smith. I never met anyone more committed to getting the job done right. In fact, once he . . . .” It’s also important to establish the place of the story and the personalities involved. And what’s the mood of the story, e.g., distant, intimate, humorous, wishful, fanciful, suspenseful, etc? Also, to turn good anecdotes into stories that can enable learning requires that you convey events through conversations and actions rather than straight narration. Here are a few suggestions: 1. Start with a dramatic opening or an heroic deed. Few listeners can resist a story with a good beginning. 2. The best teaching stories are usually true. Try to verify your facts. 3. Expand on the anecdote and develop it into an extended story. But keep it succinct and short, something you could tell in two or three minutes. 4. Try to have your story illustrate one theme or idea. 5. Have your story unfold according to events, not explanations descriptions or summations. 6. Keep plot details simple and easy to remember. 7. Remember that a character is best revealed through his or her actions. Also, use real names. 8. Remember that the story itself is the important thing—let events speak for themselves.
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Page 15 and 16: Your Organization’s Angels & Hero
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SCCFP The Art of Story Telling

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