Storytelling in the Not-for-Profit Organization

Not-for-profit organizations have a compelling urgency to tell their story. They must maintain crucial relationships with their stakeholders: donors, volunteers, supporters, and the media. The right story illustrates an organization's mission, demonstrates stewardship and reinforces loyalty. Two Canadian humanitarian organizations, both examplars of not-for-profit storytelling, are examined. Although the story content itself is negative, the outcome remains positive. A narrator's authentic, truthful, first-hand voice lends credibility. The story resonates, especially if the scenario is conveyed in a genuine, conversational manner. Blogs, in particular, present real-life vignettes, realizing a so-called state-of-the-heart technology. Blogs humanize an organization, emotionally connecting readers. Concomitantly, an online community is created through stories' bonding mechanism.

Introduction

A strategy to connect its communityBrent King, Department of Communication Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University

Definition of the Organizational Story

Storytelling’s Rationale and Mechanics Blogs as Digital Story Frames

Acknowledgements

I thank the interview sources who shared their storytelling insights. They are: Avril Benoit, Christal Earle, Jasmina Graho, Caitlin Green, Karel Janssens and Linda Nagy. I thank the Research Office at Mount Saint Vincent University for funding this project.

Just as stories have many genres, styles and conventions, they also have numerous definitions. Within the organizational context, story definitions dwell on the purpose and the intent rather than literary or rhetorical attributes. The communications focus stresses a connectedness with the organization. A story gets viewed, alternately, as a distinct trademark-like vehicle, an enhanced anecdote or a minimalist narrative. However they are labeled, all work as connectors to link a concept, product or service to specific publics of interest. There is functionality, first and foremost. A given story has to be compatible with the organization's own overarching script and storyline, extrapolating its identity or mission.

 

MSF published from-the-field blogs during Haiti’s disaster

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) was founded in 1971 to provide international humanitarian relief in countries without adequate medical infrastructure. It responds worldwide to catastrophes such as armed conflict, floods, earthquakes, epidemics and malnutrition crises.

Absolute Leadership Development Inc. is a federally incorporated charity founded in 2000. Headquartered in Hamilton, its aim is to empower Canadian high school students to help developing nations by building schools and homes. Absolute Leadership operates the Hero Holiday humanitarian program.

Absolute Leadership has posted 100+ weekly blog stories

Organizational storytelling has pooled a roster of champions and converts—even zealots in some cases. The not-for-profit experience demonstrates that, with an overall strategy and developed expertise, stories are invaluable to their cause. However, storytelling does have its critics. Its ease of use, its intuitive appeal and its widespread applications have popularized storytelling. Some caution against piggybacking on the evangelical storytelling trend. They raise the dangers of telling stories without either theoretical or ethical safeguards. There is good and bad storytelling (and stories). A given story may not be a bona fide story for an organization. Likewise, not all storytellers are equally competent or equally meticulous with their programming. What separates storytellers are approach and commitment. One group sees storytelling as a deliberate, purposeful activity, the other as the harvesting of anecdotes.

Every organization has its reservoir of good stories. For communicators, they are much like the gourmet delicacy, truffles. While those stories may be hard to find, they are worth the effort. Strategically chosen and framed, stories enable organizations to accomplish communications goals they could not otherwise attain through conventional means and venues. A story has an innate power for its recipients. It engages several senses: a person feels, sees and factually understands the story's content. The combination of factual, visual and emotional helps "imprint" a story, giving a longer shelf life. A story's outcome is more important than its overall tone. This is especially pertinent for organizations that deal in crises, emergencies or human distress. Not all stories have Pollyanna endings. A story can convey meaning, simply and economically. Stories can help make sense of a situation where the traditional perspective falls short, or the scenario is emotionally loaded. The narrative paradigm has the built-in structure to seamlessly transport a message. In rhetorical terms, this means that a story can help persuade without overt exhortation. Audience members relate individually to a story, creating a mental space to envision themselves. Communicators leverage stories as catalyst: they illustrate an example without the need to explain it. And, a shared story potentially enhances an organization's social community.

Conclusions

“When we hear someone’s story, we feel connected to them somehow, and . . . we’ve tapped into something through telling stories and allowing the space for people’s stories to be heard where people can feel a connection to what we do.”

Christal EarleAuthor of 52 Stories & Co-founder

“. . . we’re in a culture where there’s information overload, there’s probably a lot of donor fatigue, there’s certainly empathy fatigue. Everybody’s got their own problems so you just have to find a way to make people care . . .”

Avril BenoitDirector of CommunicationsMédecins Sans Frontières

Blogs are a unique channel for non-for-profit storytellers, readily adapting to the immediacy and unpredictability of humanitarian scenarios. They aid communicators by:

v bringing an updated frame to an age-old modev conveying human attributes behind an organizational façadev mirroring the candid, conversational "voice “v validating the storytelling conventions of authorship and publicationv defining a point of contactv accessing a quick, free interface to develop and maintain relationships

Blogs constitute one facet of technology’s revamped communications matrix. As a distinct delivery vehicle, they are able to:

v propel stories with a trajectory and velocity, outpacing print-based formatsv digitally travel a vast network among diverse audiencesv give organizations the facility to bypass mainstream mediav serve as a venue that compounds a story’s reach and impactv inherit the credibility of the first-person singular narrativev simulate authenticity—especially the distant “on-the-ground” perspective

“Locally to globally, there’s just no shortage of stories. Especially when you run a charity, you’re working so hard just to keep your head above water. And you focus on . . . what’s going to continue to bring in the funds to continue what we need to do.”

Christal Earle Author of 52 Stories & Co-founder

“. . . we don’t just want a blogger talking endlessly about all of the cases of sorrow and injustice and difficulty and trauma. We’re also hoping that there will be a component for the reader of seeing that someone is doing something, namely MSF.

Avril BenoitDirector of CommunicationsMédecins Sans Frontières

“You can sugar coat things but I don’t think it helps. I find hearing the real facts and the actual truth is what’s going to make me do something, more so than if I heard a story and it didn’t have any emotion or depth to it.”

Caitlin GreenStoryteller & Field Volunteer

“There’s a tendency to milk stories for their emotional impact and usually you don’t have to do that. . . . We don’t do infomercials. We don’t show the aid porn critique of the swollen-bellied child with the flies on the eyes.”

Avril BenoitDirector of CommunicationsMédecins Sans Frontières

The two not-for-profit storytellers

10 elements of the right story