Are you tired of the friction caused by scrambling for stories at the last minute?
If you regularly field questions like…
“Can you get me a story by next week?”
“Who can think of someone to interview?”
“Haven’t we already done a story like this?”
…then it may be time to set up a nonprofit storytelling system.
With a storytelling system, you have the processes, resources, and yes, the stories in place before you urgently need them. A nonprofit storytelling system shifts storytelling from a scramble into a repeatable, relationship-centred practice.
The friction created by scrambling for stories
Treating storytelling as a series of one-off assignments leads to a cycle of urgent requests, duplicated effort, and last-minute scrambling. It creates operational friction that feels like uncertainty, pressure, and frustration for you and your colleagues. And it can affect external stakeholders, too.
Storytelling is a relationship practice. It creates opportunities to listen to people, collaborate with them on how their experiences are represented, and share them. But in a reactive scramble for stories, people can feel rushed, used, or repeatedly called upon only when the organization “needs something.”
Reduce friction with a proactive nonprofit storytelling system
To move away from the story scramble, you need a proactive storytelling system. The right planning, people, and processes will help your nonprofit consistently identify, develop, organize, and use stories.
Note: A story library is important (see below), but it isn’t the whole system.
Here are some elements to include in your nonprofit’s storytelling system:
1. A documented plan: the direction
Start with the long view, working toward the priorities outlined in your nonprofit’s storytelling strategy. You’ve decided what storytelling should achieve and the messages your stories must convey about your cause and organization. Now turn your strategy into a work plan that outlines the necessary implementation elements, such as story types, leads, responsibilities, deadlines, milestones, and plans for publication and story use.
2. Resources and responsibilities allocated to storytelling: the people
Operational preparedness means allocating time and resources for every part of story development and publication. You’ve designated a budget and lined up team members or external suppliers to handle story interviews, writing and asset development. You’ve assigned a story lead: the person responsible for growing your nonprofit’s story library, maintaining appropriate permissions and consent, and reviewing and approving story use.
3. A (growing) story library: the assets
When you’re story-ready, you’re proactively building a story library (aka story bank) based on your nonprofit’s narrative framework. No longer scrambling to fill story holes, you have a collection of stories you can access to support all of your communications, from campaigns, event promotions, and social content to annual reports, speeches, and internal communications. Your library is ready to serve you and colleagues across departments.
4. A practice of revisiting stories: the efficiency
In a scramble, stories tend to get developed, published, and forgotten. But with a storytelling system, it’s easier to revisit and leverage the stories you’ve already produced. Because you created stories as reusable organizational assets in the first place, you know which stories (including visuals, quotes, data, and video assets) exist in your library, and you have a file-management and tagging system that makes them searchable, organized, visible, and easy to retrieve.
5. Tracking and accountability: the momentum
Your storytelling system should include regularly scheduled storytelling check-ins during which you:
- Generate and evaluate story ideas
- Make decisions and note updates about specific story leads
- Share progress on story (and story asset) development
- Plan and report back on story publication and use
By taking the long view, you can build in generous lead times and recalibrate as needed to accommodate story subjects’ and colleagues’ timelines and availability. You use your plan as your guide and tracking document to stay accountable and maintain storytelling momentum through both quiet and busy periods.
Are you ready to build your nonprofit’s storytelling system?
Wouldn’t it be nice to be ready any time you — or your colleagues — need a story?
If you establish a nonprofit storytelling system, you can stop scrambling for stories. Instead, you’ll have a library of strategic stories, a plan to develop more, and a process for using them in your nonprofit’s communications.
I designed my story writing service to help nonprofit communicators establish the foundation of a repeatable story system, build a story library, and maintain storytelling momentum. If you’re tired of starting from scratch every time someone needs a story, check out my package details and get in touch.
