7 digital storytelling tips for your nonprofit

1) Be critical of your organization. Competition is not only part of the business world. There are many organizations that do the same that yours does, so, as we were saying here, maybe it’s the right moment to ask yourselves: “Why should anyone care about what we do?”. Answering this question is going to help you become a unique organization, one that has a very specific mission no other local organization has.

2) Trigger media attention. Don’t let your organization become a reports factory but try telling human stories that can catch the medias’ attention instead. Who was the last person you helped? When was the last time someone showed gratitude for your nonprofit's work? Think about it and tell your digital community and the world about it. 

3) Show your donors some love. Human stories about what your organization does is not only useful to catch the medias’ attention, it is also a way to make sure your donors feel happy to be your donors. Storytelling and social media are the tools that will let our donors know where their money goes and who benefits from it.

4) Tell your nonprofit’s story to stand out from the crowd. We are all constantly receiving online inputs, and there are so many names of different organizations that it can be hard to know who is who. Once again, a good way to contrast this is to tell the stories of the people who are part of the organization: how did you start? how do you function? What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you while working for your organization? Tell the story of your organization and tell it with an Instagram story.

5) You probably have guessed this: telling your organization’s story is a synonym of transparency. In the third sector world, transparency is especially important, because any Ngo is supposed to be a lot more than a product. Trust is what brought your donors where they are. If you lose your donors’ or up-coming donors’ trust you will lose their affection forever –and they might spread the word.

6) Find yourself a proper and creative Community Manager and choose the right spokesperson. The best way to find new donors? Online. The best way to catch people’s attention online? With creativity and social media wisdom. To do so you need to find yourself the right communicator. Having this said, bear in mind that there is still life outside of the Internet. That is why you need a charismatic spokesperson who doesn’t necessarily have to be the Community Manager that works in front of a screen: there are different ways of creating the community you want to create or grow, and the key is to be strong both online and offline.                                                                                                                                                       

7) Story telling in Social Media won’t always help you: be critic with your organization (again), in a constructive way. There are a few things storytelling won’t do, like fixing a piece of bad news. When Intermon Oxfam found itself in trouble because of the sexual abuses some of its workers had committed against minors, no fun video about how IntermonOxfam works would have worked. In such cases, which might easily affect any long-term big and solid nonprofit, the good old black and white report posted in the middle of your website might work better.