November 21, 2010

Nonprofits are in the business of storytelling.

Effective fund development focuses on stories – actually, one story at a time.  And biometric evidence proves it. “Our brains like stories….telling a story keeps the audience engaged.” Check it out at www.neurosciencemarketing.com.

Soliciting is about stories, too…the donor’s stories, your client stories, stories about impact and making a difference.

How about this: Your job is to tell “stories that are too good to check.” I really like that statement. Stories that are so good, so engaging, so meaningful… That there’s no need to fact check. Who cares! Thanks to Neal Conan on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.”

Now think about this beautiful statement from Carlos Ruiz Zafón, in his novel The Angel’s Game: Everything is a tale. What we believe, what we know. What we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated.”

Everything is a story…

About Simone Joyaux

A consultant specializing in fund development, strategic planning, and board development, Simone P. Joyaux works with all types and sizes of nonprofits, speaks at conferences worldwide, and teaches in the graduate program for philanthropy at Saint Mary’s University, MN. Her books, Keep Your Donors and Strategic Fund Development, are standards in the field.

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