One more thing that’s important in stories: your stories don’t need to be bad news stories.
We all know some of us prefer romantic movies over family tragedies. Some people like watching comedy instead of horror movies.
But when it comes to nonprofit stories, we tend to treat everyone the same.
We go all in with a terrible story. For instance, like I shared previously, about orphans and lack of food and shelter.
Or we sketch some doom scenario in a juicy clickbait headline.
Another journalist killed. Another species is going extinct. Climate change will drown our country in the sea.
But actually – our readers, our supporters and potential donors, are regular people, too.
And they may like a break from bad news.
They may like reading something uplifting or optimistic.
About…
- Bile bears saved from grueling maltreatment.
- Girls getting diplomas.
- Orphans growing their own food.
- New equipment for journalists whose cameras were destroyed in a police raid.
- … etc.
And they may like it if it’s a bit fun or less newsy. Like a behind the scenes of the diploma ceremony prep, or a quiz about the vegetables your orphans grow.
Just remember, your fans are people like you and me.
They have bad stuff in their lives just like us. So they may be grateful if we can lighten their day a bit with our messages. Because of a happy story you shared or a funny thing that happened that you wrote about to them.
And we can lighten up their day, easily enough. Because all our hard work solving problems leads to happy moments, too.
We just need to remember to write about those.
Thinking about your (potential) fans as the human beings they are and thinking about what they might need right now is a great way to build real relations that can last.
Relations that can make more happy moments possible!
How I can help
Check out my free Ten Tips to Make Clever Project Budgets: https://www.changingtides.eu/10-tips-to-make-clever-project-budgets/
If you want to learn more about how you can design a successful project, join my course Project Design for nonprofits. You can learn at your own pace and ask me anything in our live sessions and in our members only community. Find out more and enroll via this link: https://www.changingtides.eu/projectdesign
Want to know more and ask questions?
If you want to discuss this more – jump into my nonprofit support community and get input from a wide range of peers and from myself!
Here is how you can join my free nonprofit support community
You can join my free nonprofit support community on the Heartbeat platform here. This group is a safe space for open exchange and discussion on potentially sensitive topics like boards, nonprofit management, fundraising, etc.
You can visit the community via a browser or via an app. Here is the link to download the Heartbeat chat app in the Google Play store.
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If you want to support me without getting a paid workshop, course or review – you can donate me a coffee and speed up my thinking process!
You can support me here: https://ko-fi.com/suzannebakker