According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the country’s 400 most successful fundraising organizations expect to raise a median of 9 percent less in 2009 than 2008. That means that half will do even worse, and the picture isn’t expected to improve in 2010.
Given this grim reality, nonprofit organizations need messages that stick in the heads of readers and listeners—and that means stories. People remember tales far better than facts.
You may find yourself with an assignment to write or review a story to raise funds. If so, here are some suggestions adapted from Fundraising Fitness. You should recognize them immediately if you’ve taken a creative writing or narrative nonfiction class.
- You need a main character, and that main character needs to be a person. Give some physical description to help your readers picture him.
- That character needs a conflict: something preventing her from accomplishing what she wants.
- That conflict should stir the audience emotionally.
- Describe your setting and time period clearly.
- Use direct quotes and dialogue wherever possible to make your characters more immediate (they should speak in plain language and not buzzspeak).
- As the people in your story pursue their goal, they must run into obstacles, surprises, or something else that makes readers sit up and take notice.
- The average American reads at a sixth-grade level, so write clearly enough to be understood by a reasonably bright sixth grader. If you have a good ear for dialect, mix in colloquialisms and slang to establish even more rapport with your audience.
- Show, don’t tell: paint vivid pictures of reactions and interactions rather than merely describing emotions or motivations with adjectives and abstract nouns.
- Identify the general truth your story tells about the human condition, and make sure your audience sees it.
- Make sure that at the end of your story, your audience understands exactly why you’ve told it.
