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Non-profit storytelling that raises money & awareness

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Non-Profit Storytelling Examples

How Indiana University Northwest Created a Staff and Faculty Campaign

If you work in high education fundraising, you’re probably familiar with staff and faculty campaigns. These are where you focus on getting employees to participate in the organization’s philanthropy. I’ve worked with a few smaller organizations that do these, which is great. I personally think that a well, executed internal giving campaign is key to developing a healthy culture of philanthropy.

But as great as these campaigns can be, sometimes you do face some resistance to getting them off the ground.

Today we’ve got a great example of a staff giving campaign in action from Indiana University Northwest. Using storytelling, videos, events and surprise and delight, they created a comprehensive and successful staff giving campaign.

Leeann Wright, Associate Director of Development shares the details:

“Our campaign was a RESOUNDING success!!! I couldn’t have been more pleased!!!!!

My original goals were: 250 donors, $4,000 raised – which, based on the numbers from our inaugural campus campaign were pretty big stretches (basically double plus what we did last year). We completed the campaign with 260+ donors and almost $9,000!!!!

I chose to do a surprising story via video, to garner support for student scholarships.
The videos that contributed to the success as well – for example we had a “Philanthropy Coffee Cart” which was pushed around to every campus office giving out hot beverages and sweet treats – it also enabled me to hand deliver pledge forms. (All while wearing a black fedora, tie and sunglasses, of course!) There were lots of student activities involved too, which tied into the video theme.”

Here are some of the highlights of their campaign:

What I love about this campaign is that the campaign itself actually became an act of storytelling. As the campaign progressed, new videos were released leading up to the official campaign kick-off event. It’s a great way to build momentum and buzz for the campaign. This is a tactic that could be used for any kind of campaign, not just a staff giving campaign.

Key ideas that you can use:

  • Make your campaign experiential. It doesn’t just have to be an ask. You can make philanthropy an experience for everyone involved.
  • Surprise and delight always prevails!
  • The personal touches matter.


About Vanessa Chase Lockshin

My name is Vanessa Chase Lockshin, and I want to empower you to tell your story. In my personal life, finding ways to tell my stories has been a transformational practice. In my fundraising life, I’ve helped hundreds of organizations tell their stories to engage and inspire their donors. To date, my work has helped non-profits raise over $10 million.