How to Tell Non-Profit Stories With Emotions and Details

I continue to evolve my thinking about how to tell non-profit stories. This is natural in any line of work, but in non-profit storytelling I find that it mostly impacts my process for writing and telling stories. One of the changes I’ve recently made is simplifying my personal definition of storytelling to this:

Storytelling is the process of sharing facts, which are told with emotions and details.

The piece about emotions and details is so important. Stories come alive in the emotions and details, but so often when we tell non-profit stories we get bogged down in the wrong details like program jargon. I also read a lot of non-profit stories that are simply just the facts told chronologically. In both of these instances, the lack of details and emotions undermines the story’s ability to pack a punch.

When I talk with non-profit professionals about their storytelling challenges, they often boil down to writing. In this article I’m going to share some tips to tell non-profits stories with more emotion and detail.

The Challenges of Getting a Story’s Emotions and Details

There are 3 reasons why getting the emotions and details of a story are such a challenge.

First is the vulnerability of the act. Telling our story – especially to someone whom we don’t have as much rapport with – can be super vulnerable. One of the best things we can do when we are listening to a story is to help create a safe and comfortable environment for the person to share. Before you start, ask them where they would feel most comfortable and if there anything little things that can help them feel safe. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a cup of tea, or a home environment. It’s always worth taking the time to figure out how to make the storyteller more comfortable.

Second is the discomfort of listening to the details. We aren’t always aware of this, but sometimes it can be very uncomfortable to listen to someone else’s story. Maybe it’s tragic, maybe it’s happy, maybe it’s somewhere in between, regardless we always bring our own emotional baggage and biases to the conversation, which can in turn cloud our ability to guide the story. As you are listening to a story, try to deepen your self-awareness. How are you reacting to the story? What can you do to remain present and impartial?

Third is not having a good process. Most often we take an interview-style approach to collecting stories. What I’ve come to realize is that sometimes we just need to give people the space to tell without our guidance. Your role as the story listener is the unravel the details, connect the dots, and bring shape to the story. Sometimes that is easier to do when we are just listening.

My process for digging into the emotions and details of a story is to listen and (typically) record the audio of the conversation. Then, I’ll go back through the audio and map out the story. Here are the specific steps that I take to tell a story with emotions and details.

#1 – Start with the facts to tell non-profit stories

In your first pass at telling a story, just start with the chronological facts. Simply get down the milestones, important moments, and so on. This might seems strange given that we want to get to the emotions and details, but before we get to that we need to know the facts.

When I go through this process I usually create a mindmap, even when I’m working with someone else on their storytelling. I’ll use one of my personal stories about being a board member for a non-profit.

Some of  the facts that on my mindmap include:

• Deciding that I wanted to join a board
• Emailing the Volunteer Coordinator at WAVAW Rape Crisis Center to see if they were looking for new board members
• Going through an application and interview process
• Officially becoming a board member at WAVAW
• Helping WAVAW to significant develop its individual donor program

That’s a quick glimpse of what the facts of my story look like.

#2 – Revisit the facts and add in details

Once you have the initial details of the story down on paper, go back and add in more details. When I work with people on their stories, I like to ask the questions – “What else was happening?” Sometimes just that simple question will open up other details about the story. “Details” is a broad way of describing what we are looking for. It could be details about the environment, it could be more details about the facts, or something else.

I’ll give you an example using my story that I mentioned above.

• Volunteering and becoming a board member at WAVAW
  • I knew that I wanted to stay in fundraising, but I needed more experience to advance. So I found a small non-profit in Vancouver called WAVAW and asked if I could volunteer to help with fundraising. They said yes and I started as a board member and chair of the fundraising committee. I’ve been able to work on some substantial projects with them and see the organization grow so much in the last 5 years. It’s been great experience to tap into.
  • Volunteering with WAVAW was really about wanting to give back to the local community with my skills and expertise
  • At the time I was working in higher education fundraising and I remember it being a night/day experience in terms of the organizations’ fundraising programs

#3 – Layer in the emotional experience

Now that you’ve got the big picture facts plus the details, it’s time to add in the emotional experience. The best way to do this is to ask the question – “How did it feel when. . . ?” I find this question cracks people open to thinking about their emotions and brings to light new facets of the story.

Here’s what this looks like using my example.

• Volunteering and becoming a board member at WAVAW
  • I knew that I wanted to stay in fundraising, but I needed more experience to advance. So I found a small non-profit in Vancouver called WAVAW and asked if I could volunteer to help with fundraising. They said yes and I started as a board member and chair of the fundraising committee. I’ve been able to work on some substantial projects with them and see the organization grow so much in the last 5 years. It’s been great experience to tap into.
    • Being a board member has been a rewarding and challenging experience for me. That was especially true when I become board chair. It was a steep learning curve and during the first 6 months, I thought about quitting often. I constantly felt like I wasn’t doing a good job and that no one liked my leadership. But as time went on, I continue to learn more about how to be a good leader and how to uplift and encourage a great team.
    • I still remember the first time I did donor thank you phone calls as a board member. I had some of the most significant and moving conversations of my fundraising career with WAVAW’s donors. Experiencing their passion for the cause

There you have it – a glimpse into my process of telling stories with details and emotions. It’s a layered process and one that takes time to unfold. This is a process that I go into greater detail during The Storytelling Non-Profit Master Class. When you sit down with people to hear their stories, make sure that you give yourself plenty of time. Don’t rush the process. Afterward, make sure you have enough to time to process everything and create the story.

Vivid and Gripping Language is Key

The last tip I’ll leave you with for telling stories with emotions and details requires you to get into the weeds of your word choice. Verbs and adjectives can make a difference in your story. Not in every sentence, but in those true key sentences where you’re conveying something essential to the story, you want to spend extra time choosing your words.

My top level guideline for this is aim for language that is vivid and gripping. How I accomplish this is to take a sentence I want to improve and then try to create multiple versions of it to get to the best one. Sometimes I’ll look up words on WordHippo for additional ideas.

Here’s an example of a sentence rewritten multiple times:

• Grace’s family was feeling the financial stress
• Grace’s family was feeling the financial pinch
• Grace’s family was feeling immense financial strain
• Grace’s family was financially strapped
• Grace’s family was worried about money

As you can see from these re-writes, they all essential mean the same thing but the language choice really can the tone and someone’s engagement with the sentence. When you work on your story edits, spend a little extra time to explore word choices that pack a punch.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Does this process resonate with you? Do you think you’ll try using it for your next story?