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You are here: Home / Personal Stories / The Story You Tell Yourself Matters

Personal Stories

The Story You Tell Yourself Matters

Maybe you love your job.
Maybe you’re frustrated with your work.
Perhaps you have a hard time emotionally connecting with the work your organization does.

Have you ever thought about the impact of the story the you tell yourself about your work?

Under the big umbrella of non-profit storytelling, there are lots of different stories that we can tell to the community. But the one that matters the most is the story you tell yourself about why the organization’s work and your personal work matters.

This is something that I’ve struggled with in the past – and I know many fundraisers who do, too. If you’re not on the program side of non-profit work, you can feel a huge disconnect from the impact.

In today’s video, I’m going to share how I overcame this and flipped the story I told myself. I’m also going to share a fun activity that we do at my storytelling workshops to help you articulate your personal story.

Understanding your personal story in the first step to being able to amplify your organization’s work in a more meaningful way.

Here are the questions from the video:

1. How did you first hear about the non-profit that you work for?

2. How did you feel the first time you met with another staff member or board member? Maybe this was at an interview or networking event.

3.  From that point onwards, I knew that. . .

4. ___ years have gone by and I still feel _______ about my work. Or you can consider this question – what keeps you engaged?

If you’ve enjoyed this week’s video, be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to learn more about non-profit storytelling and my upcoming trainings in November.

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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.

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