CoffeyWritesImpact

I remember my first time really understanding narrative fundraising. I was tabling for a Best Buddies at UF event, and I was joined by my friend and buddy pair, Michael. Michael, when I first met him, lived with his parents. However, thanks to their national fundraising campaigns (including our chapter’s), Best Buddies opened a Residential Living Center for people with disabilities in the area. Michael immediately moved in and now has three other roommates, all with disabilities, and a program manager who oversees the housing. Michael is living his dream, and it is certainly in part due to fundraising. The question then becomes: how can we use this story to attract more donors, ultimately opening more programs? How can we get a donor to understand that their contribution makes a tangible impact? Essentially, stories turn into friendships, and friendships turn into civic engagement and donations. That is the importance of narrative fundraising.

Narrative Fundraising Explained

Narrative fundraising is exactly as it sounds, highlighting the importance of centering the ask on the donor, the impact, and how A becomes B. According to a fascinating blog on Bloomerang, “Narrative is made up of a constellation of stories, messages, and other communications that represent and reinforce a key message.”¹ Let’s break each of those key concepts down.

• Stories: Stories are essential because the donor needs to feel like more than a checkbook. In fact, one of the best methods is to place the donor at the center of the story, giving them their own hero’s arc.²
• Messaging: Consistent messaging with a focus on tangible outcomes. For instance, here is a comparison of two types of messages. The first is, “Thank you so much for your contribution; 80% of your money will go toward programmatic work.” The second is, “Thank you so much for your contribution; four out of every five dollars will buy rescue kits for animals.” Clearly, the second message, while saying the same thing, paints a picture, a story, of where the money goes.³
• Other Communications: The biggest focus here is on impact reports. Obviously, every micro-to-small-sized donor cannot be contacted directly by an organization in a massive campaign; however, the impact report can take over the burden of narrative fundraising. In fact, a proper impact report can help drive 80% retention.⁴ So, what makes an impact report look good? Positive traits include being visually appealing and accessible, using real photography, sharing personalized stories from beneficiaries, and presenting a true logic model of program outcomes, with cash flow included if possible.⁵

Best Practices When Talking to Donors

To start off, I want to use a quote I found very helpful when researching for this article: “Donors don’t give to numbers, they give to meaning.”⁶ Essentially, as I stated, they want to know the money is going to create good, and they want to see that good. They want to know that they helped create that good. Now, there is whole other conversation to be had about donor reluctance to give to overhead, but that will be addressed in a later article.

In fact, in one study about higher education, it was reported that callers who listened to the students’ stories were on the phone for 142% more time and collected 171% more revenue.⁷ Clearly, having a personal voice is a fantastic start, but it does not end there. The donor must know the backstory of the population being served, what the money will buy (inputs), and what the outcome will be.

Turning all of those parts of the logic model into a story is a difficult task, but it can be done through proper stakeholder mapping and programmatic research. The following tips were adapted from an article by Donor Relations, which can be found in the second footnote.

• Place the Donor at the Center: Even though, as impact fundraisers, our story is about the beneficiaries, we must look at the story from the donor’s perspective. We must learn about their interests, their causes, and their motivators for good. From there, we can center a narrative that makes the donor a main character.
• Employ a Narrative Arc: The academic term for this concept is a “logic model,” with inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact. Essentially, by putting faces and tangible outcomes on these vocabulary words, it no longer becomes a sales pitch, but a collaboration to improve the community.
• Multimedia Elements: Every single person has a unique learning style. A nonprofit must use different modes of media to convey impact. Whether that includes pictures or videos of the impact, written letters from beneficiaries, or economic data showing a reduction in cost barriers, it is clear that a story is never just words.
• Thank-You’s and Follow-Up: Friends talk more than just once. If you want to develop a real relationship, there should be thank-you letters, follow-up emails, and spontaneous, but not annoying, updates about where the money is going.

All in all, narrative fundraising is about working with the donor to create a shared story of impact. We are fundraisers for social impact, not solicitors or salespeople. Our goal is not to make money, but to help others; that is the same goal of the donors. Once you marry those two concepts together through narrative fundraising, donor retention and involvement will continue to improve.

References

1. Bloomerang. (2025, September 2). Building the narrative of your fundraising program. https://bloomerang.com/blog/building-the-narrative-of-your-fundraising-program/

2. Wester, L. (2025, April 2). Why storytelling is the most underrated skill in fundraising today. Donor Relations Guru. https://www.donorrelations.com/post/why-storytelling-is-the-most-underrated-skill-in-fundraising-today

3. Alleva, J. (2025, September 10). Using donor data to build powerful narratives. Neon One. https://neonone.com/resources/blog/donor-data-narratives/

4. Sheth, U. (2025, December 9). Donor impact reports: Driving transparency and retention. Sopact. https://www.sopact.com/use-case/donor-impact-report

5. FrontStream. (2025, November 5). Asked & answered: How to make nonprofit impact reporting more useful. https://www.frontstream.com/blog/asked-answered-how-to-making-nonprofit-impact-reporting-more-useful

6. Blackbaud. (2025, October 23). The power of narrative in higher education fundraising stories. https://blog.blackbaud.com/power-narrative-higher-ed-fundraising-stories/

7. Blackbaud. (2025, October 23). The power of narrative in higher education fundraising stories. https://blog.blackbaud.com/power-narrative-higher-ed-fundraising-stories/