236. What Matters Right Now: Ethical Storytelling - Jonathan McCoy, CFRE, Becky Endicott CFRE, and Vik Harrison
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2022 Nonprofit Trends That Matter
This episode is part of our 2022 Nonprofit Trends That Matter Series. Explore the entire series here.
Overview
Happy dance for the week so many have asked about💃 Join this week's 8️⃣ Trends That Matter in 2022 as we dive into Ethical Storytelling with Vik Harrison, writer, self-professed branding nerd and co-founder of charity: water. Many organizations use stories to further their mission, but ethical storytelling prioritizes the storyteller's need before their own. We're breaking down the how-to and chatting about who does it well.
💡LEARN
👆Why ethical storytelling is fundamental to your mission
👆Telling the story of "now" to your community
👆Telling stories that raise awareness but are also baked with dignity + respect
👆Ethical storytelling secret ingredients: authenticity & vulnerability
“A donor these days is very sophisticated, I can come to your homepage, and pick up on those subtle cues of how you speak about your beneficiaries, and how you tell a story lets me know who you are as people regardless of what the story is.”
Episode Transcript
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Episode Overview
Tone setting - ethical storytelling (1:00)
Past podcast conversations (5:00)
Leaning into authentic and ethical storytelling (7:45)
Embracing an abundance mindset and investing in storytelling (10:00)
Leaning into joy with the way we tell our organizations’ stories (12:00)
Leaning into your values to authentically tell the story of your organization (17:00)
A powerful story in Vik’s career that brought to life what happens when you are honest and authentic with your audience and supporters (19:00)
Telling the story of now at your organization (25:00)
Vik’s One Good Thing: Let’s bring the level of excellence and commitment to storytelling that our missions absolutely deserve. (27:00)
Powerful quotes
“We really want to shift the lens and look at this from a place of ethical storytelling, because it is different at its core than just telling a story. It's really shifting and making sure that dignity is part of the process, from every aspect of how the story is told, and how it lands with the people that you're trying to communicate with.” -Jon
“We want to challenge you to think about storytelling in a multimedia multi channel fashion, because we're all getting information. And we'd like to get information in different ways.” -Becky
“As you live out your values, you're going to just further attract the type of people that have that same value.” -Jon
“Guilt driven marketing in the nonprofit space has always been around, and the biggest problem with it is that it works in the short term, which is why it's so tempting for organizations to use it.” -Vik
“I think we make this assumption, okay, if we go with a shock factor in our storytelling, it's going to yield more donations. And the truth is, you know, in the short term, yes, but think about the lifetime of your donors. We all want to feel good. We all want to interact with brands, and organizations that at the end of the day, make us feel good and add positivity to our lives, especially in today's day and age.” -Vik
“You really want to go with stories that paint people in the most positive, beautiful light.” -Vik
“The world is getting smaller - our society, our culture. When you hear Mark Zuckerberg talk about the Metaverse, I can see a time and not the not so distant future where I might be an avatar in the Metaverse talking to a person in Uganda who has also created an avatar for themselves. That distance between different sides of the world is going to continue to shrink. So we really have to start looking at the humanity of people, because the world is getting smaller through technology.” -Vik
“The truth is, in order to paint a beautiful story, and and have images that really convey hope and joy, a you have to have a certain level of photography, video work that is professional, that looks good.” -Vik
“We all want to be a part of something that's working, that has momentum, that is on fire, and that's really positive.” -Vik
“It's this contagious positivity that people cling to, and are drawn to. I hope to be able to influence the next generation of nonprofits to understand this.” -Vik
“What you are selling me is your approach to solving this problem.” -Vik
“I want to see who are you what are your values? What do you believe? And are you approaching this problem with this contagious positivity that gives me hope that You're actually going to be able to solve it because you're confident, but you're also really driven and inspired. I want to be inspired.” -Vik
“A donor these days is very sophisticated, I can come to your homepage, and pick up on those subtle cues of how you speak about your beneficiaries, and how you tell a story lets me know who you are as people regardless of what the story is.” -Vik
“How you're showing love to the people you're serving, and how you're painting a picture of their story, is your mission, vision, and values. It is interconnected.” -Jon
“If you shared some of your challenges with your donors, you would be shocked at how much more supportive they are going to be of your work and of who you are, and how much closer they'll feel to your to your organization.” -Vik
“First, gather that hope, gather that joy, and bring that alongside with your challenges to your donors to the world out there. And I think people will be really attracted to that.” -Vik
“If you can combine those two things in your storytelling in whatever blog posts, you're writing on the end, the next email you're putting out there and the next capital campaign that you're putting together contagious positivity plus real transparency about what you need, combined with a realistic plan of how you're going to get there, that's what's going to rally your supporters that's going to get people to you know, jump out of their seats and want to come help you.” -Vik
“We are, as a nonprofit sector, saving lives, we're saving the environment, we're saving the planet. Whatever your organization is doing, you are doing the most important work. And yet, we are neglecting storytelling.” -Vik
Ethical Storytelling Playlist👇
142. Breaking the Hero-Victim Narrative in Philanthropy - Travis Ning
231. Defining Your Nonprofit's Brand Purpose + How to Bring It to Life - Rob Feakins
136. A Filmmaker's Guide to Storytelling + Empathy to Advance Social Good - Cheryl Miller Houser
186. Storytelling for Social Impact + Building Narrative Intelligence - John Trybus
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