Story Gardening Step Four: HARVEST

(This is the fifth in a series of six posts on how to create a garden of stories your organization can harvest for appeals, newsletters, gratitude reports, social media posts and more. You can read refer to my main blog page for the other posts!)

For many of you, this is the best part!
 
It's time to reap the benefits of all the story seeds you've carefully cultivated, sowed and nurtured. You can start harvesting those stories to use in fundraising appeals, emails, newsletters, gratitude reports, social media posts... and more!

To illustrate this point, I'm going to share a few images and examples of appeals I worked on with the fantastic direct response consulting team at Agents of Good for their client, Casey House. Most of these appeals were designed by AOG's talented Partner/Creative Director, John Lepp.

(Note that these are all direct mail samples, although I did also write email versions of most of these appeals for the client to send out.)

Casey House is doing vitally important work to support and care for people living with and at risk of HIV in the Greater Toronto Area. They've been very open to the StoryGardening process over the past few years: cultivating the soil of storytelling, sowing story seeds and nurturing those seeds to grow a thriving garden of stories!

Program coordinators tell amazing stories
 
One of the first appeals we worked on was a special appeal asking donors to support a newly introduced program, called the Winter Warm Up. I was able to interview the two program coordinators, who shared some client stories as well as some tangible items that donors could help purchase with their gifts. All of that content went directly into the letter, which was signed by one of the coordinators.

The appeal felt personal, heartfelt, urgent and tangible. Donors got a good sense of what their gift would be used for and who it would help.

Here are some snapshots of the appeal envelope, letter and insert.

You can really feel the difference that some personal conversations and intimate storytelling makes to this appeal, can't you? Plus, it helps to have the tangible gift amounts in the insert, tied to items that will make a meaningful difference to people struggling in the cold winter weather.

Give your donors some love
One of the next appeals we worked on was a delightful donor newsletter -- I've written a blog post about this topic. You can check out the link and read more about that if you wish! This newsletter featured several stories, including two beneficiaries and a donor feature as well.

Great stories told well can really help your donors to FEEL the impact of their giving in action!

Take it to the next level
 
We've worked on the Casey House holiday 'gift catalogue' appeal for three years now. Each year, it has gotten a bit more in-depth and story-based.

This past year, I interviewed a social worker who had worked at Casey House for 19 years. Liz was able to share some truly heartwarming client stories and more tangible examples of how donors' gifts are used. These stories were woven right into the appeal - both the letter and within each of the gift catalogue items.

You might also notice the theme of 'hugs' being woven throughout these appeals. This is because many people with HIV experience stigma around physical touch, so a hug is especially meaningful.

Once again, a personal story, told right from the 'boots on the ground' program staff person, is a wonderful way to show your donors just what an impact their gift can make. You only learn these stories when you start talking to people!

Instead of an Annual Report, how about a Gratitude Report oozing with appreciation?

I see many boring Annual Reports that are all about the organization and all the amazing things they've done... filled with stats and figures and photos of people holding up large checks.

Instead, why not send out a Gratitude Report, filled with love and appreciation for your donors, your volunteers, and everything they've done to help you accomplish your mission?

For Casey House, we created a report that became a celebration of the many different kinds of donors, and volunteers, they have. The idea was to help all donors feel part of a loving community of people who are all helping people living with HIV. To do that, I had to interview 8 different people to gather their story - the reason WHY they supported Casey House.

This is just a small sampling of the stories. This 24 page report DID also have some facts and figures in it, of course, and lots of great info on what the donors gifts had accomplished over the year, just like any good annual report. It had an impactful letter from the CEO too.

But, what makes this report special is the stories - the personal reasons why these donors (and volunteers) choose to support Casey House.

Each story is unique, and each one is worth sharing.

Here's a bonus: you see the lovely Ed - in the bright red t-shirt? He's a dedicated volunteer.

He left such an impression that we asked him if he'd be willing to sign the letter for the Fall Appeal! He agreed and with a second interview, he was able to share some additional compelling client stories for the appeal. (I especially love the story he shared about one client licks his lunch plate clean when no one is looking!)

So you see, once you start talking to people and asking them to share their stories... volunteers, donors, beneficiaries, staff... the stories tend to keep on flowing. You can start to get really creative with how you harvest your stories and how you continue to sow those story seeds.

I hope some of these examples give you ideas you can use in your own fundraising appeals. If you'd like to see larger pdf or full examples of any of these examples, get in touch and I'm happy to share!
 
Stay tuned for the final post in the series (for now), which will look at ways to Maintain your StoryGarden.
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Harvest will be the fourth module in the five step StoryGardening process I’m creating. If you’d like to learn more – you can let me know here!