(This is the third 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 the first post here and the second post here!)

Assuming you've taken some time to cultivate the story soil in your organization... Your next step is to start sowing the seeds – which means reaching out and encouraging people to share stories with you.

This is meant to be a journey of discovery – you don’t know yet which seeds are going to take root and really grow. Now is the time to scatter the seeds and let people know you’re open to hearing whatever they have to share.

This can be the fun part for some of you… scary part for others! (Stay tuned for a blog post about why we often avoid personal, one on one connections, but how we actually need more of it!)

This is where you need to start reaching out to people and asking to have a conversation to learn more about their stories.

If you read my last post I shared how important it is to identify different perspectives to tell your story from. This is a great starting point. Next, you can make a list of people you can reach out to.

You can start within your organization.

Reach out to staff, volunteers, and board members. Who is most able to share compelling stories of impact? 

Who ‘holds’ the stories? Who has the most contact with beneficiaries, or who witnesses the “good, bad and ugly” when it comes to what’s going on within your org?

(It’s also possible you are a one-stop-shop and this is ALLLL YOU!)

Many staff and volunteers will share beneficiary stories wholeheartedly. You can create sample questions, or forms with details on the content you’re looking for, along with a place to upload or share photos and video content too.

Incentivize story sharing wherever possible so people feel good about sharing their time and energy with you. For example, one nonprofit I worked with would give a $25 credit to their online store to anyone who shared a story that was used in a direct mail or email appeal.

Reach out to your beneficiaries.

Next, I suggest you start gathering names of some clients/beneficiaries you can reach out to. Look for stories that show impact based on the range of services you provide.

You can start with people who may have already reached out to your nonprofit expressing gratitude. (Note: moving forward, make it easy for people to share this kind of info: a form on your website, a note on your email signature, etc.)

If you can, ask for an introduction from a staff member or volunteer who has a relationship with the client. It will make the connection feel more personal.

Always be considerate of people’s time and openness to speaking about sensitive subjects. I’ll write more on this in my next email on how to conduct empathetic interviews.

Talk to your donors.

Donors can be great sources of stories. I recommend speaking to all types of donors. Many organizations seem to prioritize conversations with their major donors or corporate donors, but I love speaking with monthly donors as well as loyal donors who have been giving a lower amount, but for quite a long time.

Talk to the types of donors you want more of!

It helps when you have some beneficiary stories to share during your donor conversations, to show impact and help them feel even better about their giving. If you keep your reply forms or have donors who respond directly to email appeals with a note – those are great people to ask for a chat.

Keep in mind: What’s your story’s purpose?

As you start sowing your story seeds, it helps to keep a list of potential stories and story-tellers. Categorize with the story-teller’s name, contact info, and ideally also the type of story and where it might be used.

Is it a completed story with a happy ending (impact story of impact) or a current story of need? Will you use it in a direct mail appeal, impact report, or thank you letter? Different stories work better in different places.

I’ll talk more about setting up a system to keep track of and maintain your Story Garden in a later post!

My next post will share tips on how to nurture your story seeds (fertilize and weed) -- through empathetic interviews that help you connect with the really good story details.

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Sow is the second module in the five step StoryGardening process I’m creating. If you’d like to learn more – you can let me know here.