To help you create more impact this year, we’re kicking off a series to help you start things off right! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be diving into everything from how to maximize your impact with nonprofit technology to how you can display your data to get 100% buy-in. In the first post of our “New Year, More Impact” series, let’s take a look at how you can craft your organization’s impact story.
Stories are powerful tools to use when proving your impact to funders and your community. As you start off the new year, create a story that demonstrates how you change lives for the better every single day. With a story that lays out all the good your organization does, you can easily show your impact, which can lead to more funding and more resource to delivery services for the people you serve.
Are You Ready To Begin (But Don’t Know Where to Start)?
Don’t worry! Follow the below steps to help you tell your story and prepare for the year ahead!
1. Conduct Research on Your Topic
Before you start writing your story, you need to evaluate its elements – your organization. It’s crucial to look at yourself before you start your story. Make sure you are:
- Maximizing Your Impact With Nonprofit Technology: As you are researching your nonprofit, make sure that your technology is saving you time and money as your organization is collecting and tracking nonprofit data.
- Using Reporting Best Practices: Are you tracking all the data you need to prove your impact? Are you tracking too much data (yes, that’s a thing you can do!)? Read this to find out best practices you can use for your reporting for 2020 and beyond.
2. Set the Scene of Your Story
Describe the setting your nonprofit is going into this year. 2019 was filled with a lot of change in the nonprofit sector. Talk about the challenges your organization has had to or will have to overcome in light of the changes in public policy or funding requirements that have surfaced.
- Free Resource – Foundation Reporting Study: Learn what funders are looking for from nonprofits. You can use the information provided to inform your readers how funding has changed for your nonprofit and the types of data you need to provide for your nonprofit to get funding.
3. Introduce Your Characters
In your nonprofit’s impact story, your characters are your nonprofit and its clients. Make sure to highlight what your nonprofit’s mission is, how you make a difference in your community, and how you achieve lasting impact with your clients. Here are some free resources to help you introduce your nonprofit in a variety of different ways.
- Annual Report Template: Annual reports are an important resource for laying out what a nonprofit organization has achieved during the past year.
- Board Deck Powerpoint Template: The Board Deck PowerPoint Template is designed to highlight the strong data you’ve collected throughout the year.
- Grant Application Template: Use the Grant Writing Template to display your nonprofit data to potential funders.
4. Frame Your Narrative
This is the last step to creating your powerful story. The hard part’s over – now it’s time for you to frame it in a way that shows your impact. Your story should highlight your outcomes, the resulting impact you created, and the data behind the two.
Stay tuned for the rest of the series! We’re excited to share over the next few weeks how you can make the most out of 2020 and create more impact.
