Storytelling

Within your fundraising, a way to really elevate the amount you raise and also how you can make a difference to the charity is through raising awareness, and through storytelling. Storytelling is a way for you to connect with your donors, to help them understand why the fundraising is needed and what you are fundraising for, what the cause means to you and ultimately why they should donate in support of the cause.

Your approach to raising awareness and storytelling might be different depending on whether you are raising money for your student group, or fundraising for charity. Especially as if you are raising money for charity you need to make sure you're sharing the charities story and vision, so we'd recommend getting in touch with the charity directly to discuss fundraising tips. 

If you're raising money for your student group, you can think of building your case for support through storytelling by focusing on six key components to inspire and motivate your donors:

Storytelling Process

1. Your Vision or Mission

Begin by outlining what your cause is, and why you exist. This is the purpose or the mission of your group that might already be found within your student group constitution. 

Your vision isn't just about what you are already doing and the difference you may already be making, but is about the change your organisation hopes to bring about to your members or your beneficiaries.

2. The Problem

 Why can't your group just achieve it's vision? What is holding it back? And why do you need to solve it now? Here you need to identify the problem to your target audience, explaining why a certain problem is stopping you achieving your goals or outcomes. It might be helpful here to include any individual stories or statistics too to evidence your problem.

3. Your Plan

What is your plan for overcoming or preventing the outlined problem? What will you do and what steps will you take in order to solve the problem? 

4. What will you Achieve?

You need to ouline what change you aim to bring about through your activities. How will this make a difference to your members, beneficiaries or service users. 

5. What will it Cost?

How much do you need to raise in order to achieve your desired goals? You might share a corresponding budget, or even key targets. For example:  If we fundraise XX amount, we will purchase XX.

6. Your Call to Action

The sixth step is the most important part. Your call to action is outlining what a donor or supporter could do to help solve the problem in which you have identified and how they are able to contribute to achieving your vision.

Jasmine Pledger,  Student Citizenship and Employability Development Coordinator - j.pledger@yusu.org