Reflection – storytelling

Challenge & Selection

I have been supporting non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially those of a smaller size, as  volunteer, their main problem is that they do not have the adequate means to make their cause visible  and keep them in people's minds due to the high costs that this represents, making it difficult to obtain  donations in order to carry out their work. Consequently, many people who are not an active part of the  social support environment are unaware of the causes and projects of the foundations, thus limiting the  possibility of raising awareness in the population.

The main tool that an NGO has is the ability to tell stories, they serve to empower people, who know  that they have the possibility of improving their lives, getting them to know stories of other people who  have been in the same situation and have managed to get out ahead.

NGOs should know how to get their message to others to get support for their social projects. Through  the life stories behind each cause. We are looking that the donor feels empathy or affinity to finally  achieving support.

Usually we have to meet with large companies to ask for donations, these companies tend to make the  process long and tedious, and often do not end up delivering the funds. Because of this, I decided to  create a new approach to the way collection is done. The idea is to present a “business plan” where a  business becomes the central axis of fundraising. Thus, we want the store to donate a percentage of the  sales for each client that we take to the store.

Application

The biggest challenge is to inspire the owners of these businesses to see this philosophy as an  advantage, that they can realize that helping foundations does not represent an expense for them, but  an opportunity for improvement, attracting consumers who are aligned with social support, thereby  achieving loyalty.

I met with the owner of an Italian food trade and told him about this new “business model”. For this I  started talking about my experience working with NGOs and the people we help, at the same time the  owner told me that in the past, a cousin of him had cancer, and thanks to the family support and  financial support of his medical insurance he could recover from his illness. I took this information that  he gave me and told him how extraordinary it would be that thanks to his store people who do not have  financial resources and are going through the same situation that happened to his cousin, could receive  treatments and save their lives, I let him realize that his store, Instead of being a simple business that  makes a profit, could become an change’s agent and generates well-being for society.

Insight & Approach

This new approach was really a 180-degree turn, with the NGOs we were working on the story-telling  style to raise funds, but we didn't really involve the future donor in the story, we talked more as if we  were selling a product. In this case, when turning the owner of the store into the hero of the story, I  completely caught his attention, he likes the innovative idea and he also felt that he could be useful to  society thanks to this we were able to schedule new meetings to refine the idea.

What I liked most about this tool is that through it, the owner of the company was involved, in the  whole story, making the merchant to stop being a spectator and making him the main character that  would help to achieve the change that these NGOs want to make.

