Charity Organization - Storytelling Tool

Challenge

I am a student who lives in a city where the number of women with financial challenges is constantly  increasing. These women have different stories, they are generally alone, often with kids and relatives non  close to them, who at the same time also live with limited resources. In a situation like this, a loan from bank  is not an option having a temporary or no job, therefore it becomes difficult to start a new life and leave all  the abuses behind. Although their life has been very tough so far, they have a strong motivation to initiate a  new life, which will give them the independence and the possibility to build a better future.

The charity organization, which I am part of, is planning a campaign to raise money that will be invested to  start new small businesses, led by these women. This poses an extra challenge as who donates has to trust  the organization that money will be invested to start a business that can help women to be successful.  Furthermore, who donates will have the opportunity to monitor directly the start and the development of the  start-up.

Selection

Given this background, we have identified storytelling as the most appropriate tool because it emotionally  engages donators to support the business proposed by each women, rather than just sharing data analysis,  statistics and numbers that describe the situation (e.g. 40% of abused women are abandoned and lonely). This  will also give, to donators, the opportunity to choose and help the situation that is closer to their values.

Application

The organization has selected five women to support in this journey. Each woman was asked to provide a  short description of her “previous life” and current situation and to talk about her business proposal,  resources needed and the financial challenges faced, given the context.

These five stories have been both written and recorded in order to create videos, pictures, posts on social  media and printed brochures. Various communication channels were used to reach as many as people possible  beyond the charity organization, including small private investors.

Insight & Approach

For the first time the organization decided to use the storytelling tool in order to raise funding from donators.  The outcome was very positive, overall much more engagement and participation. The successful result was  very clear since the early days of the launch of the humanitarian campaign. One of the learnings is that the  emotional engagement combined with the vision of a better future for these women was helping donators to  see how they could impact other people life, by feeling their suffer and understanding their motivation better.

Given the outcome obtained thanks to the storytelling tool, the organization decided to approach and apply  this tool to help other similar tough situations for future campaign focused on different charity themes.  Moreover, to broaden the target audience this approach (use storytelling) could be implemented involving  other charity organizations in different locations.


Charity Organization - Storytelling Tool Challenge I am a student who lives in a city where the number of women with financial challenges is constantly increasing . These women have different stories , they are generally alone , often with kids and relatives non close to them , who at the same time also live with limited resources . In a situation like this , a loan from bank is not an option having a temporary or no job , therefore it becomes difficult to start a new life and leave all the abuses behind . Although their life has been very tough so far , they have a strong motivation to initiate a new life , which will give them the independence and the possibility to build a better future . The charity organization , which I am part of , is planning a campaign to raise money that will be invested to start new small businesses , led by these women . This poses an extra challenge as who donates has to trust the organization that money will be invested to start a business that can help women to be successful . Furthermore , who donates will have the opportunity to monitor directly the start and the development of the start - up . Selection Given this background , we have identified storytelling as the most appropriate tool because it emotionally engages donators to support the business proposed by each women , rather than just sharing data analysis , statistics and numbers that describe the situation ( e.g. 40 % of abused women are abandoned and lonely ) . This will also give , to donators , the opportunity to choose and help the situation that is closer to their values . Application The organization has selected five women to support in this journey . Each woman was asked to provide a short description of her “ previous life ” and current situation and to talk about her business proposal , resources needed and the financial challenges faced , given the context . These five stories have been both written and recorded in order to create videos , pictures , posts on social media and printed brochures . Various communication channels were used to reach as many as people possible beyond the charity organization , including small private investors . Insight & Approach For the first time the organization decided to use the storytelling tool in order to raise funding from donators . The outcome was very positive , overall much more engagement and participation . The successful result was very clear since the early days of the launch of the humanitarian campaign . One of the learnings is that the emotional engagement combined with the vision of a better future for these women was helping donators to see how they could impact other people life , by feeling their suffer and understanding their motivation better . Given the outcome obtained thanks to the storytelling tool , the organization decided to approach and apply this tool to help other similar tough situations for future campaign focused on different charity themes . Moreover , to broaden the target audience this approach ( use storytelling ) could be implemented involving other charity organizations in different locations .