Nonprofit Congress

For months, news coverage has revolved around the economy and the wounds it inflicts on everyone from factory workers to investment bankers. And for months, nonprofits have been digging deeper into their arsenals of creativity and resourcefulness to keep their communities afloat. Despite mountains of gloomy news, there are still good stories about nonprofits, focusing not on "charity work" or "the needy," but on connections and relationships-among individuals, families, volunteers, businesses, governments, and other points in a tightly woven web. These are not nonprofit stories, but community stories.

Storytelling emerged onto the nonprofit communications scene with a roar, drawing the attention and expertise of many specialists in the field. Unlike generalizations or statistics, it provides context, emotion, and an opportunity to relate to others. Here are just a few resources that can help draw out the stories of your work to connect with clients, donors, volunteers, policymakers, and other community members.

• Five Questions Nonprofits Should Answer with Stories - An excellent (and brief) post from Kivi Leroux Miller, an expert in the field of nonprofit communications and marketin
• Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - Andy Goodman, noted communications expert, offers this free e-book that offers a research-based (and humorous) take on how to improve storytelling within the context of speeches and presentations
• Put Persuasive Storytelling to Work for Your Nonprofit - This article from Nancy E. Schwartz provides several tips on telling effective stories
• 5 Nonprofit Storytelling Lessons from a Master of Hip-Hop - This blog post shares some tips on using storytelling as a vehicle for social change

What storytelling resources do you recommend? Share them on the Nonprofit Congress website.

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