The Importance of Storytelling in Nonprofit Communications

Storytelling is a form of communication-based on using stories to communicate information or opinions. Telling a story when discussing personal experiences is second nature to most people. This article will demonstrate how to use stories effectively in your nonprofit’s messaging.

Narrative in the communications of nonprofit organizations

In the ever-competitive world of nonprofits, communicating effectively with your audience is essential to achieving your goals. Indeed, a compelling call to action (CTA) is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Storytelling is a powerful tool for nonprofits because it helps humanize your cause and fosters an emotional connection with your audience. To incorporate stories into your compelling calls to action (CTAs), consider sharing real experiences, testimonials, or case studies that demonstrate the impact of your work.

How can you help your organization connect with communities, build trust, and achieve your goals?

Storytelling can be a compelling way to encourage people to visualize and understand experiences. Narrative communication underpins all human activity. It makes abstract concepts accessible on a human level, which engenders greater empathy and understanding in the target audience. Stories help shape the narrative around issues and influence decision-making. By telling stories and listening to individual migrants and people in the communities that welcome them, we can challenge harmful stereotypes and highlight our common humanity.

The cultural context of narrative communication in Haiti

All history is situated within a system of values. Think about it: a story comprises characters whose actions are driven by their values. Haitian narrative communication, in several forms, is abundant and largely marked by the imagination of the voodoo religion.

It was after the independence of Haiti in 1804, which put an end to slavery definitively, that we see the appearance of typically Haitian “works.” Voodoo first inspired these works because drums are beaten during ceremonies, the walls of the temples are decorated with representations of saints (confused with the spirits or “loas”), and on the ground of the temples are drawn the “vèvès,” geometric symbols personifying these same spirits, and which would be taken from the drawings of the Arawaks, the first inhabitants of the island. However, voodoo was censored and persecuted for more than two centuries, by the first heads of state and by the Catholic and Protestant churches; it is only since the 1980s that it has been accepted as a religion in the same way as the others and that artists can openly draw inspiration from it. 

In Haitian folk tales, the stories of Bouki and Ti Malice populate the Haitian imagination. They are often used as a support to warn children against misconduct.

Storytelling is an effective way to engage with Haitian communities. It can help nonprofits build relationships and respect local knowledge and perspectives because it is rooted in a people’s culture, customs, and mores; tales are part of the intangible heritage. To lose them is disposing of a rich heritage and a meaningful memory. It is a reflection of society.

Elements of Effective Nonprofit Storytelling in Haiti

Storytelling is a creative process that takes time and effort. The first step for any writer is to think of a captivating premise for their work. It can be a personal experience, a situation inspired by actual events, or simply an idea that comes to mind. For example, the author can base themselves on cases of daily life or current events to give a realistic touch to their story. They can also draw inspiration from books or films to create a unique and original story. But above all that, other relevant elements must be considered for compelling storytelling.

Cultural sensitivity and relevance: 

Cultural sensitivity and relevance is a storytelling strategy that involves reaching people through arts, culture, and entertainment. Organizing activities in a space dedicated to cultures, such as a museum or a theater, not only facilitates the involvement of potential allies but also makes it possible to reach people in a positive, open, and emotional place.

These campaigns can also rely on companies or cultural institutions to enable civil society to be heard more effectively and reach a wider audience, particularly by using company-sponsored video kiosks in shopping malls. This prototype originally called on big brands to reach a wider audience by showing videos in shopping malls where people tell their stories, in which they reach out.

The ultimate goal of these prototypes is to generate compassion with a unifying message. If completed, these prototypes will change how vulnerable populations, minorities, or stigmatized populations are viewed, ensuring that activities such as protests and those who organize them are considered positively.

These campaigns seek to be part of a movement that wants to be alternative, relaxed, and locally rooted. These prototypes are also driven by the idea that while humor, emotion, and art can challenge the status quo through spectacle and symbolism, the diversity of the population is underemphasized. Before, a reality to which these prototypes seek to respond.

Collaborative and participatory approaches:

While the cultural strategies we have seen seek to involve traditional allies more in the cause defended by the organizations, the cooperative strategies seek to engage new, more influential, and less political celebrities, such as musicians or world stars.

For example, the prototypes from Hungary and the Philippines use popular or respected people to reach new audiences. They are based on the idea that people respect celebrities more than parties and political platforms, leading them to engage.

Respectful and ethical representation:

While traditional Haitian stories remain essential identity elements, some stories deserve reform. “The depiction of elderly characters and little girls is as stereotyped and clichéd as Disney princesses in an endless slumber hoping for a prince.”

Some Haitian tales, like The Magic Orange Tree (Ti pye zoranj), teach little girls obedience and submission in the face of old situations. Others use girls’ bodies to get attention.

Applying storytelling to different channels and formats in Haiti

Radio and other traditional media

The world of radio narrative is in full development. It gives new birth. A priori, however, we tend to believe the opposite. Indeed, in fiction, isn’t the narrative limited to “niche” productions reserved for a few rare cultural channels? And in the documentary sector, does the story manage without difficulty to occupy a few late programming slots on generalist radios and to take up a small place on specific associative radios? However, the narrative is reborn.

On Hertzian radios, it now enjoys legitimacy in the staging of radio information, where the report gradually regains letters of nobility. It is also investing more and more in the radio advertising sector. Its implantation in documentary production takes on new forms. In more testimonial forms, it interferes with talk programs. And there is talk of a possible return of radio fiction, the nature of which remains to be imagined.

The narrative is also beginning to take hold of the new radio media, whether on web radios or in program databases. It occupies new spaces there, with a new language.

This is, therefore, a unique opportunity to be able to take stock of the different components of the radio/narrative relationship, whether with a historical perspective (from the “golden age” to the present day), a narratological or literary reading, a semi or pragmatic analysis, a sociological perspective, or a socio-economic and strategic interpretation.

Community events and gatherings:

Telling a story, whether it’s about your organization’s mission or the purpose of your event, can help your attendees understand why you’ve brought them together and what you hope to accomplish with your event. This creates a sense of familiarity and trust and allows you to make real, authentic connections with your attendees.

Storytelling is a more entertaining way to share information, making it easier for the story listener to engage with the content. Indeed, the human mind processes information more easily when presented in narrative form. When presented in a story, it is easier to make (and remember) the connection between a problem and a solution. Storytelling is a great way to make the information in your keynotes and event sessions more impactful and memorable.

Visual and multimedia content:

Using a visual is crucial to attract attention and support your point. But the creation of visual content is done more than just anyhow. Graphic content and video content must be thought out so that they can achieve your objective. The simple fact that the animated image grabs attention, arouses interest, and “prevents” the reader from skipping, which is, of course, in the interest of everyone within a company! If it is mainly studied and judicious, the graphic content can even have an emotional impact, which large groups have understood perfectly. This explains why they invest massively in advertising campaigns!

Community engagement and participation:

Nonprofits are very effective in collecting donations from populations in the North. The large traditional nonprofits benefit from a base of members and donors with an anchorage in the Churches for the confessional nonprofits. Similarly, they can mobilize volunteer forces in the North and volunteers to support projects in the countries of the South. One of the means that facilitates all this is, among other things, storytelling. This work of proximity and mobilization, this maintenance of donations, is based mainly on the trust granted by nonprofit members, sympathizers, and donors. Nonprofits generally enjoy great prestige with the public.

Awareness and education:

If it is true that “prevention is better than cure,” education, through awareness, is crucial from an early age. The IFRC and Save the Children have developed awareness and education messages to help communities improve their knowledge of disaster risk and implement ways to stay safe.

Advocacy and policy change

Over the past twenty years, increased sums paid to certain nonprofits have made them leading political actors. However, in addition to being linked to conditions, this financing has also created a specific dependence.

Lastly, building community by mobilizing the grassroots and recruiting new supporters is essential. It creates a new connection and a sense of belonging by focusing on what people have in common in everyday life, as opposed to the “us versus them” divisions that the populist challenge tries to stir up

Using storytelling in nonprofit communications can challenge harmful stereotypes and highlight our common humanity.

The stories we tell reflect our shared values and reinforce the view of the world we want to see.

The person telling the story is as important as the story itself.

There are many diverse and exciting ways for creative storytelling.