Your nonprofit likely tells plenty of impact stories — on your website, in conversations with major donors, through program impact reports, and during your donor acquisition and volunteer recruitment efforts. Demonstrating your organization’s impact through storytelling is a powerful way to engage your stakeholders and prove the value of your work.
But for your stories to inspire real action from your audience, they must be grounded in data. In this article, we’ll explore a few steps you can take to infuse data into your stories, helping you earn more support for your cause, steward donors, and improve relationships with funders.
1. Choose the Right Data to Collect
Before you can tell stories that feature compelling impact data, you must determine exactly what that data is and how you’ll collect it. First and foremost, define your organization’s impact metrics — the data points that help you measure the success of your programs, services, and initiatives.
Typically, these metrics will take the form of outputs. Outputs are the individual, quantitative data points you record from programs and services. They might look like:
- Number of meals served
- Number of program participants
- Attendance rates
- Percentage of participants who completed your program
- Percentage of clients who met their goals
- Number of supply kits distributed
- Number of community members who used your center’s services
- Program satisfaction rates
While the types of data you collect will vary greatly depending on your organization's services and programs, each metric should be relevant to your nonprofit’s goals and the stories you want to tell. Choose to monitor outputs that are easily trackable, straightforward, and easy for donors to understand.
2. Use Software to Streamline Data Management and Reporting
Now that you know what kind of data you need to demonstrate impact, how will you collect and analyze it? While some organizations still rely on spreadsheets or paper forms, you’ll save time and get more reliable results with unified software.
Leverage fundraising software and/or a robust case management platform to centralize data, automate reporting, and get actionable insight from your impact data. Features like integrated forms and custom reports help you quickly visualize program outputs while having a centralized hub for your data helps you break down communication barriers within your team.
Ultimately, the right software will increase your team’s efficiency and data maturity, ensuring you can effectively pull the impact data you need to tell inspiring stories.
When choosing software to improve your data management processes, make sure the system integrates with other important tools and has the potential to scale with your organization’s growth. Ask providers how easy it is to customize the platform to meet the needs of new programs, grant requirements, and case management models as your nonprofit grows.
3. Identify the Stories Within Your Outcomes Data
With a streamlined process for data management and reporting, you can now spend time exploring your data and identifying the stories it tells.
To discover these stories, you must measure your impact with both outputs and outcomes. Outcomes are the quantitative and qualitative conclusions you draw from outputs, such as “Our food pantry contributed to a 7% decrease in food insecurity in Henry County.” Here’s a quick breakdown of the difference between the two terms:
Outcomes are more compelling than outputs alone, helping you demonstrate impact in tangible, compelling ways. Plus, they make it easy to identify stories of your organization’s impact.
For example, say you determine that one of your job training program outcomes is that participants saw 45% higher rates of employment than average young adults in your community. There are plenty of stories within this data — stories of underprivileged young people finally learning the skills they need to secure a job that supports their family, stories of unhoused individuals getting access to resources they need to find employment, and many more.
Identify impactful stories like these by diving deeper into your data. Who are the people who participated in your program and secured jobs? How have these jobs made a difference in their lives? What have they said in exit surveys or follow-up communications? Hone your storytelling strategy by answering these questions and finding constituents with empowering stories.
4. Zero In on One Person's Story
After exploring a few potential stories from your outcomes data, choose one person to focus on and learn more about. Honing in on a single person’s story helps supporters put a face to the mission you serve and make it real, building deeper connections with your nonprofit and its mission.
Find a participant, client, or volunteer with a particularly compelling story that aligns with your organization’s values. Then, follow these steps to go deeper:
- Analyze the existing data you have about that person. Before you reach out to your chosen person, outline everything you already know about their story. For instance, you might find their participation dates, attendance history, intake form, and survey responses within their profile in your database.
- Connect with the program coordinator to learn more about their experience and circumstances. They can also offer insight into whether the individual might be open to sharing a testimonial, helping you approach the right people in a respectful and thoughtful way.
- Verify that their story effectively demonstrates your organization’s impact. Based on what you know, confirm that this person’s story is the right fit for your storytelling goals. Consider your intended audience and predict if the story will resonate with them.
- Ask the individual if they’d be willing to share more details about their story. Ask your storyteller directly if they feel comfortable telling their story to your nonprofit and the public. Explain the purpose, emphasizing that their story will help your organization maintain the program that changed their life. Also, outline your privacy policies and touch base on exactly which details they do or do not want to share (such as their name).
- Conduct an interview to collect direct quotes and testimonials. If they say yes, schedule a time to sit down with them face-to-face (whether in person or via a video interview) to discuss how your nonprofit impacted them. Ask their permission to record the meeting so you can include word-for-word quotes in your story.
If they’re not comfortable with an interview, consider offering them the option to write a letter instead. Even a few heartfelt words can create a powerful emotional connection with donors. To make it as easy as possible, have paper and a pen ready, and offer to pick it up if mailing is a challenge. You can also provide an envelope with a stamp or let them know they can email their thoughts. The key is to meet them where they are and make sharing their story effortless.
However, if they’re hesitant or uninterested in sharing their story, it’s important to respect their feelings and not push them. The goal is to make the process feel natural and supportive, not pressured. Fortunately, many people will be eager to share their experiences and express their gratitude for the organization that has impacted their lives!
Once you have everything you need, draft an initial version of the story and share it with the individual. This way, they can provide feedback, potentially adding more details or clarifying certain aspects of the story. This step also serves as an extra confirmation that you have the person’s full permission to publish their story.
5. Center Data in Your Storytelling
During this stage, go back through your final draft and ensure every aspect of the story is grounded in data. Ideally, you want a mix of hard data, direct quotes, and emotional details that feel natural and compelling to readers.
For example, say you chose to tell the story of a dedicated phone canvassing volunteer named Valentina who contributed to your organization’s get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaign. You might add more data to round out the story, such as the number of people Valentina contacted, the percentage of phone calls that ended in a “Yes, I’ll vote” answer, and the ultimate increase in voter turnout following the campaign.
In the end, you wind up with an inspiring story of the change a single person can make when they’re passionate about doing their civic duty. You might share Valentina’s story in your annual report or send it directly to the major donors who funded your advocacy campaign.
Let’s explore a few other examples of how you can use data to enhance your storytelling.
Highlighting the Impact of a Mentorship Program
Let’s say you run a youth mentorship program. Tracking participants’ success rates—such as high school graduation rates—can help you demonstrate long-term impact.
Imagine you discover that 85% of students who participated in your mentorship program graduated high school, compared to just 60% of non-participants in the same community. That’s a compelling statistic on its own, but pairing it with a personal story makes it even more powerful.
Take Sarah, a student who once struggled in school. She had little confidence in her abilities, and her grades reflected that. However, after being matched with a dedicated mentor through your program, she received academic guidance, encouragement, and support. Over time, Sarah’s grades improved, and she successfully graduated.
By weaving Sarah’s personal journey with the broader success rate of your program, you show donors and funders that their support is making a measurable difference. Data-backed storytelling like this highlights both the need for your programs and the proven success of your approach.
Demonstrating the Growing Need for a Food Pantry
If your nonprofit provides essential services like food assistance, tracking trends in demand can reveal important shifts in community needs. Let’s say your food pantry’s records show a 25% increase in the number of families seeking assistance over the past year. This number alone is impactful, but a real-life example can make it even more relatable.
Consider Marcus, a single father who lost his job and turned to your food pantry for support. With rent and other bills piling up, he struggled to put meals on the table for his children. Thanks to your organization’s meal programs, Marcus was able to provide consistent, nutritious meals while he searched for new employment.
Sharing Marcus’s story alongside the data helps paint a complete picture—one that’s both deeply personal and broadly relevant. It not only highlights the importance of your work but also underscores the growing demand, encouraging donors to step up and support your mission.
Using Data and Storytelling to Highlight Your Endowments Impact
Your nonprofit’s endowment is a powerful tool that ensures long-term sustainability and growth. But to engage donors and encourage future contributions, it’s essential to connect the numbers to real-life stories. Here are three examples of ways these hypothetical nonprofits could use data and storytelling to bring their endowment’s impact to life.
Showcasing Long-Term Through an Endowment-Funded Program
One of the most compelling ways to demonstrate the power of an endowment is by highlighting the programs it funds and the lives it changes.
For example, a nonprofit arts organization has an endowment that provides scholarships for underprivileged students to attend music and theater programs. Over the past decade, the endowment has funded 250 scholarships, opening doors for young talent who otherwise couldn’t afford these opportunities.
One of those students was Maya. As a child, Maya dreamed of playing the violin, but her family couldn’t afford lessons. Thanks to an endowment-funded scholarship, she joined the nonprofit’s program, honed her skills, and went on to become a music teacher. Now, she’s passing on her love of music to the next generation.
By pairing Maya’s story with data showing the total number of scholarships awarded, the organization creates an emotional connection while reinforcing the lasting impact of the endowment.
Demonstrating Financial Stability to Encourage Legacy Giving
Donors, particularly those considering planned gifts, want to know their contributions will have a lasting impact. Using data and storytelling, nonprofits can illustrate how their endowment provides financial security during uncertain times.
A community health nonprofit, for example, relies on its endowment to keep free healthcare clinics running. Even when individual donations fluctuate, the endowment consistently funds 30% of the clinic’s operating costs, ensuring care for 10,000 patients annually.
The organization shares the story of the Thompson family, who lost their health insurance during a financial downturn. While other clinics in the area had to cut services due to funding shortfalls, this nonprofit continued providing vital medications and checkups—thanks to their endowment.
By combining the stability of hard numbers with a real-life example of the lives saved, the nonprofit reassures potential donors that their legacy gifts will have a lasting and meaningful effect.
Encouraging Major Gifts by Showcasing Growth Over Time
When donors see how an endowment has grown and expanded its impact over time, they’re more likely to invest in its future. Tracking and sharing growth metrics alongside success stories can inspire major gifts.
An environmental nonprofit, for instance, uses its endowment to fund land restoration projects and protect critical wildlife habitats. Over the past 20 years, the endowment has grown from $5 million to $12 million, allowing the organization to expand its conservation efforts from 1,000 acres to 3,500 acres.
One of their most successful restoration projects focused on a wetland that was once on the verge of collapse. Today, thanks to sustained endowment funding, it has been revived and is now home to thriving bird populations and rare plant species. The organization also highlights a donor who made a planned gift to the endowment, helping make this growth possible.
By showing both numerical growth and on-the-ground impact, the nonprofit makes a compelling case for donors to contribute to the endowment’s continued success.
Turning Data Into Actionable Stories
Storytelling is a skill you refine with practice, so don’t get discouraged if these steps feel overwhelming. The more data-driven stories you tell, the better you’ll get at sharing stories that drive action for your cause.
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Disclaimer:
This blog is for informational purposes only and is not meant as financial, legal, or tax advice. Please seek professional advice from qualified tax, legal, and/or financial professionals before making any financial decisions.
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