“You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.”

These words, penned by Mark Twain, begin a story that has lasted the test of time. They begin the story of Huckleberry Finn and pull the reader into caring about a moment in time that only exists in our imagination.

Every cause has a story.  Every not-for-profit organization starts with a dream to take the world to a better place.  As lives are changed, a story evolves behind each success.  These are the stories of lives transformed by one person saying, “I’m going to make a difference,” and then leading others to do the same.

Recently an organization said they had no stories.  They just didn’t have any.  My response was that they had stories; they just hadn’t collected them.  If you have no stories you must be doing work with no results. With no results, how can you measure the resources needed to serve?

Without stories, you’re just another organization with a noble idea.

Stories are the most basic way we justify our cause.  You share your story, you pull people in. You tell your story and the community begins to understand how your work transforms lives.

Every story told pulls a potential caring person from being casually connected to your organization to being better connected and committed to your cause.  Every non-profit needs people who are committed to making a difference in the lives of people and communities.  Most want to know how their contribution will transform the community.

There is no short cut.  Stories are told to develop committed friends.  Stories share information.   They describe where you used to be, where you are today and where you intend to go in the future.

During my first capital campaign, I met with a donor regarding the importance of our project.  I explained what we needed – we were going to add a gym and a pool and make improvements to our day camp site.  He said, “but I don’t want to build a pool.  I want to change lives.”  I had to re-think my pitch to better describe how many lives would be changed, not how much money I needed.

It was only then that I started to tell stories about families coming together, life-long friendships established, a step-parent could cement a life bond in a blended family – it was then that the donor felt their gift would make a difference in the lives of children and families.

Once we started telling our story, support increased. People would learn the compelling stories and the response was always the same – “I never knew.”  How many people do you think know your organization but “never really knew”?

If you have no story, your cause falls flat.  Donors want to know what difference their support will make in the life of their community.

Author John LeCarre was quoted, “I’m in the business of storytelling, not message making.”  We aren’t trying to share a message of how much we need a donation.  Communications experts will tell you that there are two ways to share information.  You can push information out or you can pull people closer to your organization with a story.

In the world of not-for-profit development work one thing is certain:  the organization that tells their story the best, wins.  They win the support of those who care and are determined to make their caring count.