Nonprofit Technology’s Storytelling Role: How Connected Technologies Make the Most Compelling Story

There are plenty of resources out there on the topic of how to write and share your nonprofit’s story effectively. It’s a crucial skill for anyone looking to increase donations, volunteers, and program services. What’s often overlooked is nonprofit technology’s role in this storytelling. The technology systems you choose can mean the difference between a cohesive, easy to follow story and a scattered, disconnected one. Is your technology helping tell your organization’s compelling story? Here’s how to check if you’re heading towards a “happily ever after”:

Does your technology allow you to easily show measurable and sustainable outcomes?

“From what I see, most donors today are no longer satisfied with only a ‘heart’ connection—they also want evidence of measurable and sustainable outcomes from the nonprofits they support.” Victoria Collins, Ph.D. stated in an American Fundraising Professionals blog post.

Whether it be a donor, grantor, trust holder, or member, your technology is what will make or break the conversation around outcomes.

If you were in an important meeting with a big donor who asked you to show how your impact has grown over the last 5 years, do you have a dashboard with this information at your fingertips? What about when it comes to Annual Report or Grant Reporting time? All too often, staff members spend a lot of time rushing around trying to find, collate, and synthesize information at crunch time. All of this reporting is really the foundation for the story you’re telling these audiences. When you choose technologies with that end result in mind, you get a connected system with easily customizable reports you can quickly access when needed.

Do your technologies reflect the maturity of the organization?

We see it all the time: An organization is growing in services and staff while their technology is still living in the dark ages. (Okay, maybe not the dark ages, but a long-ago “once upon a time” with outdated systems that have become incongruent with the success of the organization.)

In this digital world, technology is front and center, the first impression of your organization for most people. Continuing to operate with older, ineffective systems raises more questions than it answers! And while mystery novels can be fun to read, leaving your website visitors with unanswered questions isn’t going to inspire donations, purchases, or sign-ups. When you step into the present and get your website, emails, donation forms, ticket system, etc… seamlessly connected you build trust. Let your story be nonfiction!

Is your history recorded?

This is a hidden piece of the technology story that gets lost all too often. Your tech systems can be the receptacles for storing and creating a historical record from multiple sources, regardless of how many different people have been the point person.

• When a land trust can go back in time and see the entire history of maintenance on their property…
• When an association can see past conversations with multiple different Presidents of a chapter…
• When a social impact organization can push a button to replicate the exact steps someone else took to successfully garner donations…

…each one of these organizations will be able to make better decisions informed by actual knowledge. No guessing or wondering. No trying to figure out who was the last person to do it. The footnotes are all there and ready to inform the future.

Your technology can be a mission-delivery system.

Choosing technology with your storytelling needs in mind creates a connected system for delivering your mission to more people.

If you want to think through the best technology for your organization, send a support email or consider a technology assessment.

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