The 46th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference was held Nov. 15-18 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The theme of the conference this year was “Strengthening Local Communities: The Role of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Organizations.” I was selected to go to this year’s ARNOVA conference as an Undergraduate Diversity Scholar, a new initiative to bring underrepresented students and undergraduates to a mostly graduate and research-based conference.

As a Chicana, studying Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Transborder Chican@/Latin@ Studies and Sustainability, I already felt out of place entering a conference like this. However, I knew I was chosen for a reason and I wanted to expand on my knowledge in the nonprofit field.

The first few days of the conference started with introduction to the other 15 scholars and to ARNOVA. I wanted to go to panels I knew I could benefit and learn new from, so I went to workshops surrounding the topics of: multi-sector collaboration, representation and diversity, managing volunteers, activist philanthropy, and social enterprises. During a poster presentation, I even had the opportunity to meet two groups of ASU graduate students showcasing their work!

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Storytelling is a strategic tool that has been used since the beginning of humanity to transmit a meaningful message to others. Through stories, people can speak out their minds, share wisdom, and pass information to others. 

Telling a good story can influence the mindset of the audience, and this explains why a lot of businesses today are using this tool to market their brands to their potential customers. Nonprofits can also make use of storytelling to engage their audience, get their attention, and influence them to change their behavior and take action. 

Generating compelling stories is no longer a luxury or a choice for nonprofits. Potential donors and volunteers have increasing amounts of pressure to spend money elsewhere and volunteer their time with other activities. This is why your nonprofits needs to rely on storytelling as a foundation for a strong digital media strategy in the future. 

If you want your nonprofit to thrive and grow, then you need to craft stories that can inspire their audience and motivate them to donate to their organization. In this article, we shall discuss 8-step guide which nonprofits can follow to collect and use compelling stories that will make a difference in their audience behavior. 

1. Know Your Goals

The first step of generating a good story…

In the face of increased accountability pressures, nonprofits are searching for ways to demonstrate their effectiveness (Liket and Maas, 2015). Stakeholders should be asking how do we identify effective practices throughout the organization and how do we improve organizational effectiveness to achieve greater impact? Nonprofit organizations are increasingly under pressure from funders, clients, and others to “prove” that they are achieving their mission effectively and efficiently (Renz and Murray, 2010). Over the past decade, efforts have been increasingly made to encourage the adoption of effective practice methodologies in the nonprofit sector (National Resource Center, 2010). What is considered effective should advance the organizations mission and goals to achieve greater impact.

Meaningful tools to evaluate effectiveness are largely absent (Liket and Maas, 2015). This means an increased demand for more and better evaluation (Renz and Murray, 2010) is needed. Currently, nonprofit organizations are measuring effectiveness in a variety of ways including benchmarking, organizational effectiveness evaluations, key performance indicators, and outcome based evaluation. Nonprofit organizations should identify evaluation methods to assess their programs and organization effectiveness on an ongoing basis. The goal is to identify best practices and opportunities and subsequently to adapt to improve (Bridgespan, n.d.).

It is important…

For a nonprofit organization, getting new donors every year is crucial, and the best way to make this happen is through peer-to-peer fundraising. The reason behind this is the fact that people respond better to other people rather than an organization – this holds true especially if the person is someone they are acquainted with.

When you hear about a cause from a person close to you – be it a friend, colleague or family member – this triggers an emotional connection that influences the person to pay attention and consider looking at the request of favor.

Here are some of the best ways to use peer pressure as a way to drive donors and increase volunteers:

1. Tell a Story, Deliver, and Ask Nicely

When creating a fundraising campaign, it's essential to be as clear as possible. It doesn't matter how complex your mission is, or if your work covers some issues, you can still deliver a simple story by concentrating on one aspect, or you can narrow down your goal to a particular impact. Keep in mind; fundraising is all about sharing between networks. Make sure that your purpose and mission can be shared easily through an engaging story for potential donors and volunteers. Thus, it's imperative that your story is easy to share.

In early November, I had the pleasure to be part of a panel conversation on Achieving High Impact Philanthropy as part of the ASU Lodestar Center's PhilanthropyMatters Speaker Series. These events are designed to share leading-edge thinking and to stimulate new ideas for philanthropy in Arizona.

Social Venture Partners Arizona Founder Jerry Hirsch introduced Kat Rosqueta, Founding Executive Director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, to 80 attendees. She shared research and examples of high impact philanthropy from her 10 years of work. Following, Dr. Robert Ashcraft, ASU Lodestar Center's Executive Director, facilitated a conversation with Kat, Partner Jacky Alling from the Arizona Community Foundation and me, where we discussed the high impact philanthropy ecosystem in Arizona. 

Connecting with Kat was like meeting a fellow tribe partner! Just like her center at the University of Pennsylvania, SVP focuses on being a resource to help people achieve high social impact in their philanthropic giving. Kat outlined four characteristics of high impact giving.

• Social Impact — What is the positive change in the world you want to create?
• Evidence Informed — We get informed with the best available evidence to build off what is already known,…