This is an example of an impact story.

Jane was five years old when she first tried to ride a bike, but she fell and never tried again. Almost twenty years later, Jane still found she nursed her fear of falling off a bike despite wanting to learn. She was also uncertain about how to start or where to go, but that changed when a friend told her about our organisation.

At WomenCycling, we aim to help older girls and women learn to cycle either for the fun of it or to break barriers and fears that have held them back from cycling. We do this within a safe environment with trained cyclists to make our learners feel safe and comfortable to start their cycling journey. To date, we have helped over thirty young girls like Jane gain the confidence to cycle.

When Jane signed up to cycle again for the first time in her adult life, we were excited to be a part of her journey. Through personalised classes, we helped Jane overcome her fear of falling off a bike. With each lesson, her confidence and courage grew. Jane said learning to cycle has helped her feel more confident and courageous to learn something new. Today, Jane has progressed from a beginner to confidently cycling on the road.

We are committed to equipping many more young girls and women like Jane to feel confident enough to cycle and push past their fears. To achieve this, we need your support to offer tailored classes and provide them with a bike of their own so they can practice and enjoy cycling to the fullest.

We invite you to be a part of this transformative journey by sharing Jane’s story and considering donating to our cause. Together, we can help more young girls and women gain the confidence to cycle and push past their fears.

Crafting an impact story is not about providing raw data of what your organisation has achieved, rather it is about using storytelling to convey the essence of your mission and your tangible results in the most evocative way, which helps to encourage donor engagement and volunteer support.

How then do you craft a compelling impact story that will move your readers to take the action you want them to take?

Let’s get right into it.

Step 1: Know your audience

Who are you writing this story for? And why should this story matter to them? If you know the audience you’re writing to, it makes it easier to tailor the message you want to pass across in your message. Let’s go back to our story about Jane. If your audience doesn’t care about cycling, they wouldn’t care about Jane’s story. But if you shared the story with cycling enthusiasts, they’ll feel a connection with Jane and would be more than eager to respond to your call to action to share her story or donate.

Watch: Understanding Your Target Audience

Step 2: Identify the core message and subject

Now that you know your audience, what do you want to tell them and who are you telling them about? The core message you’re conveying through your story is the positive results your organisation has achieved. In the case of our story, the message is that the fictional organisation has helped over thirty girls learn how to cycle. And the core subject is Jane, who is a representative of other girls like her. The subject can also be a community or a project.

Step 3: Use the story structure

Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Start with a hook and set the scene in the beginning. Vividly describe real people, the setting, and the situation. Then move to the middle of your story, which encompasses the rising action and climax. Here you describe the problem and the steps your organisation takes to solve it. Provide specific details about the resources, support, or programs provided to achieve your desired result.

Then conclude with the impact your organisation has made. Here, you can use statistics, anecdotes, or quotes to show the impact. Incorporating data into your story makes it more persuasive. Include a sentence or two from the subject of your story if it’s a person, or in the case of a community, a community leader. You can also include quantitative data, impact reports, sentiment analysis, or any other data that is relevant to your project.

Step 4: End with a call to action

You’re not writing an impact story for the sake of it. You want to invoke an action in your audience. Invite your audience to be part of the story by sharing it, volunteering, or donating to your cause.

Nonprofit storytelling is vital for fundraising and community engagement, and while it can sometimes be challenging to gather stories to incorporate into your communications because of the difficulty in gathering testimonials from the people you serve, you can still make it work by encouraging your audience to share their stories with you either through one-to-one short or long interviews or tailored feedback forms and questionnaires.

Are you planning to write an impact story for your organisation? Would you be following these steps to craft your impact story? Do you need further assistance with writing your impact story? Let us know in the comments.

If you haven’t read the introductory post, you can read it here.