Most non-profits and churches spend the majority of their time telling people what they do. They spend little time telling people the stories of impact of their organizations. The reality is that donors will not unleash their generosity because of what you do. They will do so when they get immersed in the results of your mission. This is not sharing statistics. It is telling stories.

Mitzie Schafer gives an overview of how telling stories will bring your donors more engagement with your ministry. Telling stories in this way reminds everyone of why you do the mission that you do. In addition to learning to tell stories this way, you will also learn how and where to share them.

In addition to impact stories, we also need to tell generosity stories. Telling them leads to a culture of abundance and helps donors know they aren't alone in supporting your mission. These stories also help to teach generosity.

Mitzie Schafer gives an overview of how telling stories sparks donor engagement with your organization. A critical first step is to evaluate your current communications to determine how much of what you are sharing is "informational" and how much is "inspirational." How much of what you are sharing is an "ask" and how much is connecting the donor to the impact their generosity provides? During this session, we explore where to use stories, what they should include, and how to evaluate your current practices.

This is a great evaluation tool to use with your staff, key volunteers, and board members. Have each of them, or a select group of them complete the evaluation and then discuss the results together. You will each see things a little differently and that knowledge will be helpful in making real changes and improve in giving to your organization.

Social media platforms can be an excellent tool to raise awareness about your organization with potential clients, employees, or donors. But with so many messages fighting for attention in our newsfeeds, how can you create traction with your posts – especially if you have a limited or nonexistent digital media budget? Establishing a team of social media ambassadors could be the right solution to help your organization build its social media footprint and reach a bigger audience. Join us to learn more about: The difference between an influencer and an ambassador Identifying and approaching potential partners Levels of formality and setting expectations of ambassadors Quality vs. quantity of social media content

This week we will walk through how to conduct a self-evaluation communications audit to determine what your current messaging is really saying and doing for the level of engagement you receive from your stakeholders. If you wish more people knew, if you feel like people aren’t responding to the content you are sharing, this is for you. How we message and where we message is critical to building engagement as volunteers and donors. These tools can show you where you have room to improve and where you can lean into what you are doing well more deeply. Mitzie will walk you through the tool so you can do the audit yourself.

Campaigns can be powerful opportunities in the life of your organization or ministry when organized well. They require time, energy, and thoughtful planning, but can propel your organization in several ways. In this session we’ll explore how your campaign is a powerful opportunity for sharing and enlivening the story of the organization or ministry. We’ll identify opportunities and approaches to telling and sharing your story through a campaign.

“The reason we came to Epworth was because my mother wasn’t financially secure and we constantly moved and missed school. One day we stopped moving from house to house and began moving from hotels to motels. My mother sat me down one day and told me that we were going to live without her for awhile until she got back on her feet. My mother didn’t tell me she was taking us to a group home though.”

You have a donor, how do you keep them? Taking care of building and growing a relationship is a center-piece of any development department.