Using Storytelling to Communicate Your Mission

As any founder or community leader will tell you, your initiative is only as strong as its narrative. Developing a compelling story is vital for pitching, grant seeking and writing, and establishing a mission. Your story not only reflects your values but also demonstrates to your audience that you have a vision and a purpose. Let’s take a look at some ways you can use storytelling to further your mission.

Sketch It Out

In the early stages, storytelling can help you figure out what you are trying to accomplish. It can be helpful to think through a series of questions to target your response better. Consider the following:

• What issue are you focused on?
• What concrete goods or services will your community initiative offer?
• What values will your community venture or project promote?
• What has been your venture’s developmental journey?

Thinking through these questions, and others like them, can help you articulate your mission more effectively to volunteers, employees, event attendees, potential funders, and others. They narrow down your goals and require you to speak on what matters most to your work in the community.

Make It Personal

Considering your personal connection to an issue is a big part of figuring out your story. Did a positive experience with youth sports spur you to expand its availability to elementary school-aged children? Did early struggles with food insecurity motivate you to combat it in urban food deserts? These personal experiences can be very compelling, particularly in the context of a pitch. Likewise, having stories about beneficiaries and participants is a major win. The human element of a community initiative will almost always be the most narratively engaging to an audience.

This doesn’t mean you have to have an individual connection to an issue, but you should be able to articulate how you learned about it and what drew you to it. It also does not mean that you have to share things that you (or someone else) might be uncomfortable with. It simply means that explaining your reason for doing what you do adds another layer of urgency to your mission narrative.

Keep It Focused

Focus is another major element of telling your story. Be specific when discussing your mission. Describe in clear terms what you are trying to accomplish and how you plan to achieve it. To return to a previous example, saying that you are trying to help middle schoolers in Crown Heights gain better access to summer baseball programs is a much more meaningful description than saying you’re trying to get kids all over New York to play sports.

Give It An Arc

Finally, ensure that the story you’re telling has a shape. Often, founders will start with a description of their personal discovery of an issue, talk about the beginning of their venture, and end by talking about the work they are currently doing. This is not an unchangeable formula, but it tends to showcase their work well because it offers a clear synthesis of their mission. You can deviate from this structure, but try not to jump around in time and focus. An audience is much more likely to be moved (and interested) in an anecdote about Little League than a series of disconnected statistics.

If you are able to do all of the above, you should have a compelling narrative on your hands. Just remember to stay on topic, have clear answers to your questions, and give your mission a good story. The results will speak for themselves.

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Connecting with and partnering with community stakeholders is a beneficial part of moving forward with your idea for action. Here are some tips for creating collaborative community partnerships.