5 Ways to Turn Stories into Fundable Proof
A ResultsLab Coffee Collective with Jennifer Stapleton of Fire & Bliss
When you don’t tell your story, people fill in the blanks for you. And often, they get it wrong.
Most nonprofits under-communicate. A single participant story, a milestone from five years ago and a handful of statistics end up carrying the whole case for support. That leaves funders to guess why you exist, what’s changed and whether your programs work.
You have more stories than you think, and more proof than you think. The stories are already happening in team meetings, site visits and program check-ins. The proof is already in the attendance, completion, retention and feedback data you collect.
In this Coffee Collective, Jennifer Stapleton, Founding Partner of Fire & Bliss, shows you how to build the two stories every organization needs. The first is your organizational story: why you exist, and why now. The second is your impact story: a true and compelling story of one person who has been affected positively by your work. ResultsLab then shows how to look at the data you already have, pull out the claims you can honestly make with it, and give those stories the evidence funders need to see your programs are worth investing in.
5 Ways to Turn Your Impact Stories into Fundable Proof
Find the stories you already have. Answer three questions: What made us necessary? What has changed since we began? What do we know now that we didn’t before?
Tell both stories: your organization and the people you serve. Funders invest in missions and impact. Show both, without the self-promotion.
Make the people you serve the hero. Your organization is the guide. Drop the jargon so anyone could repeat your impact back to you.
Back every story with a claim you can defend. Find the evidence already in your data, and match what you say to what that data can actually show.
Start small, then store and reuse. Begin with two stories, each paired with one data point. Build a story bank you can use in grant proposals, annual reports, onboarding and every donor conversation.
Who Should Attend
Executive directors who carry the organization’s story into every funder and board conversation
Development and fundraising teams writing proposals, reports and donor appeals
Marketing and communications teams turning program work into content that moves people to act
You’ll leave with a simple approach your team can use right away, and a clearer sense of which stories and data points to start with.
Speakers
Jennifer Stapleton, Founding Partner, Fire & Bliss
Jennifer is a communications strategist, advocate and artist with more than three decades of experience. She has led communications for national organizations and helped advocacy campaigns win legislative and policy changes at the national, state and local levels. She has landed hundreds of stories in major U.S. outlets and been part of teams that raised tens of millions of dollars for social change. Fire & Bliss is a woman-owned, LGBTBE-certified firm that helps foundations and nonprofits shape their narrative, strengthen their brand and grow support. Jennifer also hosts The Foundation Voice podcast. Her view: “If you don’t shape the narrative around your mission, someone else will do it for you.”
Jaclyn Sablosky, VP Growth, ResultsLab
Jaclyn has spent her career on every side of the funding table: nearly a decade at a nonprofit, then at her local community foundation, and now about six years leading growth and partnerships at ResultsLab. Jaclyn helps nonprofits use the data they already have to learn what’s working and to tell a credible impact story, one that matters to the communities they serve and not just to funders.
About ResultsLab’s Coffee Collective
Coffee Collectives are monthly 30-minute conversations on the challenges nonprofits are facing right now. Bring your questions, and your coffee.
Accelerate Impact with Meaningful Data Use
At ResultsLab, we partner with mission-driven organizations to determine which data is most meaningful and how it is collected, understood and applied, fueling more effective programs and deeper community impact. By capturing, understanding and using data, nonprofits turn insight into action. Let’s chat.