5 Donor Travel Myths Busted

I‘ve been consulting on donor trips for a while now, and have come across a fair share of assumptions and ill-informed beliefs. In this article, I spell out the most common myths and misconceptions I have encountered…and saved the very best for last. 1. Donor trips have low retention. Like any event, donor trips attract […]

How to Convince Your Program Staff That Donor Trips Are Essential

As fundraising and marketing staff, you understand the why of donor trips, but a challenge you may still face is convincing your colleagues in the program department why they should take time to participate in a donor trip. (If you are wondering how program staff should and shouldn’t be involved in donor trips, see articles […]

What Happens When You Can’t Get Consent to Share Stories

If you have read my last article on “Consent is a Process, Not (Just) a Form,” you’ll know that obtaining informed consent from our clients is an important part of nonprofit storytelling. But if informed consent is just not possible, what do you do? I’m not talking about those circumstances when a client clearly declines […]

Consent is a Process, not (Just) a Form

When it comes to ethical storytelling for nonprofits, “consent” has become a buzzword. Nearly every article on the topic of ethical storytelling mentions the need for “informed consent,” yet few go to the trouble of defining what exactly that means, why we need it, or how it can get operationalized. In this article, I’m going […]

The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence

This is one of those stories we tell ourselves: That fundraising staff and program staff are not aligned in storytelling. There is a perception that the fundraising staff prioritize the needs of donors, wanting to overly focus on the negative aspects of clients’ lives and commodify their stories into “assets” for the annual appeal. And […]