Humans have always been drawn to compelling stories—in fact, studies indicate that using storytelling in marketing can increase conversions by up to 30%. For your school, this could mean significant boosts in your fundraising revenue and, by extension, more school supplies, educational materials, and enriching opportunities for students.

No matter what kind of fundraiser you’re planning, there’s likely a way to weave in some kind of story. For example, you might promote your walk-a-thon fundraiser by framing the walk-a-thon as a journey or adventure that brings your school closer to its goal. Or, you could tell a story with the items you feature in your online auction.

Your school can take its storytelling campaign in so many directions. In this guide, we’ll cover a few key steps to guide your creativity—let’s get started!

1. Define your fundraising goal & narrative.

An overarching goal gives structure to your fundraising campaigns and guides your decision-making. Your choices and strategies, including your storytelling, should all further your goal in some way.

Before you begin detailed campaign planning or drafting marketing messages, you’ll need to define:

  • Your goal. Follow the SMART goal framework by creating a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, your goal might be to sell $10,000 in auction items at your school auction by the end of the event. Determine this goal using the data you have on hand (e.g., you know you need to purchase 300 new textbooks, which costs $10,000).
  • A goal-related narrative. Next, outline a narrative that directly relates to that goal and is relevant to your school. Returning to the auction example, you might explain that while students are studying hard, their old textbooks are worn and even missing pages, making it difficult to learn. New books, on the other hand, would offer them the most complete, up-to-date information to build them a solid education. Explain your current problem, how a fundraiser will help you overcome it, and what the future looks like if you meet your goal.

Use your goal and central narrative as the foundation of all other messaging and strategy for your campaign. Not only will this make your fundraisers more cohesive, but it will also focus all your efforts on a single outcome.

2. Collect impact metrics & success stories.

Once you’ve established your goal and narrative, it’s time to fill in the details of your narrative skeleton. This means adding both personal, emotional elements and logical, numeric details to your stories. To do so, gather:

  • Impact metrics. Using your fundraising software, reference results from past campaigns and trace those results to student outcomes. Maybe you raised $5,000 with your last campaign, allowing you to provide all of your students with at least one educational field trip during the school year.
  • Testimonials. To complement the facts and numbers, you’ll want to soften your stories with the personal experiences of students, staff, and even PTO members. For example, ask students what they thought of the field trips, what they learned, and how they will apply lessons from the field trip to their education.

When collecting stories from students, staff, and other supporters, remember to follow ethical storytelling principles. Get informed consent before sharing any stories—you’ll need to reach out to students’ parents or guardians for this. Additionally, use positive, inclusive language, avoid stereotyping, and be careful not to embellish or oversensationalize stories.

3. Use compelling visuals.

Now it’s time to write and roll out your stories. While your stories should be compelling enough to grab and hold supporters’ attention, leveraging attractive visuals won’t hurt. Here are some tips for developing these visual elements:

  • Tailor them to the communication channel. Social media platforms like Instagram are fast-paced and cluttered, meaning that your graphics will need to be colorful, attention-grabbing, and sparing with text. Your website, on the other hand, is a good place to host longer videos and more complex infographics.
  • Use cohesive branding. It’s best to market your campaign across multiple communication channels to increase touchpoints with your supporters. However, you must make sure to incorporate your school’s branding in each message so the audience will instantly recognize the message as coming from you. Using the same colors, typefaces, and logos can help you achieve this.
  • Remember your donation page. Don’t forget to make your donation page look appealing, too! After all, this is the last thing supporters will see before deciding whether to donate. 99Pledges recommends customizing your donation page with your school’s name, branding, and a compelling description. Make sure to weave your campaign narrative into this description.

Creating visual media can be an expensive endeavor, but your school doesn’t have to get fancy. There are plenty of free tools out there that you can use to make eye-catching graphics, flyers, social media posts, and more. Additionally, you can easily capture and edit photos and videos with just a smartphone.

If your school is looking for a more professional touch, consider seeking out local businesses that may be willing to provide these services for free or at a reduced cost as part of their corporate giving initiatives.

4. Share your story!

Now it’s time to share your carefully crafted story to promote your fundraiser! Allegiance Group + Pursuant suggests using digital channels because they can:

  • Extend your reach, helping you connect with supporters near and far.
  • Engage supporters across many channels, keeping your school at the top of their minds.
  • Make donating easy, allowing supporters to give at any time with just a few clicks.
  • Improve awareness and recognition, making supporters more likely to think of your school, discuss your needs with others, and refer other supporters to your campaigns.

Additionally, digital marketing channels like social media tend to be much more cost-effective than purchasing paid ads on radio or in other local media.

To reach and engage as many supporters as possible, try to personalize and target your marketing messages. Segment your supporters based on shared characteristics and tailor communications based on those traits. For example, you might segment parents based on their child’s grade level and share stories from students of the same age.

Promoting your school’s fundraisers with an intriguing story can be what it takes to hook potential supporters in your silent auction, read-a-thon, or raffle. Using these steps, you’ll be able to craft a storytelling campaign that balances concrete statistics with emotional, compelling experiences within your school community.