As the philanthropic and impact sectors intensify their efforts to counteract funding cuts and gaps left by the reductions in domestic and international aid this year, it is fundamental to amplify the voices and stories of change of the grantees and the communities that are on the frontlines of creating social, environmental, economic, and political change.
Since March, the ImpactMapper team has been monitoring the news of funding commitments, rapid response funds, endowment increases and the doubling down on grantmaking efforts to current or past grantees and documenting these in the 2025 Funding Commitment Database. You can access it by subscribing here.
Among the many questions we’ve received when we present this work, two questions stand out:
“Why is it important to invest in storytelling skills for impact reporting?” and “How can we better communicate stories of change in an era of information overload, AI and social media saturation?”
We have clear answers to both questions. Here are 5 reasons why organizations like yours need to step up your storytelling “game” this year:
- You will show the real-life and human results of your funding efforts, not just the numbers. When you use stories as part of data collection and analysis efforts, incredible insights about the human experience that were previously hidden emerge. When you start to aggregate these insights by themes or outcomes across your grantee portfolios, you then create an important data source that allows you to speak about your impact beyond only numbers and anecdotes. A participatory storytelling data collection process can be a methodology that your organization uses to gain deeper understanding of the diverse changes your grantees are contributing to. You can read more about the process in our blog here.
- You will inspire staff and grantees to tell their own stories and learn from them. Storytelling is more than crafting and sharing narratives, it is an art that allows humans to connect through their shared experiences and values and often inspires individual or collective action. Even if the learnings are not always positive, it is important to understand what works and what does not so steps can be taken to improve the outcomes of your programmatic work.
- You will strengthen communication with your grantees, board members, and communities to thrive in challenging times. As division and mistrust seem to increase between public, private, and civil society sectors in different countries around the world, learning to connect through human stories and data, ask the right questions, and safely encourage internal and external reflection leads to more trust and authentic relationship building.
- You can communicate the change of your grantmaking programs in creative and inspiring ways. Though there is a lot of noise in the offline and online worlds and there is a deep craving for authenticity, transparency, and a real understanding of real world impacts of grantmaking. Portfolio evaluations and impact reports do not always have to be delivered in PDF long text formats to educate and drive action. Think creatively about how to share impact stories and data, for example, through multimedia and virtual reality projects, street art, digital shorts, campaigns, or pop-up art or photography exhibitions. This could also be used to leverage greater public visibility and media around core issues your organization cares about.
- You will grow and evolve as an organization. Ultimately, storytelling for impact allows you to rethink your past and write your present with intention and strategic alignment. It is a valuable set of skills that accumulate over time because it illuminates and brings to life your organization’s mission and guiding North Star. Effective storytelling can help donors better shape the legacy of your grantmaking efforts in alignment with your values, vision, and strategy.
As a company, we are known for our expertise in storytelling for impact. If this area is of interest to you or your organization, we want to invite you to learn more and register to our upcoming online trainings:
This 3-month immersive program will be a practice-based course, designed to get you skilled up to analyze and communicate your impact effectively. If you do not have your own data or case, we can provide you with sample data to learn all of the skills and then apply these skills to your work later on. Limited spaces available, register here.
This special training will bring together leaders that support impact and sustainability to explore concrete strategies for optimizing impact tracking and storytelling in their organizations. This hallmark online program will help you learn the power of storytelling methodologies; offer a practical step-by-step guide on how to design, develop, and collect stories and outcomes in workshop; and prepare you with insights on how to analyze qualitative and quantitative data more effectively in line with your theory of change or strategic plan, and how to strengthen impact reporting in your organization. Register here.
If you would like to explore customized training opportunities with us on storytelling for impact and/or learn more about our consulting services, please feel free to reach out. You can book a free meeting with our team here.
