Cindy Eggleton has at all times believed within the energy of a narrative.
However the CEO and co-founder of Sensible Cities, a Detroit-based early childhood improvement nonprofit that helps studying in underserved communities, by no means anticipated somebody to inform hers. And undoubtedly not in a smooth documentary with a slick soundtrack and loads of photos of different Detroit establishments, corresponding to Normal Motors, Diana Ross, and the historic Fox Theatre.
“It’s never been about me,” mentioned Eggleton, including that collaborating within the “Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World” documentary collection on YouTube was her method of honoring her late mom, Geraldine, who impressed her to talk out and assist others of their neighborhood.
Nonetheless, as they face an more and more unsure funding panorama, nonprofits are focusing extra on storytelling in outreach to donors – each large and small – and elevating manufacturing values for movies and podcasts.
“Storytelling is how we’re able to draw people in and get them to connect to a deeper truth about themselves or about the world or a problem that needs to be solved,” mentioned Elevate Prize Basis CEO Carolina Jayaram Garcia. “It’s connecting those issues back to you as a human and not saying, ‘Well, that’s their problem. That’s all the way over there.’ The story allows it to be human.”
Elevate Prize Basis launches its personal documentary studio
The muse launched the manufacturing home Elevate Studios earlier this yr to inform extra of these tales, Jayaram Garcia mentioned. “Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World,” Elevate Studios’ first collection, has already generated greater than 3 million views on YouTube and can debut its second season in the summertime of 2026.
“It’s been incredible to see the growth we’ve had on YouTube and how it’s resonated so quickly with so many people,” Jayaram Garcia mentioned. “We know we’re on to something here.”
Philanthropic assist of storytelling has been ongoing for many years, largely via donors funding documentary tasks. Open Society Foundations created the Soros Documentary Fund in 1996 earlier than the Sundance Institute took it over in 2002, with the George Soros-backed nonprofit’s continued financial assist. The Ford Basis formalized its funding plans in 2011, creating its JustFilms program that also helps 25-30 documentary movies yearly. Earlier this month, Firelight Media, a New York-based nonprofit supporting documentary filmmakers of shade, launched the Firelight Fund, which is able to provide administrators $50,000 grants for his or her tasks.
However Lance Gould, founder and CEO of media technique agency Brooklyn Story Lab, says what Elevate Prize Basis and others are doing is totally different. He says it displays each technological enhancements which have lowered the price of documentary storytelling and the rise of social media, which permits nonprofits to work together with donors instantly.
“Being able to tell your story well is paramount,” mentioned Gould, whose agency works with nonprofits to assist them produce their very own story-driven content material. “But storytelling is not only about reaching viewers, it’s also about having the right message for the right viewers.”
He means that nonprofits join their work to bigger initiatives just like the United Nations Sustainable Improvement Objectives — an formidable listing of 17 efforts from eliminating excessive poverty and starvation to guaranteeing each youngster a high quality secondary schooling by 2030 — to draw extra consideration and assist.
How storytelling can strengthen connection
Gould, who was beforehand govt editor of The Huffington Submit and editor in chief of The Boston Phoenix, mentioned “everyone can be their own media company at this point.”
That’s some extent Nicole Bronzan, vice chairman of communications and content material for the Council on Foundations, hopes will not be misplaced within the push for extra storytelling.
In a Council on Foundations report launched final yr, “ A New Voice for Philanthropy: How Deeper Stories and Clearer Language Can Build Trust,” researchers, together with Bronzan, reported that individuals had optimistic attitudes towards foundations, however most didn’t actually perceive how foundations labored. Bronzan mentioned tales that present extra transparency about how donations are used and the way these choices are made assist join folks to a nonprofit and its work.
“If you’re telling those stories,” she mentioned, “I can only imagine that people will be more inclined to open up their pocketbooks and say, ‘Oh, OK, these are causes that need my support.’”
Documentary sparks donations
Thus far, that has been the case for Sensible Cities, which noticed a rise in donations after Eggleton’s episode debuted on YouTube.
“We have a funder who wants to increase his gift from $7,000 to $100,000,” mentioned Eggleton, whose nonprofit turns a neighborhood’s vacant houses into neighborhood facilities with household providers starting from tutoring to psychological well being assist teams. She mentioned new donors have additionally reached out. “It’s kind of incredible.”
Although Sensible Cities doesn’t depend on federal funding for its providers, Eggleton mentioned authorities support cuts have made a tricky funding atmosphere even more durable as a result of the competitors for non-governmental donations turns into even more durable.
“Everybody’s being told what’s being taken away,” she mentioned. “People are pulling at grant officers and individuals with stock market gains. I think it’s more than the funding, though. I think it’s about really recognizing how the world already feels so disconnected and now feels even more so.”
Storytelling, Eggleton mentioned, helps cut back that. By specializing in feminine changemakers, Elevate Studios makes an excellent stronger level, she mentioned, including she’s been quoting Spanish poet Antonio Machado — “There is no path/We make the path by walking” — as she explains the ability of the collection.
“This is the time that we really do need to figure out how we build empathy through stories and not necessarily saying, ‘You’re wrong or you’re right,” she mentioned. “You just show the world what can be and what should be.”
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