One of my favourite quotes, and one that I use often to illustrate the power of story, is from Andy Goodman’s work Storytelling as Best Practice.

“Even if you have reams of evidence on your side, remember: numbers numb, jargon jars, and nobody ever marched on Washington because of a pie chart. If you want to connect with your audience, tell them a story.”

I often recite this quote in my work with clients. Upon hearing this, some will smile, some will laugh out loud, and others will nod knowingly.

The smiles come from the simple truth that each of us experiences in our own lives. When we think about what has ever motivated us to join a group, to participate in an advocacy campaign, to open our wallets, it is usually because of a story. The story has touched us personally, inspired us to take action, and reflects our values and maybe even our vision for a better world. We smile because we know that in telling our NGO story we thought it was important to include statistical evidence of our claim. We realize that, in fact, it was more important to include ourselves and our vision of the world in the story.

We laugh out loud when we hear this. We might be laughing at ourselves for falling into the trap of numeric justification trumping experiential narrative. We may laugh because the thought of marching on Washington, Paris, London or Ottawa has so very little to do with a pie chart and so very much to do with a full heart. Do we participate in the Terry Fox Run because of the number of people diagnosed each year with the type of cancer that Terry Fox succumbed to, or are we out there every year because of his courage and his hope?

We may nod knowingly when we hear Andy Goodman’s pronouncement of the power of a story and its ability to connect us to each other because we have experienced it ourselves. We may nod knowingly because we are struggling to unearth our own organization’s story from the reams of numbers and the mountains of jargon. We may have realized that we are telling the story from the “inside out” instead of from the “outside in”. When we do this, the story is shaped by our own needs and our mandate rather than by what will resonate with our audience and speak to their reality. We end up unknowingly creating a narrative that is exclusive rather than inclusive.

Annette Summers, author of The Story Factor, puts it best when she observes: “We don’t need more information. We need to know what it means. We need a story that explains what it means and makes us feel like we fit in there somewhere.”

When we can locate ourselves in the stories we tell and in the stories we hear, we begin to shape the cultural collective of an idea that may take hold as a vision and eventually realign cultural values. When we tell stories that help us locate our own identity within them we are at the threshold of making connections that can build and sustain community.

We have seen the rise of the Internet and its influence in shaping stories that create cultural shifts. Political campaigns, advocacy campaigns, and content portals all have played a role in creating stories that set in motion new perspectives around the realignment of our values. Web technologies themselves allow us to hold forums, create blogs, participate in chatrooms, subscribe to RSS feeds, and enjoy our individual podcasts. We are creating and sharing stories online. What is your story? How will your organization embrace the web and build networks of support for your work and your vision?

Pattie LaCroix has directed marketing and communications programs for nonprofits for over ten years. As vice president of Communicopia, she is passionate about creating online communications strategies for nonprofits that engage their audience and build support for their work. You can contact Pattie through www.communicopia.net.