Additional Resources

PDF of the slides
Top Ten Tips on Strengthening Donor Relationships Through Story
Ten Ways to Start a Meaningful Conversation

Strengthening Donor Relationships Through Story

Story brings us together. It solidifies our place in the world, helps identify a common purpose, and provides meaning to our work of creating social change. That’s particularly true for our relationship with donors and other stakeholders.

We often think about our donor relationships from a unilateral perspective. Our organization needs money to meet our mission. Our funders and donors help us meet that mission by supporting us financially.

While that’s true, it’s important that we see our relationships as symbiotic. That we see them as a way to help the donor get their own needs met while helping us meet ours. We can only grow our impact in our communities by sharing with each other stories that are compelling and effective.

In this session you will:

• Develop a stronger understanding of the role of story in building relationships with our donors and other stakeholders
• Learn how stories are the bridge to help both the organization and the stakeholder get their needs met
• Learn how our stories are crafted in the minds of our listeners
• Understand the role that a compelling and effective story has in strengthening our relationship
• Learn the components of how to truly listen to our donors … not just their story, but what they are trying to tell us by sharing it

About the Presenter: Sue Kindred

Sue Kindred is Asking Matters’ resident story expert, and is here to help our community strengthen their cases for support – those magical words that inspire our donors to make their biggest gifts.

She is a business strategist with more than 30 years’ real-world “been there done that” experience helping nonprofits and member-based professional associations reach their highest potential. Her clients include Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, and Goodwill of Central Virginia. In May she produced “The Alchemy of Storytelling” conference in Richmond, VA and will do so again this year.