KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. WHY STORYTELLING? Your organizational narrative is your meta‐story: who you are,
where you’ve been, what you’ve learned along the way, and how all of this shapes the values
you hold, the mission you embrace, and the social impact you deliver. This is the kind of story
— compelling, authentic, and true—that can help you engage donors and other stakeholders
in a common goal for the common good.
2. WHY STORYTELLING THROUGH PHYSICAL SPACE? Offices and other physical spaces are often a nonprofit’s most valuable asset, not only in financial terms but also in their capacity to engage people in a shared enterprise. They should align with and amplify your organization’s mission and vision.
Linking these spaces to your organizational narrative can help you:
Expand and improve stakeholder access by allowing more community members to participate in your organization’s mission, changing employee interactions in order to strengthen culture, or simply creating an environment that sharpens an awareness of organizational identity among staff and visitors alike.
Evoke desired emotions: first by identifying the emotions that your organization’s story evokes, and then by ensuring your spaces support and amplify these emotions.
Create a sense of belonging by prioritizing the highest use/touch areas that are central to the story to be told—such as the organization’s entrance, façade, street presence, or performance spaces—augmented by visual and digital assets.
