Nonprofit Story Telling – 7 Digital Story Telling Tools For Nonprofits

Not-for-Profit

Jan 16

The power of story telling lies in its ability to create connections between people. Stories provide us with the ability to find connection and commonalities with other. As a nonprofit, a well told story can help you build that relationship necessary to inspire action for your cause.

The internet and social media platforms provide nonprofit organizations with powerful ways to spread the great stories that nonprofits have. The question then is what tools are out there that you can use to enhance your nonprofit story telling?

Stephany from Wildfire Effect shared with us her favorite tools to enhance digital story telling at NetSquared Vancouver workshop on video story telling for nonprofits.

Here are 7 digital tools your nonprofit can use to enhance your story telling:

1) Youtube for nonprofits – The use of annotation on your videos

Are you using annotation when it comes to your nonprofit videos? Adding annotations to your videos can help lead your viewers through a funnel that both allows you to see how engaged your audience is but also to send them to more personalized content.

The ability to direct viewers to other videos can be great when you have multiple messages for different audiences. Here is a great example of annotation being used in a video to help you find out what wine you will like which you can see at 1:28 within the video.

How your nonprofit could potentially use this would be for volunteers. You could create a video that begins with stories highlighting the impact you’re nonprofit has with the community and how volunteers are an integral to that. You can then end it with annotated boxes on the different volunteer positions that viewers could be filling. If they click on the annotation it leads to videos covering the stories of past volunteer experiences and more information regarding the responsibilities and learning opportunities for those specific positions.

Google has a nonprofit partnership program that provides you with additional support. If you are eligible you should apply for the program.

2) Stipple – Creating maps and timelines for your organization

UPDATE: No longer available

Stipple is a free tool that allows you the ability to add images and layer captions on top. Examples for what you could use it for would be maps or timelines of your organizations activities. For NetSquared I’m currently planning on using stipple to create an interactive timeline of our nonprofit video series.

It’s a great way to add a bit of an interactive experience where you can provide information in a unique format. It can also be shared on Facebook and twitter as well helping you spread its reach.

3) Chogger – Create your own web comics

UPDATE: No longer available

If your looking to engage your audience and need a tool that can quickly help you generate a story you can use Chogger to create a short comic story.

Chogger is a free comic strip creation tool with a selection of easy to use editing tools for you . It allows you to draw images from scratch or use upload and use your own photos. Additionally you can also even connect your webcam to take a few pictures on the spot for use in your comic strips After you have added the images to your comic strip, you can use their selection of tools to add effects such as fading and outlining. You can also customize the look of each frame in your comic strip and you can add and remove as you want.

4) Prezi – Upgrade Your Powerpoints

Prezi is an online alternative to powerpoint that gives you additional capabilities , especially when it comes to animation. It is much more dynamic as well as easy to use. This is a great tool to use if you’re looking to spruce up your presentations to your boards.

5) Infographics – Do it yourself

Infographics can also be a very effective way to display information in a more engaging format. If your not a designer then Piktochart is an easy solution to create a do-it-yourself infographic. Otherwise if you don’t have the in-house talent you will need to hire a graphic designer to assist you or do it yourself.

Hubspot has some fantastic resources if you are looking to do it yourself:

6) DocStory builder- Create Stories out of Text

If you’re interested in creating a story purely through text then you can use DocStory Builder. A very easy to use google app that is free to use. However, it is pretty limited in its options and functionality.

7) Animoto – Create Amazing Videos Fast

If you are looking to create professional-looking HD videos in a few minutes and don’t want to deal with any complex equipment or software Animoto can be a great solution. All that you need to make your own videos is to upload the photos or video clips that you already have. Animoto then allows you the ability to select music and additional video clips which are all licensed for you to use. Just add your logo and a call-to-action button and voila ! The limitation to this program would be that the free account has a low limit of 30 seconds. Otherwise you would need to pay to upgrade for more features.