At the heart of every grant report lies a story waiting to be told. A story that will engage your audience far more than plain facts and figures.

The art of transforming data and outcomes into engaging storylines turns reports into compelling narratives that resonate deeply with stakeholders, fostering stronger connections with your organisation and greater dedication to your mission.

In this article, we’ll explore why this is so, and we’ll provide some tips on how to create the best stories from your data.

Why Should Grant Managers Use Storytelling?

Human beings are hardwired to respond to stories. Stories resonate with us on an emotional level, making complex information more digestible, engaging, and memorable.

Several organisational psychologists have explored the connection between storytelling and memory. For example, Peg Neuhauser found that learning that’s based on a well-told story is remembered more accurately – and for longer – than learning based on facts and figures alone. In addition, research by Jerome Bruner indicates that facts that are part of a story are 20 times more likely to be remembered.

In the context of grant reporting, storytelling can significantly enhance the impact of communication, making the outcomes and the value of the work more tangible and relatable to all stakeholders involved.

For investors, stories can illuminate the value and impact of their funds, reinforcing their commitment to the cause. For grantees, a compelling narrative can showcase their achievements, challenges, and lessons learned, fostering a sense of pride and ownership. And for communities, engaging stories can inspire action, empathy, and support, strengthening the collective resolve to address societal challenges.

Grant managers and other staff also benefit; powerful stories can reinforce their sense of purpose within the organisation and helps them remember the difference they’re making.

Storytelling for Reporting

When it comes to reporting in particular, storytelling really brings projects to life. It transforms a report from a mere presentation of figures into a powerful narrative that captures the essence of the grant’s impact, and expresses it in a complete and contextualised way.  

Bringing in the human element adds depth and relatability, allowing the audience to see beyond the numbers and connect with the real stories of individuals and communities affected by the grant. This approach leaves a lasting impression on the audience, reinforcing their emotional investment.

Storytelling as a Tool for Growth

Storytelling opens the door to broader dissemination and engagement. Compelling narratives are more likely to be shared and discussed; therefore, they can enhance an organisation’s visibility and credibility, helping to attract new partners, funders, and supporters. In this way, storytelling becomes not just a tool for reporting but a strategic asset for growth and impact.

Storytelling also encourages development internally – through sharing and reflection, organisations can look beyond the surface of their activities and dig deeper into their purpose and impact.

Brand Identity

Non-profits and charitable organisations need to consider their branding, as any for-profit organisation would. Stories are an essential part of expressing one’s brand identity, communicating not just what you do but why you do it, and the difference it makes. It’s a great way to get that message across and reinforce what you stand for.

What is Strategic Storytelling? And How Can You Use it for Reporting?

Strategic storytelling is a powerful communication technique that involves crafting stories with a specific goal or strategy in mind. It transcends traditional storytelling by integrating the art of narrative with data. It does so with the goal to influence, persuade, or inspire an audience towards a desired action.

Strategic storytelling is purpose-driven; it carefully selects themes, messages, and characters that align with the overarching objectives. Data should be the foundation upon which the story is built, providing credibility and substance to the narrative. The challenge – and the art – lies in selecting and presenting data in a way that enriches the story without overwhelming it.

Effective strategic storytelling involves several key elements:

• Purpose: Clearly defined objectives that the story seeks to achieve, such as gaining investor buy-in, influencing public opinion, or motivating employees.
• Audience understanding: Deep insights into the audience’s values, needs, and preferences, enabling the story to resonate and elicit the desired emotional response.
• Authenticity: Genuine stories that reflect true experiences, values, or missions to build trust and credibility with the audience.
• Relevance: Content that is meaningful and directly applicable to the audience, ensuring that the message is both impactful and actionable.
• Engagement: Crafting narratives that captivate the audience, holding their attention and leaving a lasting impression. Sharing individual journeys that evoke emotion are key here.  

How Much Data Should You Include?

As mentioned, don’t overdo it. The right amount of data strikes a balance between providing sufficient evidence to support the narrative and maintaining the audience’s engagement without overwhelming them. The key here is ‘sufficient evidence’ – it needs to be persuasive enough to make your case.

Integrate data in a way that enriches the story, underscores its credibility, and drives the intended message home. Here are some suggestions for how to do that:

• Know your audience: Understand the needs, preferences, and level of expertise and statistical literacy of your audience. A technical audience might appreciate more detailed data, while others might benefit from high-level statistics and more narrative.
• Use data to support key points: Identify the key points or messages in your story and use data selectively to support these. Each piece of data should serve a clear purpose, whether it’s to highlight a problem, demonstrate impact, or illustrate progress. Avoid including data that does not directly contribute to the narrative or message.
• Simplify complex data: When dealing with complex data, use summaries, averages, or percentages to convey the main takeaways, rather than presenting raw numbers. Data visualisation can is helpful for distilling complex data into more digestible and engaging formats.
• Evoke emotion: Remember that the primary goal of storytelling is to create an emotional connection. Use data to elicit emotions or demonstrate the human impact of your work. Stories of individual cases or testimonials, supported by broader statistical data, can be especially powerful.

Create an Engaging Storyline

Like any story, your grant reports will contain a storyline and characters. Map out the key milestones, highlighting the struggles your beneficiaries were facing and the impact of your support.

A common technique to guide strategic stories is the PAS copywriting framework, which stands for problem, agitation, solution. It starts by identifying a problem, intensifies the issue (agitation), and then presents a solution and the outcomes achieved.  

Here’s an overview of how you could use it to structure a report on a project aimed at enhancing literacy rates among underprivileged children in a community:

• Problem: Here, you would describe the challenge the project aimed to solve i.e., a large number of children in the community were finishing school without achieving basic reading proficiency. This literacy gap threatened to perpetuate the cycle of poverty, limiting these children’s future opportunities for success and undermining the overall growth of the community.
• Agitation: Here, you could discuss the factors compounding the problem such as a lack of educational resources outside the classroom, schools burdened by limited budgets and overcrowded classrooms, and so on.
• Solution: This is where you showcase the outcomes, painting a vivid picture of the tangible changes and benefits realised. Discuss the interventions your funds enabled, supported by data about the impact.

In terms of characters, you can talk about one or more individuals that have benefited from your grants. In fact, an article by Harvard Business Review discusses the concept that stories promote cooperative behaviour thanks to the neurotransmitter, oxytocin, which is associated with trust. One study showed that character-driven stories in particular are effective in increasing oxytocin synthesis, based on blood samples taken before and after exposure to a narrative.

Within your story, describe any key challenges faced along the way – not as obstacles but as catalysts for innovation and growth. This demonstrates transparency and the ability to adapt. With that said, don’t overcomplicate the message – keep it simple and stick to the framework, adding in a few relevant details that add value to what you’re communicating.

Support the Story with Data Visualisation

As mentioned, using data visualisation tools alongside storytelling brings reports to life even more. Alongside our grant management software comes Flexigrant Insights, one of our premium features. It helps grant managers discover hidden trends which may affect strategic decisions. And with real-time data, you have your finger on the pulse of all grant activity at all times.

Conclusion

In summary, storytelling transforms grant reports from static documents full of facts and figures into powerful narratives that captivate your audience. It makes the information more memorable, enhances the shareability of the message, and reinforces brand identity.

Simple frameworks (such as PAS) can guide the formation of the narrative, with each step backed up with key data points. It’s always worth highlighting the experiences of a few individual beneficiaries to enhance the audience’s emotional connection with the organisation.

Overall, this approach builds trust, encourages shared dedication to advancing community objectives, and ultimately, amplifies the reach and effectiveness of the organisation’s mission.

Leading UK funders rely on Flexigrant day in, day out, to handle their grant operations and data. To learn more about how our grant management software can help you, book a demo today.