01 | Why Don't Donors Care Like I Do? How to Increase Donor Engagement

If your audience or donors don’t seem as passionate about your mission as you are-this episode is for you.

In this kickoff to The Story-Driven Ministry, I share why ministries often struggle with donor engagement (even when the mission is strong), a behind-the-scenes look at a film that helped sponsor hundreds of children, and how storytelling—done right—can deepen support and grow your impact.

You’ll leave with clarity, encouragement, and a clear path to more effective communication.

Ready to clarify your ministry’s message and engage donors? Schedule a free call: https://irisstorytelling.com/getstarted

👉 Grab your free Ministry Message Checklist to start refining your message today at https://irisstorytelling.com/checklist

Connect w/ me:
lisa@irisstorytelling.com
https://irisstorytelling.com

Transcript

 people or my potential donors, why aren't they feeling that same passion about my mission? What I'm doing is so important. It's changing people's lives. It's leading people to Christ.

 Why aren't they excited to join me? Why is it so hard to get people to give and to join us in support?



 I'm super excited you're here with me. I have so much on my heart to share with you about clarifying your message using the power of story to activate your donors. Really get them excited about joining you and joining your mission.



 And you know, you're probably a ministry leader. You work in ministry and you're wearing a lot of hats. You probably have several different job titles or maybe you even have a second job because your ministry is still trying to be built and get bigger.



 And so you have hardly any time, right? You may be just trying to figure out what to say to people. You know, what do I say when I'm speaking in front of people? What do I put on the website? What do I write in my emails? How on my social media, what things are going to work to get people in and get people to join this mission that you care so deeply about.



 And it's just not working for you. You know, you may be just doing trial and error over and over again, trying to figure out what is working, what's not. Maybe you're just all over the place trying to follow social media trends and the algorithms change and this and that. Maybe I should do YouTube. And it's just so much. It's so overwhelming. I get it. I have been there even though I don't have my own ministry. I feel that overwhelm of just trying to figure out what to say to get people to listen.



 There is so much noise out there and it's just increasing. The noise is continuously increases in the digital age.



 So we got to do something about it. And you're ready to do something about it and overcome this big hardship. So on the one hand, you have your ministry and your mission. You have the people that you are serving and growing and what God has called you to do. You're pouring everything into it and you're excited about it. It lights you up because you're so passionate about your ministry. It is so important what you're doing. And I will say it is. It is so important what God has called you to do and the lives that you're impacting.



 But you might feel like on the other side is, well, why aren't

 people or my potential donors, why aren't they feeling that



 same passion about my mission? What I'm doing is so important. It's changing people's lives. It's leading people to Christ.



 Why aren't they excited to join me? Why is it so hard to get people to give and to join us in support?



 So I would say like on the one hand, you have your ministry. You have this amazing mission that you're working hard at. And on the other side, there's the group of people, your potential donors, your audience.



 And they actually do want to join you. They actually do feel the same call on their hearts.



 For whatever your ministry is, they want to also be involved in that. They feel that it's important. And they want to be part of growing God's kingdom.



 And the problem is, there's this disconnect. And what you have to do is build a bridge to bring them over and connect both of those things, your potential donors and your ministry. And that bridge is your messaging. It's the words that you're using to communicate to your potential donors.



 Real quick, if you're listening to this and thinking, "Our donors aren't engaging well, how can I actually check if our messaging is clear?" I want to invite you to download my free ministry message checklist. It's

 a simple tool to help you identify what's working, what's not, and where your message might be losing people, especially when it comes to donor engagement or supporter growth. You can grab it now at irisstorytelling.com slash checklist.



 It's 2016. And I'm sitting in my big plush office chair at my big reclaimed wood desk with two big apple monitors and my big girl job as the senior video editor at the Mega Church in Springfield, Missouri.



 And I am super nervous. It's the kind of nervous where you try to play it cool and easy breezy on the outside. But inside everything feels like it's squirming.

 And the pastor's wife is sitting next to me with her trademark coffee cup in hand, ready to review the film that I've poured my heart into over the past several weeks.



 this film is going to play that weekend at the annual women's conference where tens of thousands of women come from all over the country.

 And I was tasked to fly to Ethiopia and film for this nonprofit called One Child Matters.



 And the film would play at the conference to help get more people to support and sponsor a child.



 Well I didn't get very much direction on how to produce it or what exactly to produce for this video. But that was okay. You know I had I had a plan. I had been on my own time really learning about storytelling and story structure specifically following a main character through different plot points. And I was excited to try it out. So

 I press the spacebar and the film starts to play.



 The voice of a singing seven year old Ethiopian girl fills the room and images of her sitting in her small one bedroom windowless mud hut while she's singing softly and roasting coffee over a small fire.



 We see those images on the screen and I just remember filming her and the juxtaposition between filming her interview while she's sitting on that floor hugging her knees talking about her how her dad abandoned them and they you know had to beg to survive and to be able to go to school.



 And then later filming her with a large group of other kids who were also sponsored and she's standing tall and strong and has the biggest smile on her face and she's singing with the group and singing of her love for Jesus.



 The film ends and I am positive that the pastor's wife is going to turn to me and say that's not at all what I wanted. Start over. Stop it.



 And then a half whisper she said this is my favorite.



 A flood of relief just washed over me and I thought yeah the film passed the first test but I had no idea what was about to happen at that conference that weekend.



 Weekend comes everyone all the staff is we're running around like busy worker ants trying to get our jobs done as well as we can and I'm running around with a camera in my hand filming a lot of coverage of the event. But when I realized that they're playing my film I run into the auditorium and I stand toward the back just kind of looking over the crowd and it's dark in there they're playing the film and I see volunteers standing throughout the auditorium between the aisles and their hands they have a stack of sponsorship packets each packet representing one of the kids that need to be sponsored and the film ends.



 The film ends two hosts start walking up toward the front of the stage ready to give their spiel and convince people to sponsor a child before they even get to the front of the stage before they get even one word out I see hands starting to go up one after the other after the other hundreds of hands being raised and the volunteers are walking briskly trying to get a sponsorship packet to each hand raised and in that moment I just I got chills I started getting really emotional my eyes started watering and I thought hundreds and hundreds of kids lives will be changed forever because of the power of that story.

 That year they ran out of sponsorship packets.



 They ran out.



 There would have been a bigger response and more kids sponsored if they had enough packets. Which is crazy to me.

That had never happened in years prior. That was the first time they ever ran out of sponsorship packets.



 This is it this is what I was called to do this is what I want to do I want to use the power of story to help impact and change lives it wasn't about a film being liked it wasn't about approval it was about the impact that a story has to change people forever I from that day I was like this is this is what I want to dedicate my life to this is what I want to do and that led me into what what God had for me which has been all about storytelling and and helping ministries really use story the impact of story to grow their ministry right to get more donors to get more support.

 long after that I realized that the power of storytelling and not just casual storytelling, I'm talking about structured storytelling with a main character and plot points and all of these beginning, middle and end parts of what makes a story super engaging and effective and you can apply that to your messaging.



 When you are talking to people one-on-one, when you're speaking at events, whether you're writing an email in your email campaigns, in your social media, and of course in your video, whatever message platform you're using,



 you can use the power of storytelling to engage your donors and drive them to action.



 this can happen in your ministry too. You can have events where a church is watching an impact film or you're speaking on stage or you have that short window in front of the church and you get like this huge response of so many people buying in and wanting to join.



 You just have to use the power of storytelling in the right way and so that it will be effective.



 And what's so cool about storytelling is it's not so much of an art or there are, there is an art to it, but really it's a science, it's a formula and anyone can learn the formula to apply the power of story to your message.

 So when you think back on bridging that gap, creating that bridge to bring your donors over to your ministry, you have to know how to build that bridge well.



 Build your messaging well using the power of storytelling so that it's clear and so that it's engaging. You're inviting people on a journey where they are emotionally connected. There's transformation.



 There's a journey. There's a resolution and most importantly, there's a conflict to begin with.



 And all of these pieces work together so that it just creates such a powerful message.



 And I am going to be talking more about that in the future. I want to bring you guys along and teach you how to do this because again, it's a formula. It's a science.



 It's something that you can learn. You don't have to be a naturally good storyteller. This is not a personality trait. It's a skill that you can actually learn.



 let me go on just a little bit of a tangent because this is the second reason I started this podcast because I do want to empower and equip you to use the power of storytelling to help grow your ministry.



 But there's a second reason that I've started this podcast. It's something that a burden that God has put on my heart for a long time. And it's really to inspire or just see more believers tell their stories. You know, one of the things that has spiritually influenced my life more than anything else has been when other believers share their stories of facing a hardship or a challenge and how that affected their relationship with God, whether God saw them through it and they just grew closer to him or God challenged them or God called you or them to something that was very scary. Or even if they made a mistake and they didn't follow the Lord and what happened because of that. Those stories are so incredibly powerful. I think they're memorable and they, I mean, Jesus does tell us to share our stories, share everything that he has done for you.



 He says, go and share everything that the Lord has done for you.



 And it's not just faith building for us when we share our testimony, but it builds faith in the next person that hears it. You know, they can think if God did it for them, he can do it for me. And I have, I have a story that I want to share with you sometime in the near future on this podcast. But it's about that kind of ripple effect or domino effect when someone shared their testimony or miracle of what God did in their life. And the next person that heard that also received a miracle because they heard that and it built their faith. And then someone, they told someone else and that person also received a miracle because of that. And it's just this incredible exponential impact when we tell our stories. I believe that in your ministry and I believe it in like our personal lives. If we want to edify and build each other up in faith, we got to share our testimonies and how God has brought us through that. So I'm excited to share more stories like that as I bring people on and interview them and just help them pull out the story, help them know how to relay that story in a way that's just simple and effective.

 I hope that inspired you or maybe got you a little bit curious on how this thing of, you know, strategic storytelling can help you grow your ministry and grow your donor support.



 And that's my goal here. My goal is to help you learn how with the tips and tricks and tools, not just why, but how how to do it, how to apply it. What is this storytelling framework that you're talking about?

 I would love to hear from you. Email me at Lisa at Iris storytelling.com and that would be my pleasure to help you and hear from you.