Learn the Art of Storytelling to Motivate Stakeholders in the Nonprofit You Lead
with Lynn Sanders, The Story Mentor

Lynn Sanders,Founder/CEO of Difference Makers Media, LLC, helps entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders create, tell and share their stories to expand their impact. As an award-winning writer/producer, author, marketing consultant, and media host of “The Difference Makers,” Sanders has a mission to inspire people to live life to their highest potential.  Her passion is spreading joy, love and compassion into the world.

Lynn blends over 30 years of creative storytelling experience for both Fortune 500 clients, small businesses and nonprofits to attract measureable results.  Clients have doubled enrollments, attracted thousands of dollars and achieved media exposure.

After a close brush with death, Lynn is well aware of the importance of making a difference while we can.  She was named “The 2017 Conservation Author of the Year” for her children’s best-selling picture book, “Dancing With Tex: The Remarkable Friendship To Save The Whooping Cranes.”  This true friendship story between a man and rare bird helped the Whooping Cranes survive extinction.  Lynn offers speaking programs that engage audiences and embody values of faith, belief and perseverance.  (www.DancingWithTex.com)

Her credits also include writing the children’s book, “Social Justice: How You Can Make A Difference,” along with writing and co-producing the nationally award-winning patient safety video, “Things You Should Know Before Entering The Hospital.”

As an active volunteer, Lynn joined her husband Joel and son Andrew on three healthcare missions to Ecuador.  She received a Community Angel award by A.G. Bell Montessori School, and serves as a musical volunteer at senior residences.

To make a bigger difference from your stories and get a free Difference Makers Story Guide, visit: www.DifferenceMakersMedia.com.

 

 

Watch the Interview

Read the Interview

Hugh Ballou: Welcome to The Nonprofit Exchange. Here we are again. We are talking about creating a story that is compelling. Russell, how are you during this fine day in the fall?

Russell Dennis: It’s a beautiful warm Tuesday, overcast, here in Denver, Colorado. About 55 degrees. Welcoming my friend Lynn Sanders here from Difference Makers Media. She is a master storyteller, Hugh. She is going to talk to us about how to get your message out about the work you’re doing in a way that engages people and draws them in. Really excited to see you here, Lynn.

Lynn Sanders: Thank you. I’m excited to be here.  

Hugh: Lynn, that’s a good set-up. Why don’t you tell us about yourself? What is so special about Lynn Sanders? Why have you chosen to do what you’re doing now?

Lynn: Thank you. A little bit about myself. I am a person who loves stories and loved the arts my whole life. I always found it special to hear stories when I was small because it is a way of connecting with people from the heart. For over 30 years, I had a business that has been transforming during that time. It is a business called Difference Makers Media, originally Park Avenue Productions, where we help people tell, create, and share their stories to build their impact. We all need to do that, right? But most people, when they think about telling their story, think of it in terms of a linear progression. I started this job at this time, and I went to this job and that job. It doesn’t really connect to us from the heart. A good story has to have a flow. It has to have a shape where you start at a point where the story begins, and you’re excited, and you want to continue on. Then the story dips down to what’s called a pit. After the pit, we have a search for meaning, and ultimately a breakthrough. I am going to give you a quick synopsis of my story and why I love doing Difference Makers Media and telling stories. All right with the two of you?

Hugh: Go for it.

Lynn: Thank you. My story has really transformed since the year 2004. I started my business after working at a commercial music company for about seven years. I loved telling stories through commercials, writing lyrics, writing trade shows, writing commercials on TV, radio, and some print. When I started my writing company, I just wanted to do any kind of story, but some stories weren’t as fulfilling as others.

My call, my change, happened at the end of 2004 when three significant people passed away. Sometimes things happen in our lives. Sometimes I think there is a higher reason why they happen: to make us change. One of those people was my dearest friend, my mother. It was just a cold call in the night, December 16, 2004, from my brother telling me my mother had a heart attack out of the blue. My heart caused pain, and I felt like it was being pulled from my chest. I didn’t know how I was going to go on, even though I was a married mother of two. My mom was my foundation. That was my call to think about what am I doing here on Earth? Sometimes we have to be shook up a little bit. Because everything in our lives starts from the inside out, and my grief was so strong, I had physical repercussions from this grief so that I could barely walk. It took me on a journey where I decided I needed to get help to heal. Through that process, I did a lot of reading. I read a terrific book, Radical Forgiveness, about how to forgive yourself and forgive others, and really understand the meaning of our journey. I discovered energy healers and found great self-improvement coaches along the way until I finally, finally, felt like I was getting healed. Something else happened. I had a near-brush with death.

I don’t know if either of you know this, but I had a ruptured appendix in the Denver airport. I had been at the hospital the night before, and the doctors missed it. Ironically, I had just finished a video on patient safety, things you should know before entering the hospital. The most important thing is to have a mentor at your side, to guide and help you. That person was my husband, who unfortunately didn’t catch the mistake at the hospital that I had a ruptured appendix. During that hospital stay for a week, it brought me to think of what’s important. We all take time for granted. My lesson was let’s make the best use of our time. While I’m here, my legacy is I want to bring about more positive stories because I feel our world needs them. I know we are all connected energetically. Whoever is listening to this call is meant to be here right now. By connecting together, we can do great things.

Since that period, from 2004-2008, when I changed my business, I have been focused on helping difference makers get their stories out in a big way. That has resulted in a $100,000 award to a nonprofit where I did their publicity and got them on the front page of a newspaper. The mayor gave them the award. Another person has over 3,000 hits on a video of an interview I did a few years ago. Others told me their businesses have increased because I have helped them strategically tell their story to connect to people at the heart. Isn’t that what we’re all about? Wanting to build relationships, not to sell something, but to connect deeply. That’s why I’m here: to help you tell your story.

Hugh: That’s a great story. I want to go into the pattern that you talked about. There is a form for the story. You do work for people. You interview them and write their stories. Do you also teach people how to write their own stories?

Lynn: Yes, I have given mentoring and teaching people. I am working right now on a program that will help people strategically attract their stories and learning to use the right words because words have energy. I’m sure you know, as both of you are storytellers yourselves. I have helped people tell their stories, and I have also written their stories. There is a process you can go through. I took a course a couple years ago and just had a conference call with the founder of that course today, Jan Stringer. The course is called “Strategic Attraction Coaching.” You can attract the perfect customers, supporters, funders to your doorstep if you know how to put what you need in words that have an energy that reflects who you are and what you want. Pretty interesting.

When you called me the other day, I thought it was kind of humorous. We don’t realize we are all energy beings. We are not just physical beings. When you had called, I had just written down a package idea I wanted to put out that I emailed out yesterday, offering people different group coachings plus a private session with me plus a planning guide and a free book. I thought I would do it in an irresistible way for $99 for the month of December. We don’t need to go into sales. I was thinking about what I could do to help other difference makers, and then you called. That’s how it works.

Hugh: You have children’s books, too. You have written some books.

Lynn: Two books, actually.

Hugh: Tell us about why those stories are important.

Lynn: Okay. I wrote a book before the one you’re mentioning called Social Justice: How You Can Make a Difference. It was published by Capstone Press, a middle-grade book. It’s a how-to book for youth in middle school about how to go about making a difference. What can they do to start their own nonprofit? I have done research to find children who have now grown up and are still making a difference. I didn’t know there were stories like that, but I found them and put them online and put this together in a how-to book. Capstone is selling it as part of a series of justice books.

More recently, two years ago, I published my own book that was based on my story I learned at a video shoot. The book is called Dancing with Tex: The Remarkable Friendship to Save the Whooping Cranes. It was a true friendship story between a man and a bird that helped the whooping cranes survive extinction. It’s an amazing story. People and birds and other animals are imprinted by whomever they see. This bird had been raised by a zookeeper initially. Her name was Tex because she was raised in Texas. She thought she was a person and wouldn’t hang out with other birds. It was only because she ended up dancing with a man who believed he could be her partner. They did this mating dance over time. With the help of scientists, the bird was finally able to lay a fertile egg after six years of trying. That one little egg hatched into a chick, which became a bird who had children and grandchildren and helped save the whooping cranes. This story has a moral that we can all make a difference, and we can all do great things if we just have faith, belief, and perseverance in our goals.

Hugh: I’m showing on the screen our current version of Nonprofit Performance Magazine. That is another form of delivery of your story. There are two parts to the story that are- There is the conception, and then there is the written story that you delivered in writing for people, which is a large portion of how we communicate today. Then there is the delivery portion. Video, you are delivering your written scripts. We can have a well-articulated story and tell it all in the delivery.

Lynn: Yes, I’d like to talk for a moment about video delivery if that’s all right with you two.

Hugh: We’re speaking to nonprofit leaders and clergy, rabbis, pastors, priests. We are speaking to people who are influencers in community organizations or membership organizations. Part of the success of our work is being able to tell the stories about the impact of what we’ve done in organizations, about what we’re going to do, about what we’ve done. We wanted you on this podcast for people to be inspired to do a better job of constructing and delivering their stories. One method you can tell a story in person, but you can get more mileage if you do video delivery. Help these leaders understand about video. Go ahead.

Lynn: First, I wanted to let you all know, if you didn’t know it already, that the world is going video in a big way. More people are watching videos than are reading. Over a billion hits a day are on YouTube. If you are not anywhere in that video field, you are missing out on many potential supporters and funders. People are looking for you.

There is a strategic way to use video, just as there is a strategic way to write a story. Part of that is first you really want to find your audience. Who are the right people who you’d like to watch your video? You can use keywords when you describe what your video is going to be about. What I have done is private interviews and live-streaming interviews. In both cases, before the interview, I will write a description. You want to write a description in YouTube about what the video interview is about and keywords that will describe what this topic is about. People who are searching on the Internet can find your video even if they can’t attend live.

If you are doing a video, if you are doing an interview, which is a fun way to do things, you want to ask questions, just like Hugh and Russell are doing here. They are probing questions that give important information to your audience.

Another tip I would also recommend that has been really helpful is you can save not only your website link at the bottom of your description, but you can save a phrase into a site like GoDaddy or another hosting domain name site. For instance, my husband is a dentist. In addition to his office’s name, I have saved the name “Great Holistic Dentist” or “Great Holistic Dentist in Chicago.” If you have a nonprofit and are helping feed people who are hungry, you can look up key phrases and save them. You can pay very nominally. It’s $20 a year for that phrase. You can direct the phrase to your website so people will find you. When we do interviews, we keep them not too long and not too short, usually about 30 minutes. You can make them shorter or longer. We ask people questions that share their story first. You connect first from the heart, just as I did here. People want to know the benefits of what you do. It’s good to give credentials that show results, just as I did in my storytelling. People will believe you when they hear other people have benefited from your services. That is why testimonials are so important. You can get testimonial video interviews from people who have used your services and post them to your website and on social media.

Every video I do, I post a link on social media. I would recommend you do the same thing. I used LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google +. I just started using Instagram. There are many sites. You want to find the sites that your audience is going to and be consistent. After you create a video, whether it’s a private interview you are recording at one time and posting later, or live-streaming, which means people can respond right then and there to your interview, you want to record it and post it on YouTube and have it on your website, but also refer to it on social media on a consistent basis. If you can plan your video programs, just as you plan articles, once or twice a month, people will look forward to them. I would recommend once a week if you can because people can forget you easily. The more consistent you are with your base, with your audience, and the more you recommend they share your video with others, the more you will grow your audience.

Hugh: Russell, what are you hearing there? He is dwelling on your every word, I can tell.

Russell: Showing people versus telling them is useful. That is the beauty of video. You can show, you can demonstrate, you can connect to people who you are asking to support you directly with people whom your service is touching. You can capture these folks on video and talk to them about how their lives are different because they interacted with your organization. I think a lot of people want to tell stories, and they want to convey a message about what you’re doing. How important is it for them to look at a real strategy, having a plan for actually going out and telling their story that is going to reach the right people at the right time?

Lynn: Great question, Russell. A plan is very important. That is why I was just saying you want to be consistent. There is a phrase that is always stuck in my mind: People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care. The beauty of video is that you can see and hear and experience someone so you are feeling their message from your heart. If you just read words on paper, which I still love writing, and that is great to write, but people don’t get to see you. They can connect with you in a deeper way.

I would recommend, if you really want to grow your business, to take a look at the stories that are being generated from your organization. When I worked with Westside Health Authority, a nonprofit in Chicago, I would attend bi-monthly meetings. I would listen to all the stories from all the departments and then highlight the ones I thought were most important. Every week, we had different stories going out to the media. You could do the same thing in your organization. Hold a strategy session and talk about what are the stories coming up even that month, and target two stories a month that you get out, whether it be in writing, but also include some kind of video, even if it’s a five-minute video where you are talking to the camera on your own. You want to feel natural. It’s okay to take several takes if you are just talking by yourself to the camera. I like interviews because there is a give and take. I’m sure that if people are willing to take one step forward and be willing to not worry about being self-conscious- There is a favorite phrase I have heard: You can fail your way forward. Fail your way to success. If you make a little mistake or a glitch, it’s okay. It shows you’re human. Map out a strategy where you are doing something consistently every month. I can guarantee you will find some great results from that.

Russell: Wrapped up in stories is the results that people get. There are words that are thrown around in the nonprofit world. One of the big ones is “assessment.” Another one is “evaluation.” When people hear the word “assessment,” they go into panic mode. Oh, what did I do right? What did I do wrong? When it comes to the mission and the work that we do, it’s important to define what that looks like. We can’t always put everything on the pivot table. This is why stories are important because we can get that qualitative information where people can describe the ways that their lives are different. It might not fit on a spreadsheet, but they can see that and have people talk about how their paradigm has shifted as a result of working with your nonprofit. A good book to read would be The Social Profit by David Grant. It talks about defining how you measure things. It’s about talking to people. It’s about connecting with people. I don’t know if there is a better way to do that than with stories.

What do you do when you work with someone, and they have stories that they want to tell? How do you help them shape the story in a way that communicates the value that they are bringing to the multiple audiences they are serving?

Lynn: Good question. I was starting to share about the shape of the story at the beginning of our interview. You want to look at the before and after of a story. As I said before, you don’t want to look at the dates. What is happening right now in your organization that you would like to change? As far as making an assessment quantitatively, you can say if you want a certain number to attend your fundraising event, what was the attendance last year? What do you want this year? What can you do differently that will make the change happen?

As far as shaping the story, again, I would say start out with a call that something is going to happen in your organization that is going to make you want to change. For me, it was the passing of my mother that made me want to reevaluate my business. Maybe there is something for you. You have to do some reflection on this. It may not just come up immediately. What is happening in your organization that is propelling you forward?

After that, what has caused a dip for you? Call it a pit. Describing the story’s shape. The pit is something that is difficult that happened. Maybe you lost an important board member or an employee, or something that is making you stretch. If you think about it as a shape, here is your starting point, like a diamond. You will go down first. Something strong happened to you. Like any good movie, you have to have some conflict. The story of your organization has to have some drama.

Then you will go on a search. The search is what changes are you going to go through to finally get to what we call the breakthrough, the big change? It looks like a U shape. Starting up here, coming down, going back up. That search for change is really important. Those might be the people you find you discover along the path. They are good material you find, great people like Hugh and Russell here who will help you lead forward, but there has to be a reason for you to be in existence. You want to find out what caused this story to happen from the beginning and what is the search that you bond through to make the breakthrough happen? Is that helpful?

Russell: Very much so, yes. With storytelling, it is so intricate to what people do. Talk a little bit about some of the things that people out there who may be listening think, I’m not very exciting at parties. I don’t know if I’m a good storyteller. What are some things that people can do to actually shift their thinking, shift their mindset to become excellent storytellers and be able to connect with people in that way?

Lynn: Good one, Russell. Everything starts from the inside. You have to first believe you can do what you want to do. I even have a book on my shelf with the title Believe. I look at it every day because our minds are like little computers. Whatever you tell yourself, that is what you will believe. What you believe, you will attract more of. I will first suggest you find a quiet place. You can meditate or walk in nature, and think about what makes you happy, what makes your organization happy. What are the important things that will help your organization grow?

What are the stories you heard from your current supporters, funders, people who work with you every day? Everybody has a story. We often have more than one story. I would say consider those stories like little jewels, like little diamonds. You want to gather them together and share them. That is when they grow in significance. I would say start with giving yourself some quiet contemplation time, and brainstorm with your organization. Find out the success stories, and why they happened. What causes success to happen? From those success stories, if you are willing to share them, people will gravitate. People like good stories. That is why we go to movies and plays. We want to hear something that will grab our interest.

Hugh: Oh yes. I respect a good story. In thinking about constructing your story, first of all, thinking about who the audience is, who you are telling it to. That helps me when I write blog posts or podcasts or articles. I am writing to someone. I want you to speak about that.

Also, there is this principle of length. I came out of a play in London with a friend. He had a problem with the ending. I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “It was too far from the beginning.” How much is enough?

There is a third element of what you want people to do as a result. Part of that is who do you talk to, and what do you want them to feel or do as a result? Is there an ideal length? All of these vary.

Lynn: You gave me three questions there. Your ideal audience. That is part of the strategic attraction process. First, you want to identify who is your ideal audience. Come up with some words on a list of who those people might be, their qualities. Maybe you are looking for compassionate people. People who are giving. People who have high integrity. It’s almost like a Christmas wish list, I would say. When you write something down, it’s more likely you want to attract that. You are telling the universe this is what you want. You will identify that perfect audience and put it down on the list.

The next question is, Hugh?

Hugh: It’s who you’re talking to and what you want them to do as a result with the story.

Lynn: What you want them to do. That would be the next piece on your paper. Identify the actions you want to happen. In the case of my book, I was using the strategic attraction process to find the perfect publisher. I ended up self-publishing, and I used it to find a perfect illustrator. I wrote down qualities of people. You want to find the right actions from these people. Write it down. You can do probably even Google searches online to find people who support your type of organization. I would connect with them on social media. Even if there is some story that you have that is written in a blog or a video from some time ago, you can still use a link from the past and put it up on a media site so people will find you. You can also be clear about what you expect—I would recommend this highly—with everybody on your team so you are all on the same page. If you all have different viewpoints of what you want your followers to do, you want to be in sync. Your organization is like a person. You have your own organizational personality, just like people. I would recommend you all come together and write down what you want from your perfect supporters or clients.

One last question, Hugh asked.

Hugh: The whole premise of the kid asks a father question. He says, “Why don’t you ask your mother?” The kid says, “I don’t want to know that much about it.” There is a length to the story. We can lose our effectiveness if we go too long.

Lynn: That’s true. I do this by instinct, too. When you say something is too long, is it Mark Twain who wrote, “I didn’t have enough time to write a shorter story”? It takes time. Looking over your story, I have done editing for people. When you write, you use the right side of the brain, the creative side. The left side is the organizational side. I would say first when you want to find the right partners in your business or the right funders who support you, just write freely. Don’t let your critic side take over. Don’t worry if it’s too long. Then go back and edit. Same thing on a video. If you’re doing a live streaming video where you can’t go back and change it, you can practice in your head ahead of time how you would answer these questions. I didn’t get to practice with Hugh or Russell before this interview, but I’m being conscious of not talking too long. If you have the chance to learn the questions ahead of time, you want to think to yourself, How can I best express this in the most succinct way? Then let people ask you more questions.

Hugh: What do you think of that?

Lynn: Go ahead.

Russell: This is what Lynn’s power to the interview is. An interviewer, a person who is looking at your organization and says, Okay, there are some things I want to know. It forces you to focus your thinking, focus your message to get those most important details there. In addition to storytelling, how important is it for a leader to try to harness publicity and maybe get in front of some other audiences and find as many venues as he/she can to spread the message about their work?

Lynn:  That is so important, Russell. We get so busy doing our work that we don’t think about how other people will hear about it. We’re just doing it, doing it, doing it. That is what is so exciting to me: to be able to share your great news because the world is yearning to hear great stories. Our world is being bombarded by too much negative stories. There is too much sour sauce, sweet and sour. We need a balance. You are nonprofit leaders and influencers who are here to give out this great balance. You are here to share great stories. Lift our spirits, inspire us to tap into our highest potential. The best thing you can do is take time out of your schedule, just like you would take time for your work, to work on your business, work on your story time. Not just work in the business, but work on the business. Part of that is marketing, finding your audience, connecting with them on social media.

Another good tip is to not just talk about yourself, but comment on other people. There is this 80-20 rule. Books are written on this. You reach out to people, and you will find that 20% of the people will find you. Something like that. When you do your publicity, you will reach out to a wide range of people, but you will find that 20% are going to want your news and stories. If you comment on their stories and acknowledge them, they will want to learn more about you. People don’t like to hear someone talking about themselves on and on and on. It’s boring. It shows that you don’t care about them. To connect on a deeper level, I would recommend to comment on their stories and ask them about themselves. They will want to learn more about you, too. That is how you build relationships.

Hugh: That is the key there. The relationship in this exchange. What are the occasions of telling stories? When are stories appropriate or mandated or welcomed?

Lynn: I’d say there are many opportunities. First of all, you have events going on. Hopefully you have activities going on on a regular basis. People need to know about them. Also, you want to capture testimonials from people who have had great experiences from your organization. Fundraisers are main events.

I would also recommend digging deep into some of those stories behind the scenes. If you have an activity, and somebody touched someone else’s life, be in touch with your staff and your supporters, and find out what difference has our organization made in your life. Share with us your story. You could even give them incentive. Do something for them back, if they are willing to share. People love talking about themselves. If you get them to talk about themselves and acknowledge them and honor them, they will feel grateful, and you will feel grateful, too because you brought more people in your circle.

Stories are everywhere. Every day in our life is a story. We get up, and what is happening? We have some things planned. Maybe some things come up that aren’t planned. Maybe keep a journal of what is happening in your organization on a daily or weekly basis. I’m sure you have staff meetings. Keep a log of what is happening, and then decide what you want to publicize. Share with the audience. You never know what can go viral. When it goes viral, we have at our fingertips the opportunity to reach the world. We never had that years ago. If you post something on a video, and someone likes it, it can go all around the world and bring you many thousands of dollars just because it’s out there. That’s the beauty of this.

Hugh: There is the flow in the story. Go back to that. You were shaping it before. I remember listening to what I would have considered a very good story, except there were tangents that didn’t relate to the momentum of the flow or the energy of where we are going. I got off track being curious as to why we were talking about this. Speak to that. Then we will have a sponsor moment and give it back to you to give some tips for people to think about how to improve their stories. Then Russell will close us out. Does that sound good to you?

Lynn: Perfect. Sounds great.

Hugh, you’re talking about when people get off tangents. They don’t stay on point with their story. Think of it in terms of if you were writing a composition in school. I used to go to high school where we would talk about the 3/3/3. Three subheadings, three details under each subheading. You have to have a subject matter. You want to be loyal and faithful to your topic. If something comes up as a tangential outside interest, you don’t want that to take people off the main flow or focus of your story.

When I do stories for people, I go over the points they want to cover so we stay on course. If a movie goes off, I don’t know whomever structured that movie, if the director let it go, improv or something. When you want a story to have a bigger impact, you want to have a focus. You want to think about what reaction you want your audience to have when they hear your story. Do you want them to cry? Do you want them to laugh? You want to be specific. That is a key element. When you identify an audience, be specific about what you want back from them. Come up with details that support your main story. You can even think of a fairy tale. There is a certain framework, step by step, that happens.

As far as a satisfying conclusion, which Hugh brought up when his play seemed too long, a great conclusion answers the problem that was addressed at the beginning. I saw a great movie with Amy Schumer called I Feel Pretty. It popped in my mind because it deals with belief. A woman was chubby who didn’t believe in herself. She bumps her head. It’s a funny movie. She believes she is the most gorgeous woman in the world. No one can tell her otherwise. She becomes this confident, self-assured woman because her belief has changed. She later gets another bump and thinks, How can I be beautiful? I’m ugly. Everyone around her assures her she is beautiful. She full circle comes back to the understanding that she is beautiful just the way she is. To me, it was a very satisfying story because it took us from the problem, we went through a change, we came back to the closing that satisfied us as a viewer. The problem was solved because she was changed. Your story has to show movement and change with a completion that solves the problem. That to me is a great story.

Hugh: *Sponsor message from Nonprofit Performance Magazine*

As we end this helpful podcast, what thought or tips would you like to leave people with before Russell closes out our interview?

Lynn: The most important tip really deals with your inner self. That is the understanding that I had after publishing my book that took 20 years to get done. That is to have belief, faith, and perseverance in your dreams. Belief, that is from your head. Faith from your heart. Perseverance, I connect that with the hands. When you have those three elements and join with people who believe in you, have a friend or team, you can make anything happen. I would recommend to focus on the inner work. I am happy to be a support to anyone who would like to go forward from there. There are a lot of great books that were mentioned today. I would say to strategically start identifying the perfect clients and supporters, and put it in writing. Get together with your team, and have a mutual agreement of what you want. Put it out into the universe, and you will see what great things can happen.

Hugh: Awesome, thank you.

Russell: Stories are what connect us when we want to relate to one another. It’s the best way to communicate how you want people to know, feel, and do when you’re talking to them about the problems you solve. It’s about solving problems and connections. It’s been a wonderful chat with you, Lynn. Thank you very much. DifferenceMakersMedia.com is the place to go. That is what nonprofit leaders are. Difference makers. You are making a difference in the community. And Social Profit Handbook by David Grant is a good one to help you package that message. Connect with Lynn and talk to her about your story.

Hugh, as always, it’s been great. This is Russell Dennis, your possibility engineer, thanking you all for joining us for this edition of The Nonprofit Exchange. We will be here next week with another thought leader to help you move your mission forward and connect with the people you want to serve.