Storytelling for Grantseekers: A Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising

AFTERWORD

Write what you know” is the mantra of all writing instructors. Become familiar with your nonprofit agency, its programs, and the people it serves. Understand the reason why your agency exists—the community problem or unmet need it seeks to address. This knowledge forms the foundation for all successful grantseeking.

 

Writing instructors also tell would-be writers that in reality there are only a handful of basic plots at their disposal. There’s man versus the natural world; the one that goes boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy eventually wins girl back (or vice versa); the one about jealousy and its negative consequences; and the universal plotline involving ambition at any cost and what the price really is. You get my point. Perhaps ...