Storytelling for Grantseekers: A Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising

INTRODUCE THE OTHER MAIN CHARACTERS

The best stories feature characters we want to read about. Stories, whether real or fictional, are most memorable when they present compelling, believable characters. Think of Oliver Twist, Scarlett O’Hara, and Sherlock Holmes. The authors who created these iconic characters (Dickens, Mitchell, and Doyle, respectively) made them fascinating by giving them vivid personalities and distinctive traits. These are such engrossing characters that we’d follow them through chapters of travails and triumphs. Similarly, grantseekers must also present characters who are engaging to the reader. But unlike fiction writers, those of us who write grant proposals do not need to create characters from our imaginations. Rather, ...