5 Videos Every Nonprofit Needs with Danami-Maurice Champion

There are five stories about your nonprofit that form the cornerstones of your organization. Investing in turning these stories into evergreen videos will help maximize your impact for years, because they are always relevant and fresh for your audience.

But how to find these stories, collect them, and share them far and wide? 

My guest on this episode is Danami-Maurice Champion, a Story Director who helps nonprofits elevate empathy, community, and funding through emotive storytelling.

Danami is the Co-Founder of BairStories. An award-winning Hip-Hop and soul artist, his music has been featured in a video game and the CW show All American.   

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Understanding the role storytelling plays in trust-building.
• Effective techniques to captivate and resonate with donors.
• Practical advice for investing in video storytelling that works for them.

Blog: Top 5 Evergreen Video Content for Nonprofits
Connect with Danami on LinkedIn
Check out the BairStories website

Take my free masterclass: 3 Must-Have Elements of Social Media Content that Converts

Transcript

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A massive transfer of wealth is right around the corner, and your constituent base is changing. Are your fundraising efforts ready? This episode is sponsored by Qgive by Bloomerang, an online fundraising solution that helps thousands of nonprofits raise money for their causes through online giving and event registration, forums, text fundraising, peer to peer campaigns, and auction events. Q gives tools help fundraisers like you raise more QGIF surveyed donors of all ages to create the brand new generational Giving Report, a comprehensive guide to help you best connect with constituents of all generations. To learn how new generations want to support you, hear from you, and stay connected with you, head to jcsocialmarketing.com q give. That's jcsocialmarketing.com qg giv to be notified when the report is released and to receive your free copy onto the show. Hello and welcome to NonproFit Nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell, and I'm going to sit down with nonprofit industry experts, fundraisers, marketers, and everyone in between to get real and discuss what it takes to build that movement that you've been dreaming of. I created the nonprofit Nation podcast to share practical wisdom and strategies to help you confidently find your voice, definitively grow your audience, and effectively build your movement. If you're a nonprofit newbie or an experienced professional who's looking to get more visibility, reach more people, and create even more impact, then you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hello everyone. This is the Nonprofit Nation podcast. I'm your host, Julia Campbell. The topic today is going to be video storytelling. You know, if you've been a listener of the podcast or if you have followed me for a while, I'm a huge fan of storytelling and I'm a huge fan of videos because investing in video storytelling is going to help you maximize your impact for years, especially with evergreen videos. And that's what we are going to focus on today. But how to find these kinds of stories? What are these stories? How do we collect them? How do we share them? How long should videos be? We're going to tackle all of that today. My guest is Danami Maurice champion, a story director who helps nonprofits elevate empathy, community, and funding through emotive storytelling. And Danami is the co founder of Bear Bair Stories alongside Jesus. I love that in the bio. An award winning hip hop and soul artist, his music has been featured in a video game and the CW show All American. Danami, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me, and kudos to you for even spelling bear out. So that is clear. That is bear stories, which has this very specific meaning. Oh, can you tell us the meaning? No, for sure. I think you were one of the first people to ask me that. So the meaning is twofold. One, in the Bible, it talks about bearing each other, the things that we go through, so being supportive of one another. So there's the bear, the things that you hold up. Right. But then also, I'm a firm believer in transparency and openness, and storytelling is a part of that. So to bear yourself as to be naked, to be exposed. And so I just spelled it bair to encompass both of those things, holding each other up, holding the stories that we tell, and also sharing those stories transparently, their stories. So you are an award winning hip hop and soul artist, and I'm interested to know how your personal and professional journey led you into this realm of emotive storytelling. It's interesting that you sort of led with the music side, because that is how I even got into this world in the first place. It's the reason that I even moved to Minnesota from Detroit to pursue a music career for college. And then that led me into graphic design and understanding visual storytelling, which then led me into video storytelling at a marketing and advertising agency. And so during the pandemic, being laid off, I went from freelancing to then figuring out, all right, what is my next step? And I was planning to release more music, but God sort of distracted me and led me to this path of focusing on bare stories and specifically focusing on environmental justice. So looking at these issues of the environment and social, and when I looked at that, I said, well, who are the people doing this work? And it's mostly nonprofits. And so that's then who became our target. I love that. And I think, I know that storytelling is very important. I focus on it a lot in my work, and I've written a book on it, and I do a lot of speaking around it. But why is video so important? So let's talk about video. And why is video so impactful for nonprofits? Two reasons that I would give why video is important. And the first, it allows us to passively consume information. Watching a two minute video is far easier than reading the same information that's two minutes long. So whether you want to say it's tapping into our laziness or not, however we engage with it more, it's easier for us to consume. Secondly, video and film provides a more richer, three dimensional experience. You're not just watching something, you're also hearing something. And then there's also this narrative transportation, which, fancy word, that simply means, if the story is done right, you are now in the shoes of the character, and you're living vicariously through them. And that's just something that you don't get, per se, in other medium forms. So that's some of the power and then the benefits of film and video storytelling. I completely agree. There's nothing like seeing rather than hearing. You know, like, seeing is believing and listening and hearing the sounds and seeing. The environment, I think, is so powerful as well. So, you know, what do nonprofits tend to get wrong when creating video? One is focusing too much on facts and stats. Yes. The idea of, hey, let's share these numbers with the intent to try to influence people just doesn't work. And if it was true, then we wouldn't have as many self help books that exist on the market. There'd just be one, and everyone would be fine. So facts and stats don't matter until there's a story delivering context for those facts and stats. So that's number one. Number two is, nonprofits don't lean into their worldview enough. I completely sharing their beliefs. I'm gonna toss it back. Tell me more about that if I'm. Understanding what you're saying is they're not standing up for what they believe in enough, they're not being vocal enough, and they're not sort of drawing a line in the sand and saying, these are our values. This is what we stand for. Come with us. Exactly. Because it's those values that are drawn in the sand that then attracts other folks who share the same worldview. And they can then see this nonprofit. I remember reading a report. It was about why americans give. And in it, it was talking about, donors want to give, but also donors struggle finding organizations that align with their values. So if nonprofits are communicating their values more, then they are making themselves be seen with others to attract like mindedness. Number three, is this reactionary, bottom up? Film and video storytelling. You know, it's like, oh, we need a video for this. This thing is coming up, so we need a video versus thinking. All right, here's our mission. In what ways can film and video storytelling support our mission? And then let's identify those stories that we need to tell. And so that's the third thing. I absolutely think that it's so much focused on the day to day or the spinning the wheels or the putting out fires and saying, oh, you know, not really seeing the forest for the trees, not thinking ahead and saying, we really need a video to convey what we stand for. It's more like, oh, we need a video to thank this sponsor or to highlight this event. And, you know, it's tough because nonprofits often are working with limited budgets, and there's a lot on staff members plate. And, you know, I even wonder for the leaders at these nonprofits if it's even worth to even scale back. You know, instead of trying to do these ten things, can you just focus on these one or two things? That way, you can reserve resources, and you can also focus on the storytelling, which will then support the things that you're working towards. Completely agree. And I see it all the time, and I'm sure you do, too. So, before we get into the five evergreen videos, what are some of the essential elements that make up a great nonprofit? Video? The essentials to a video story. I would say it has a start, a middle, and an end. It's number one. Number two, it's sharing specific details. So, not being super vague, but being very specific. It conveys emotion. It embraces conflict or challenge. And then lastly, it knows who the audience is. And that goes back to one of those three things that nonprofits get wrong. I feel like they're so scared to turn someone off, and they're trying to appeal to this huge audience. They're trying to appeal to everyone. And that doesn't work, because no matter what you do, you're not going to appeal to everybody. Not everyone's going to like you. Not everyone's going to believe in what you do. So focus on that audience. I think that is so important. They don't think about a lot of us. It's hard to think about the audience first. What does the audience need to know? What does the audience want? What's going to respond? What is the audience going to respond to? We're thinking about our own needs, our own agenda. How can we get out of that mindset a little bit? Wow, that's a good question. And I also just wanna say kudos for even bringing that up about trying to appeal to everyone instead of focusing on their core people. Get out of that mindset. I think it really just takes a lot of courage, a lot of boldness on behalf of leaders who are willing to say, no, we're not gonna try to appeal to everyone. We understand who our audience is, and these are the folks that will help us then influence their friends to then reach a larger audience. So a lot of boldness, a lot of courageousness in it. But then I also think one tactical piece is knowing the audience also helps dictate the storytelling. I always say if you're telling a story to your grandmother versus telling the same story to your eight year old daughter, how you explain those things are going to be different because the audience is different. So knowing the audience also helps formulate how you tell your story, which is also important. Such great points. I think that I know that nonprofits really, really do struggle in this area, trying to do all the things and then trying to do storytelling in such a way that's emotional but ethical and trying to bring in all these different elements. So I want to talk about the five Evergreen videos. First of all, maybe explain what Evergreen is for people that don't know it. And then we can go through like what, in your mind, what does Evergreen mean? Evergreen and specifically evergreen content that could be written articles. But we're specifically talking about Evergreen video content. That is, content that you create today that's going to be relevant tomorrow, a month from now, six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, if drastic things doesn't change in your organization. So content that you can continually refer back to, it's sort of like pillar content. I think that's a great explanation. So let's go through the five videos one by one. The first, I'm going by a blog post that was on your website that you sent to me. The first is the origin story. So what is it and what are the applications? Yes, so the origin story, the names for these are also self explanatory, but we also just going to break it down even more. So the purpose of the origin story is to share the journey of where you come from. How did you get to where you are? What was the problem that prompted the organization into existence in the first place? And so this provides context behind the work that the nonprofit or that the organization is doing. And so these stories can live, or this story, I should say, can live on the about page on the website. You know, this can be shared via newsletters, shared on your social channels. But for sure, on the website is a great place for new people discovering the organization, to learn where you come from. And even to put it, you asked me an origin question. You said, so how did you even come to start working with nonprofits? So we want to know that backstory to provide context, I need an origin. Story on my website for my business. I just realized that that's really like your why it's the why do you exist? What's the purpose? And what is the void that you're hoping to fill or the gap that, you know, that you noticed that wasn't being addressed and how are you addressing it? I think that's great. Is it a story of the founder? Does that come into it in the origin story? It can be. I mean, some organizations have the same founder, some do not. So it just really depends on that organization, on which part of that story do they want to tell? Yeah, that's. I know that's a good point. And sometimes the founder's not around, I guess depending on how old your organization is, how long it's been around. The second story, this one, if you're talking about the impact story, I have a lot of follow up questions because this one can be the most challenging for nonprofits to collect. So tell us about the impact story. What makes you say that? I'm curious your thoughts? Oh, because a lot of organizations have confidentiality restrictions around talking to clients. A lot of organizations feel it's unethical to put clients in the spotlight. There are just a lot of hoops and hoops that jump through and obstacles. Now, I have some, you know, I have some solutions to telling the impact story, not necessarily through the client's eyes, but that's the first sort of pushback that I get. And I'm interested to know, do you get that kind of pushback, too? No. Mainly because one of the ways that we even approach storytelling, and this is why, to me, is it's not even about videos, not even about films. Like, these things are just tools to me. They're tools to either build awareness, trust, most importantly, that's the key. So storytelling to me, is really about building trust. So whenever we are approaching telling an impact story and we're actually talking to someone who has benefited from a nonprofit, there's so much work that's going in on our part that when we actually meet with the beneficiary, there's this shared trust that they have between us to even be willing to even share their story. There's so much groundwork that has to be laid. Yes. We're not just showing up to take, oh, just tell us your story, and then we benefit. Like, remember I told you about my grandmother, right? And having someone to just listen to you. And so when we are telling the impact story of a beneficiary, like, we are truly listening, and here's what we get a lot. Thank you so much for hearing me. I felt really heard. And that's the beauty to me of storytelling, is being able to see one another. What about an impact story where there isn't a client like you said, you work with a lot of environmental justice organizations. So there might not necessarily be a specific person. I mean, there might be, but what about something like that? More policy or advocacy focused? Yeah. So one of our clients, environmental initiative, they specifically are a b, two b nonprofit. So they work with other businesses and other institutions. So thinking about the beneficiary, there is more layered because it's not necessarily the clients that they're serving. It's then the audience that's then another layer below that. So in a lot of cases, when you're working b two b, it's telling the impact of your work. And this is once again, one of the purposes of impact is to build that trust so that whomever you working with, they know you're legit. Like there's actually a case study success that you have had with the work that you're doing. So on that level, when working with a b, two b type nonprofit, I think it's still beneficial to think about how and who is really then benefiting from this. Like how our lives then being changed. Because it's easy to get lost in the weeds when we just stay high level. But, you know, who's on the ground floor that's actually benefiting from this. Also true. So let's go into the third type of evergreen video and story. It's the values story. So tell us more about this. Yes, the values, which to me can also be the why story because it's really tapping into the values as to these. The value story is meant to communicate your worldview, your beliefs. Why do you do this work? What is keeping you to do this work? When the days are long, the pay is little, whatever it may be. What are those things you're holding fast to? And that is the value story. And this is super important because once again, we mentioned the audience. We mentioned attracting the audience by communicating your values. You're putting a signal post for others who think the same way or think similarly to come on board and say, hey, I believe that I want to support that organization because they believe what I believe. We all want to find that community of like minded thinkers. We want to find that community of people and donors do too. That bigger community of people that believe in the same things that they do, right. That find the same things valuable. So I think that's absolutely so important. And I agree. I just think nonprofits do not do, they're not strong enough in their approach, they're not forceful enough in their worldviews approach and standing up for their worldview and they might think they are, but I think we could all turn the dial up a little bit on what we stand for and what we believe in. And it's like you said, it's a signpost attracting people. And that's so important. We need to attract new people to the cause, too. All right, let's talk about the fourth. Oh, my God. We're only at the fourth. The explainer story. I want to hear about this one. Two more left. Yes. The explainer story is a very condensed and easy to understand story that covers who you are, what you do, who you do it for. And these are great on the homepage of your website. For those that are looking to learn more about you. It easily creates a position in one's mind that, oh, this organization helps rescue abandoned dogs. Cool. I get it. It's in my head now. So that's what an explainer story does. Okay. So it's very much like this is the what we do. This is the mission. This is the programs and services. Yep, exactly. Which, ironically, nonprofits talk a lot about that in general in their communications. A lot of what stuff. But. So this is the video to do that in. It's giving permission. So it's one of five. But we have permission to talk about the what, but not to focus on it. Only because. I agree. I think a lot of communications do focus on the. We do this. We do this, we do this. Okay. But we need all of this, all of these other stories and videos to give context to the explainer story. For sure. I love that. I think that's so. I think that's so true. So the fifth story is the approach. The approach story. Tell us about this. The approach story is a story that's meant to convey the. How. How do you get down? How does your tackle the issues that you're trying to solve? There are so many organizations that do the same or similar things, and so what really separates us is our approach to the. And so being able to share that approach brings, once again, your audience into your thinking, and it lets them see. How you are different, so important, your unique approach, your unique stamp on the work and what sets you apart and what you want to be known for. There's an organization in Boston called Rosie's place. I think they do such a fantastic. They do a great job, actually, with all of these videos. But their approach is they never turn a woman away. Never. She could come every day. She could come once. She could come, like 365 days a year. They never turn any woman that needs them away. And they do not accept any government funding at all. They're entirely privately funded and individual funded. So really that sets them apart from a lot of other programs serving people, experiencing addiction and experiencing homelessness. It sets them apart, and that's their distinct approach. And that's just what they're going to stand by forever, and they're never making excuses about it. And I think that attracts people to them is their unique approach. So I definitely think we need to talk more in our work. What is our approach to literacy? What is our approach to ending food insecurity? Like, what is our approach to ending domestic violence? A lot of programs, just like you said, do a lot of the same. What. But the how might be what distinguishes. Us, for sure, 100%. And even as you were talking about Rosie's place and as you're talking about these things, I'm like, I'm drawing intrigue. Like, oh, they choose not to accept government funding. That's interesting to me, you know, so that's cool. Yeah. Because of the restrictions that will then be put on them. And, you know, they have a whole statement about, about why they don't. They're just very upfront that they want to be very independent and not beholden to, you know, one or two grant funders. So it's just, like I said, it's an approach. It's just their approach. And they just do such fantastic work. But, yeah, check out their YouTube. They're one of my clients, just full disclosure, but I adore them, and I think they do a great job in all of these areas. You know, firsthand. I do. They just do. They do a great job. Video storytelling, I will say, and they did a great job before me and will do a great job after me. So they're just very confident. All these areas are a great example. So I'll actually put the link in the show notes. You touched a little bit on where we should be, like, sharing videos, but where are some places we should be? You know, we're gonna spend money, or even if not a lot of money, we're gonna spend time and resources creating these videos. So where should we be, like, sharing these videos far and wide? The first place to share these is on your website. And so much of these stories, the value story, the explainer, the approach, the origin story, and then the other one, just thinking off the top of my head, impact story. Yeah. Are stories that really. Impact story. Thank you. These stories help ground your audience into your organization's world. So they need to live on the website, whether it's your program's abouts page for the impact stories, whether it's the explainer on your homepage, whether it's the value story on your about page. Maybe you have a dedicated approach page that you can talk more in depthly about your approach, where this story lives. Or just put this on your homepage or about page. This is the starting place. And then everywhere else is extra newsletters, events, social media, social channels. Those are all great. But I focus on the website because that's where people are going when they want to learn more. And so why not fill the gaps in their thinking with these answers in these stories? So how long should these videos be? And then we were talking before we hit record, and I was saying, that's a question I get a lot, and I always say it depends, but I'm interested to hear what you have to say. We talked about this, that it depends. And our approach is, hey, let the story dictate how long the length is. But if we want to be very specific or try to have some type of goal post, I would say all of these stories can be anywhere between two to seven minutes. If you're floating in that range, that's a good place to start. So what about a very small nonprofit that might just be all volunteer? Maybe they have one person on staff, like, and they don't know where to start. What advice would you give them? Like, what's the first step into getting into video storytelling? Well, I'm going to ask a question back to you. Do they have the funding to invest in video storyteller? Hypothetically speaking, this nonprofit? Probably not. Maybe. Maybe there's a board member that wants to invest. Okay, so let's do both. So if they don't have the funding to do video storytelling, here's what I would say is you can still tell these stories, just not in video form. You can still tell your value story on your website. You can still have the explainer, which is really meant to be condensed to simplify the complexity of your work so that it's easy for people to understand what you do. These things can still exist in written form. And that's why I love that they're just evergreen stories, and this video just happened to be the vehicle for telling that story. But you can do this in written form. So I would say focus there. Just tell the story. When you have some capital to then invest in storytelling, I would say start with the explainer and start with the values. Some people may say start with the impact. But as we discussed on this call, one of the things that nonprofits don't do a lot is lean into their values, their worldview. And so I think nonprofits already know about the impact. Like, they understand that. So let's focus on simplifying what it is that you do through your explainer and then beefing up your values and sharing that worldview. And what I love about this framework is that it is so responsive to what donors keep saying they want from us. They keep saying they want to understand the problem. They want to know what we do. They want to understand our approach. They want to understand the impact. They want to know that their money is making a difference. And they want to know that they're part of a cause that is contributing to the change they want to see in the world and is part of their values and their, their ethics and their worldview. So really, you're almost hitting down every obstacle that a donor could have, because if they say, well, I don't really know what you do. Okay, well, here's our explainer video. I don't know the impact. Well, here's the impact video. Why do you exist? Here's origin story. So we are responding directly to the questions that we know. It's data backed research that donors want these five things from us. So I think it's really strategic. Okay, denami, where can people find you, connect with you, and learn more about you and the work of Bear stories? You can always learn more about bear stories and our work@bearstories.com. Bair stories.com I am very active on LinkedIn, so Danami, Maurice champion, you can find me there. I'm always talking about storytelling tips, more in depth looks into our process and how we work in providing resources for communication directors who are trying to better storytell for their organization. Fantastic. Thanks so much for being on today. I'm sure you're going to get a lot of inquiries. This has just been so insightful and informative, but I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate you for having me on and also just having all the other great people that you had on, which is what made me reach out. So thank you for the work that you're doing and helping all of us be able to better storytell and better move the cause forward. Well, hey there. I wanted to say thank you for tuning into my show and for listening all the way to the end. If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast app, and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or a review, because this tells other people, people, that my podcast is worth listening to, and then me and my guests can reach even more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a brand new episode, but until then, you can find me on Instagram. Uliacampbell 77 keep changing the world, you nonprofit unicorn. It.