The Storytelling System
Every person who gives, volunteers or asks for help hears back from you.
We set up the follow-up in the tools you already use, in your own voice, in 30 days. You'll finally know how many first-time donors came back.
A first-time donor often hears nothing personal for 48 hours.
Nobody decided it should go that way. It's just that nobody's job is the follow-up.
We read the websites of 2,412 nonprofits in DC, Maryland and Virginia this year. About half of the giving pages we could read had no way to give monthly.
First-time donors thanked by a person within 48 hours gave 39% more the next time.
Fewer than 1 in 5 first-time donors ever give again, and a small team can't thank every one by hand. The system makes sure it happens every time.
The 39% comes from Penelope Burk's 2003 study, the one controlled test anyone has run. The 1 in 5 is the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's number from 2025.
Here's what happens when every person hears back.
Someone new reaches out.
They give, sign up or ask for help. Within 48 hours, a real person thanks them by name, in your own voice.
They get to know you.
They get a report on day 14, a story on day 35 and a follow-up ask around day 90, so they see what their gift or their time did.
They stay, and they bring people.
They give again, come back to serve and tell their friends about you.
Here are three questions to ask about your own organization.
When someone gives for the first time, what do they hear in the next 48 hours?
What happens to someone who gives you their email and nothing else?
Who is past their usual giving date, and does anyone know?
The same questions work for volunteers and for the people you serve. That's why one install covers all three.
Each of the five steps is worth having on its own.
Get your scorecard1Step 1The scorecardRead more
Type in your website. We score it against the 2,412 sites we've read and send you the three things to fix first. It's yours whether or not we ever talk.
Get your scorecard2Step 2The review callRead more
We go through your report together and land on the one thing to do first.
Book the review3Step 3The inside auditRead more
The scorecard only reads what anyone can see on your website. The audit reads your donor records and signs up for your own mailing list. Then it hands you what's broken, in order, and a build plan your team could follow on its own. Some boards need a step they can approve on its own. This is that step.
4Step 4The installRead more
We build it in your own voice, and you approve every message before it sends. If you sign within 30 days of the audit, the audit fee comes off the install. You can also take the plan and do it yourselves, and we'll tell you if that's the better call.
5Step 5The retainerRead more
Each month you get one page with six numbers from your own records and one thing to do next. The larger sizes add story films or flagship films.
See the Content Retainer
We use your records only for the audit. We never contact your donors, volunteers or the people you serve, never add anyone to a list, and never ask for health, immigration, ID or payment details. The findings name no one; they report counts and rates.
The first five organizations get half off the audit and the install in exchange for letting us publish what happened. The retainer is always full price.
Here's what the install sets up in your own system.
- Every first gift gets a personal thank-you within 48 hours.
- Every large gift gets a call.
- Anyone who leaves a name hears back within minutes, and gets a story on day three.
- New donors hear from you on day 14, day 35 and around day 90.
- Every new name is saved with where it came from and what they care about.
- You can see which ask brought in each gift.
- Your weekly email goes to the people it's for, and new names hear from you personally first.
- Donors get invited to give monthly.
- Volunteers get asked back for a second shift, and people you've helped get invited back.
- The list of donors who stopped giving exists, and someone owns it.
- Your biggest donors each have someone looking after them.
- Your team's part is about half an hour a week, and we do it for them until they can.
I spent five years as the whole marketing department for a nonprofit.
I know what it's like to have a camera and no time. That's why the follow-up goes in first here, and the film second.
We've also served clients like the DC Dream Center, a community nonprofit in Southeast DC, every week.
With the retainer, you get one page a month that tells you what to do next.
It shows six numbers from your own records and one next step, with the names on it and the words already written.
Film is the strongest way to reach people who don't know you yet. The note on day two is what brings a first-time donor back, so the note goes in first.
We won't promise how much people give, because nobody honestly can.
We don't decide who gives, and neither do you. Here's what we do promise, measured from your own records.
It goes in within 30 days.
If it isn't set up within 30 days of the day you give us access to your system and your past emails, your first retainer month is free.
Your team can run it.
We train one person on your team and do their weekly part for free until they've done it alone for three weeks in a row.
Every first-time gift gets thanked.
Within 90 days of your first monthly page, every first-time gift is thanked within the time you've set, or we keep working on it for free until it is.
You need one person who can give this half an hour a week.
- If you take gifts through PayPal or a giving platform and keep your list in Mailchimp, the install is built for you.
- If you use Bloomerang, Blackbaud or another donor database that only sends receipts, we switch on what you already pay for.
- If you're a church or ministry, we usually start with the volunteer sign-up and the page where people ask for help.
- If your organization brings in more than three million dollars a year, it's the same five steps. Your scorecard tells us whether you need the install or can go straight to the retainer.
- If nobody on your side can give it half an hour a week, we'll tell you on the review call.
Here are answers to the questions people ask us.
We already use a donor database like Bloomerang. Doesn't it do this?
It can, but most organizations haven't switched it on. We set it up in your system and your voice. Before you sign, we tell you which steps it can do on its own and which need a person for 10 minutes a day.
We already send a newsletter.
That's good, and you should keep sending it. A newsletter doesn't send the note on day two or the ask on day 90. We hold new names out of it for three weeks, so the first thing they get is a personal note.
Nobody here can run it after you leave.
One person spends half an hour a week closing thank-you tasks, calling donors who stopped giving and clearing anything overdue. We train them and do it for them, for free, until they've done it alone for three weeks in a row.
We tried a video and nothing happened.
A bad video really can be a waste of money, but that doesn't mean a good one is. Usually the film had nowhere to go after it was shown, so we set that up first.
Do we have to buy the install after the audit?
No. The findings and the build plan are yours. Some organizations do it themselves, and we'll tell you when that's the right call. If you want us to do it, sign within 30 days and the audit fee comes off the install.
Start with a free look at your website.
The scorecard takes about three minutes. If you already have yours, book the 20-minute review.
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