our ethical fundraising and storytelling

OUR PROMISE

Fundraising is necessary for the continuation and growth of any non-profit. We at The Freedom Story are committed to Ethical Storytelling. And we are also committed to Ethical Fundraising. This is our Ethical Fundraising promise to you.

We promise to seek to maintain high standards.
  • We do what we say we are going to do.
  • We tell stories and share impact that is true.
  • We will tell the truth and not exaggerate.

 

We promise to be transparent.
  • We are transparent with our financial needs.
  • We are transparent with our use of finances.
  • We are transparent with our successes, and our failures.

 

We promise to be dignifying.
  • We promise to tell stories and share impact in a way that is dignifying to our beneficiaries and to our supporters.
  • We promise to tell stories that celebrate the ‘small wins’ and every day successes of our students and communities- not merely major accomplishments.

 

We promise to be respectful.
  • We respect the privacy of our supporters and the privacy of our beneficiaries.
  • We respect your independence, and will not put any undue pressure on you to make a gift.
  • We will not share stories or photos that cause any undue distress to our supporters or to our beneficiaries.

 

We promise to be accountable.
  • We will answer any reasonable questions about our programs.
What is ethical storytelling?

For many organizations, story is currency.

This is especially true in the nonprofit and social impact world. We tell stories to amplify awareness. We tell stories to raise money – to do the good we want to do. And when we’ve done that good, we tell stories about it so donors, volunteers, and supporters can participate in the good their gifts make possible. We tell stories to invite others in.

Stories matter.

So why is it that we continue to tell the stories of those we serve as if they’re one dimensional? Why is it that we continue to consume one dimensional stories? As a diverse group of nonprofit employees and activists, survivors and social workers, researchers and storytellers, we know we can tell better stories. And we know we can learn to expect more from our storytellers. We’re an open sourced, nuanced, constituent first, donor second collective seeking to change the way we tell and consume stories.