<aside> 📌 This is a living guide. New content and resources will be added.
Version 3.0 | Updated: October 2025
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Beyond This Story: The System Question You just identified one emotive story. Now ask yourself:
Most organizations can create one powerful story with effort. The challenge is building both the strategic clarity (knowing which stories matter) and the internal systems (collecting and organizing stories consistently) that make storytelling sustainable.
This is why Phases 1-2 of Holistic Storytelling are linked. Strategy and infrastructure must be built together.
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The Details Problem: Why Systems Matters
Notice how specific details and emotion require deep access to your subjects Creating emotive stories at scale requires:
Without this foundation, you'll exhaust yourself chasing stories reactively.
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From Vulnerability to Strategy
Emotive storytelling requires vulnerability. But strategic emotive storytelling requires knowing:
Why this matters: Large funders give project grants for what you do. A shift we desire to see is funders providing unrestricted support for who you are. Emotive storytelling reveals character, values, and vision, which builds the trust that leads to generous, ongoing support.
But this only works when your stories are strategically selected and emotionally powerful.
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From One Story to a Story-Driven Culture
You've outlined a complete emotive story. That took some work. Now imagine doing that for:
Can your team replicate this process? Do they have the strategic clarity to know which stories to tell? The systems to collect them? The capacity to produce them?
This is the shift from one story to a story-driven culture and why Holistic Storytelling exists as a discipline, not a deliverable.
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