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Crowdfunding success depends on great storytelling. And everyone has at least one story to tell. Were you ever hanging out with a bunch of friends and said, ”Hey guys, you gotta hear this great story”? That line will always catch everyone’s attention! Let me share with you a short story about the importance of storytelling.

A few years ago my wife and I were organizing a holiday event in Cyprus. There was a tremendous amount of logistics with the hotel, food, and transportation, and tons of other small details. It was a really difficult project as it was almost impossible to please everyone.

In the middle of the event, we get a call that the key speaker for that night cant make it. Now we have 30 minutes to somehow fill his show before dinner or else the guests are going to shoot me! Knowing that the news of no scheduled entertainment will trigger the guests into fits, my wife persuades me to go up to the stage and entertain the guests.

I knew she was right and that it was the only option, but my brain completely froze on me.

I looked at my wife with desperation, and she whispered into my ear: “Just tell them a story and make it as good of a story as possible.”

With my adrenalin running high and the inner panic button ready to go off, it suddenly hit me. I remembered a fantastic story my hilarious friend Joe told me a little while back, and I told it to the audience with as much fanfare as possible.

The guests were really into the suspense and the humor of the story! And thank God they were more than satisfied with the entertainment. For the rest of the night, I kept getting pats on my back from all the guests on what a great story I entertained them with.

At the end of the day, people connect with people.

The two main factors that people look for in nonprofit storytelling are authenticity and vulnerability. It’s this process of putting it all out there is what builds trust and bonding between donors and organizations.

People have a natural desire to connect to something bigger than themselves.

People are looking for that special project that resonates with them, because it connects with something personal that they went through. A highly effective crowdfunding story reaches out and grabs a person by the heartstrings and says, this is the opportunity that you were looking for.

Before you set out to crowdfund, you must ask yourself the following questions.

Am I comfortable with telling my story? How vulnerable am I willing to be in order to connect with others? Do I deeply believe in the positive impact of what I would like to create? How good am I at sharing my past achievements with others? These are the questions to ask yourself before you start to crowdfund.

Every nonprofit has a story to tell.

Just as every person has their own story, so do nonprofits. The story behind the founding father. The story behind the drive and ambition of self-sacrifice to help others who are less fortunate. Your story is your key to your fundraising treasure chest.

When you tell your story with authenticity, it allows your donors to relate to you and want to form a relationship with you. That’s why crowdfunding success depends on great storytelling!

And if you think you can use some help with any of the above issues, then a YouHelp.com crowdfunding coach just might be what you are looking for. Once your story is ready to be shared, we will work together with sharing your story on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.

To schedule a meeting with a crowdfunding coach to see if your ready to crowdfund with a coach send an email to support@youhelp.com

As a crowdfunding coach for YouHelp.com, one of the main topics I discuss with my clients is how to cut through the noise. There are over 800 million posts on social media every day, and the only way someone is going to view your crowdfunding campaign is by cutting through the noise.

Since we were in Kindergarten, our teachers Have Taught Usto fit into a cookie-cutter system.

With millions of students in thousands of schools, our educational system can only function in this type of environment. And so, as children we were consistently admonished for any and all wild or unusual behavior. We became well trained, and over the years, we learned to fit in.

Fear of being humiliated by our peers for trying to express ourselves the way we want caused a mental block for most of us when it comes to advertising our initiatives.

When it comes to your marketing your Crowdfunding campaign on social media, be prepared to go places you haven’t gone in maybe forever.

For a successful campaign on social media, you must feel so connected to your cause that you are willing to take the risk of embarrassment and humiliation from those that are jealous of you.

I remember years ago my uncle Bob said to me ”Yitz, be careful in life. If you stick your head above the crowd, you will get your head chopped off.”

It took me years to understand what he meant: that no matter what you accomplish in life, don’t lift your head above anyone else out of ego. Instead, continue to see yourself as just another face in the crowd.

However, the only way you can be seen is to do something more creative than others.

I want to be clear I am against any type of unhealthy or life-threatening ideas just to stand out! That is not what I mean. I mean expressing yourself in a healthy way that shows your individuality and the importance of your campaign. Do something else — something different! Something smarter. Use your creativity to stand out on social media.

So, how DO you stand out?

Just like there are no two identical snowflakes, there are no two identical people. Each person has his or her personal profile, with his or her personal experiences. Those life experiences are what led you to decide to launch your nonprofit’s crowdfunding campaign on YouHelp.com. By sharing what you’ve learned on your journey through life, you become more authentic. And this authenticity is exactly what your social media audience wants.

to cut through the noise — and share your quest with others –you must find your voice!

As a crowdfunding coach, I work with campaign leaders to help them find their voice. This is the voice that’s you’ve toned down over the years for the sake of uniformity and to spare yourself possible humiliation.

Once we find your voice, we can choose which social media platforms are the best for your campaign.

For some, it might mean creating personal videos and uploading them to your YouTube channel. For others, it could be creating a weekly podcast. But once you have found your voice and you are ready to sing your song, I assure you that the crowd will quiet itself in order to hear you.

Ready to take your next crowdfunding campaign to a new, authentic level? Set up a coaching session with YouHelp by emailingl support@youhelp.com