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“I don’t know who the ‘characters’ would be in the story of our work. And we don’t want to call anyone out.”

A development director at an agency that helps troubled children once told me this as we worked on their annual report. These words echo reactions from other organizations trying to more effectively integrate storytelling – often for the first time – into their communications.

Not having clear “characters” or “villains” are real challenges, but neither should stop nonprofits and foundations from developing more compelling stories to convey the importance of their work. That’s why I worked with this particular client to use a composite of the youth they serve – as well as the neglectful family members who contributed to the child’s problems.

Characters are absolutely critical to a good story. There’s a reason why we cheer for Rudy when he finally gets to play, why we cry for Bambi, and why we love it when Harry Potter defeats the despicable Lord Voldemort.

If someone is to change the way they see your issue and/or be motivated to act, they must be inspired by a person they can relate to and root for. Based on our experiences, here are three of the six common pitfalls regarding characters in nonprofit storytelling, along with examples of how some groups are doing it right. A second blog post will cover the other three.

#1. People, not organizations, are characters. While your nonprofit may well have a brand and be an active player, readers relate to human beings, not 501(c)3s. Your organization can play a role in the story, but highlight specific people who are making things happen.

Example: Health Leads mobilizes undergraduate volunteers, in partnership with providers in urban clinics, to connect low-income patients with the basic resources (food, housing, heating) that they need to be healthy. They could tout their impact and model through numbers and graphics alone, but, smartly, they also tell the story of Sonia Sarkar, a Johns Hopkins sophomore at the time who helped the Jackson family acquire health insurance and heating assistance to improve outcomes for their asthmatic child.

#2. Make your protagonist struggle. If someone is to truly care about your characters, they need to see them stumble, make mistakes and suffer a bit. This makes them more human and relatable, plus it adds good tension and emotion to your story. Don’t shy away from things that didn’t go smoothly in the course of your stories; embrace them as obstacles you were able to ultimately overcome.

Example: The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards recognize Californians each year who are making progress on tough state issues. In 2010, Erica Mackie and Tim Sears were recipients for expanding solar power options to low-income residents. But the two former engineers only succeeded after a crash course in starting a new nonprofit. They’ll be the first to admit that they initially had to stumble their way through learning everything from HR policies and office leases to tax laws and environmental regulations.

#3. Let them speak. People like quotes. We’re curious to hear what people have to say – and how they say it. Actual dialogue between two or more characters is ideal, but even a single quote (spoken or internal dialogue) helps to engage your reader and move the story along.

Example: Playworks teams up with schools to improve the well-being of children by increasing opportunities for safe, meaningful play. On their website, one of their “coaches” tells the story of helping a new immigrant who wasn’t fitting in at his Oakland elementary school. Key to the story was using the child’s own words to convey how much the Playworks coach and program helped the young boy gain confidence: “One day he walked up to me and said, ‘Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be with you when no one in this world seemed to care for me when I was a new immigrant.’”

Check back tomorrow to read Part II.