The Power of Storytelling As a Tool for Fundraising

Abstract

Amount raised: 300,000 Emirati Dirhams (81,675 U.S. Dollars). Background and context: Friends of Cancer Patients came to learn about the case of a 3-year-old boy with leukemia, whose parents required financial support to be able to afford to continue his treatment. To accomplish this, we approached the employees of a company, with whom we had a prior relationship. 30 employees of the company agreed to climb the Mount Everest base camp, to drive their friends and families to donate. Aim: The aim of the event that took place was to fundraise to cover the child's entire treatment journey, as well as to make sure extra funds are in place, in case the child needs future support in treatment. Strategy/Tactics: To fund raise the amount of 300,000 which was needed by the child, we attempted to do so through storytelling, however, we decided to not only focus on the child´s medical condition, but we also tried to tell it in such a way that would make people get to know him, and his family better. Further, each climber from the company also told a story in their own way, they all explained how each and every one of us has been affected by cancer in one way or another, and they also specified how it affected them personally. Program process: The fundraising campaign took part over the period of three months, and as a result of the attention, and the reach that the climbers were able to achieve, we were receiving emails from places such as Saudi Arabia, U.S.A., and the U.K. from people who have heard about the story of the child and wished to help. Overall, by the time the climbers had returned from Mount Everest, we had fundraised 100,000 more than what we expected, all through the word of mouth, and storytelling. Costs and returns: Costs to Friends of Cancer Patients: 0 Returns: 300,000+ AED What was learned: By moving people emotionally, and by telling a good genuine story, we were able to carry out a campaign, that would not have been possible otherwise. Furthermore, after the conclusion of this event, we have started utilizing a similar model of fundraising, which has brought much greater returns to Friends of Cancer Patients.