How to Connect Donors to Beneficiaries Through Story
Every nonprofit wants potential donors to feel connected to beneficiaries because we know donors will advocate and support a cause when they feel connected. The challenge is how to build this connection between people from vastly different cultures and locations.
On the Ministry Growth Show, we had the pleasure of speaking with Max Moser from Maxwell Moser Productions. Max is a talented director of photography who has worked with some of the biggest brands in and outside of the ministry space.
As a Reliant partner, Max shares our mission to craft engaging stories that inspire donor actions to mobilize the Church. He discussed how stories ignite the donor connection during our discussion of how to bridge the gap between beneficiaries stories and donors, and in this article, we’ll unpack what makes that connection possible.
Bridging The Gap Between Donor and Beneficiary
Max revealed a specific need as ministries craft compelling stories when we asked him the following two questions.
“How do you educate organizations on the need for great storytelling? How do you go about educating clients on the power of story and what stories are important to tell?”
Max replied by explaining his efforts to break down an “unhealthy relationship” built on “unintentional dehumanization,” a gap between donor and beneficiary caused by the inability to relate.
“In literature, there’s a concept of the ‘other’ where these other cultures are made out to be this mysterious concept that doesn’t really relate to the world of the Western reader. I think that can happen a lot within nonprofit documentaries as well.”
Max explained this “other mentality” exists because our culture and perspective is so different that we struggle to empathize with the beneficiaries. His solution is to approach a project looking for ways to “to create a more intimate bond so that people can see themselves in the people that we’re documenting and that kind of breaks down any kind of cultural barriers.”
He does this by looking for common, everyday moments. For example, Max filmed a young boy in Kenya as he retrieved his stick toothbrush from under the flap of his tent. When a youth group in Seattle saw the footage, Max heard a “collective gasp” at the idea of using a stick toothbrush stored under a tent. Max realized the simple everyday moment helped the children see themselves in the boy and connect with him in a way they could relate to.
The kids’ reaction showed Max that, since the gap between donor and beneficiary is empathy, then the bridge is the ability to relate. The lesson gave him a deeper perspective and a goal that now directs his work.
“So that’s the overall philosophy I try to bring to projects, is how can I break down barriers that are naturally there from people’s familiarity with another context.”
The Capacity to Connect
Max’s lesson in how relating to another person’s experience can elicit empathy is mirrored in Hebrews 4:5, where we read that we have a King who empathizes with us because He’s walked with us. In humans, empathy is a fleeting, invisible influence, an emotional connection that goes beyond the cellular level to reach our heart and soul. Such a profound link has the power to change lives, and yet, some people have the ability to build these attachments while others don’t. And the same message may have a meaningful impact on one person and completely pass by the next.
As ministry workers and creatives, we’re always looking for ways to connect on an emotional level. Often, we don’t know we’ve succeeded, and just as often, even our intended audience doesn’t know how—or even if—they’ve been touched by our message until much later. Which leads to the question, where does the capacity to relate and to empathize with another human being come from?
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.“
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
We find the answer in Scripture. Hebrews 4:12 reveals that God’s Word has the power to cut straight to the heart and soul. Furthermore, John 1:1-2, 14 says tells us the Word is God, and that the Word became flesh as His Son, which means we can substitute the word of God with Jesus:
Jesus is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, He penetrates even to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; He judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
We’ll take this a step further to recall that Jesus now lives in each of His believers as the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, so that means the Word of God, which connects with us to our very soul and spirit, lives in each of us.
I’ve had several experiences where I felt a frantic urge to pray to a loved one, only to find out later they were in a crisis, and felt a sudden, inexplicable peace at the same moment I was prompted to pray. This is an example of the Holy Spirit exercising His power as a resident within each believer, communicating from soul to soul.
The Gift of Empathy
Empathy is a conduit to allow us to see another person as Jesus sees them: a precious loved one with a need. They are no longer an other. Instead, Jesus built the bridge that allows us to see them as a beloved son or daughter, for whom God sent His only Son to die, not to condemn them, but to save them. Jesus came to save them from eternal condemnation, and He sent your ministry partners as an instrument to save your beneficiary from their current earthly struggle.
So, what makes another person’s need morph from head knowledge to heart knowledge? I see it versus I feel it. .. ? Jesus. The Word of God connects straight to the soul, and the Holy Spirit links one soul to another. Empathy is His divine prompting, a nudge to move. Empathy is a call to be the answer to someone else’s prayer, a reminder of our duty to be the hands and feet of Christ. Most of all, your empathy is a gift of love from Jesus to His beloved child in need. Let’s do our best to see that it’s delivered.
* * *
To Learn More…
This post expanded on just one nugget of Max’s inspiring interview. To learn more about how to bridge the connection between your donor and beneficiaries through film, listen to the entire episode below. And if you’d like help to share stories of the powerful things God is doing in your ministry, please contact us.
Max Moser – Bridging the Gap Between Beneficiary Stories and Donors
