Creating a Nonprofit Content Library: Five Practical Ways to Get More Value from Every Story
- 11 minutes ago
- 7 min read
For more years than I care to admit, I have been telling stories. Stories that feature donors and discoveries, that welcome new leaders, and celebrate beneficiaries. Stories highlighting amazing health and animal care, as well as beautiful spaces, places, and buildings. Stories that detail change, growth, and history. In fact, these many stories were an ongoing joke when I worked at UC Davis—there are so many stories to tell; how do we possibly choose the best ones?
The other main challenge was who should write the story and how it should be used. Even at a large organization with many communicators all over campus, there never seemed to be enough time to write one more story.
But I think that is one of our biggest misconceptions in donor communications—we do not need more people to write the stories, or even more stories. What we need is to make the most of the stories we do write.
Think about all that goes into creating a single donor story. You identify the right donor or beneficiary, coordinate schedules, develop interview questions, conduct the interview, gather photos, write the story, secure approvals, and publish the final piece.
Then what happens?
Too often, the story is published in a stewardship report or newsletter and never used again. That's a tremendous amount of work for one communication.
High-performing donor communications teams think differently. They don't create stories for individual projects—they create content assets that then support dozens of communications across the organization.
One thoughtful interview can provide content that broadens your reach and enhances organizational impact.
The goal isn't to create more content. The goal is to get more value from the content you're already creating. By now, you have heard DRG share our beloved acronym—CORE—Create Once, Repurpose Everywhere. So, let’s get into it and show you how to do that.
Here are five practical ways to turn one great story into content that continues working for you long after the interview is over.
1. Think Bigger Than the Assignment
Every interview starts with a request. "Can you write a stewardship report?" "We need a newsletter story." "We're looking for a scholarship profile."
The requests are important—but don't let them define the interview. Instead, approach every interview as an opportunity to build a library of stories, quotes, photographs, and insights that will serve your organization for months, possibly even years.
Rather than gathering just enough information to complete the assignment, think like a journalist. Ask broader questions, follow interesting tangents, and capture the emotion behind the gift.
Consider questions such as:
What inspired your gift?
Tell me about the moment you decided to give.
What has surprised you most?
What do you hope your gift accomplishes long after you're gone?
Who inspired your generosity?
What advice would you give someone considering their first gift?
Or my personal favorite—what motivated you to make your first gift?
You may not use every answer today, or for this one communication.
But these broader questions will give you not only great content for your story, but also a better idea of who the donor is and what made them choose your organization, program, research, etc.
Practical Tip
Develop a standard interview guide with a core set of evergreen questions for every donor interview. Then, customize additional questions based on the specific project. You'll build a much richer collection of stories without adding much time to the interview.
2. Invite Other Partners to the Table
This may be one of the most underutilized strategies in donor communications. When I worked at UC Davis, we rarely thought of an interview as belonging to one department.
If we were interviewing someone who supported multiple departments, programs, or initiatives, or a leader or researcher who is extremely hard to schedule, we would ask a simple question before scheduling the interview:
Who else might benefit from this conversation?
Often it made sense to include other communicators, photographers, and videographers. Other times they simply sent us a list of questions they hoped we could ask while we had the subject's attention.
The result?
Instead of asking our busy donor to participate in three or four separate interviews throughout the year, we respected their time by compiling and asking all our thoughtful questions at once.
Everyone benefited. Our subject had a better experience, our communications became richer, and other departments received valuable stories and quotes they could immediately use. We became known as great collaborators, and our colleagues often returned the favor. Most importantly, the organization began telling one connected story rather than several disconnected ones.
Think beyond your own team. Who else might appreciate hearing this donor's perspective?
Possible partners include:
Annual Giving
Planned Giving
Alumni Relations
Marketing and Communications
Social media
Department or Unit Communicators
Research Communications
Foundation Communications
Campaign Communications
The President or CEO’s Office
Each group brings a different perspective and different communication needs.
Practical Tip
Before scheduling your next donor interview, send a quick email to communications colleagues:
"We'll be interviewing Jane Smith next Thursday. If there are questions you'd like us to ask while we have her, please send them by Tuesday."
Five minutes of coordination can save hours of duplicated effort and create significantly more value from one interview.
3. Build a Story Library—Not Just Finished Stories
One of the biggest opportunities I see is organizations saving finished communications instead of the assets that created them. A beautifully designed stewardship report is wonderful, but the real value lies in everything behind it: the interview transcript, memorable quotes, photographs that didn't make the final layout, statistics, personal reflections from donors, beneficiary comments, and the stories that were cut simply because there wasn't enough room. Those are all assets you'll want six months from now when another team needs content!
Rather than storing only the finished PDF, build a searchable story library.
Consider saving:
Interview transcripts
Audio or video recordings (when appropriate)
Pull quotes
Photos
B-roll video
Program statistics
Donor biographies
Beneficiary stories
Impact metrics
Background information
Then tag each story by topic, such as:
Scholarships
Cancer research
Student success
Pediatrics
Athletics
Planned Giving
First-generation students
Faculty support
Arts and Culture
Capital Projects
Campaign priorities
Now, instead of asking, "Does anyone have a scholarship story?" your team can search the library and immediately find several possibilities.
Practical Tip
Don't wait until someone needs a story. Build your library every time you conduct an interview. Future projects become faster, easier, and more consistent.
4. One Interview. Ten Communications.
This is where the magic happens. Once you've captured a strong interview, stop thinking about the finished story. Instead, ask yourself:
How many different ways could we share this content?
Imagine your original assignment was to interview a scholarship recipient and donor for a stewardship report.
That same interview could become:
Original Interview Asset | Repurposed Communication |
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Notice that the content didn't change—only the format. You're not asking your team to go create ten different stories. You're asking them to think differently about one.
Practical Tip
When your first draft is complete, challenge yourself or your team to identify at least five additional ways the content could be used before filing it away. Make it a competition–have fun with it!
5. Think in Communication Campaigns, Not Projects
One of the most strategic shifts a donor communications team can make is moving from project thinking to campaign thinking. Instead of asking:
"What communication do we need this month?"
Ask:
"How can this story strengthen donor relationships throughout the year?"
A compelling donor story shouldn't disappear after one publication. It provides reinforcement of your mission across multiple touchpoints.
For example:
Feature it in a stewardship report.
Highlight a quote in a thank-you email.
Share a photo and short story on social media.
Include it in your annual report.
Reference it during a donor event.
Use it in talking points for gift officers.
Feature it in a campaign newsletter.
Share it during board meetings.
Most donors won't see every communication you produce. Repeating meaningful stories across different channels isn't repetitive. It reinforces your mission and helps donors connect with the impact of their philanthropy.
Practical Tip
When planning your communications calendar, identify your strongest stories and intentionally schedule multiple opportunities to share them throughout the year.
Before Your Next Donor Interview
Use this simple checklist to maximize every conversation:
Ask if other departments would like to contribute questions.
Prepare evergreen questions in addition to project-specific questions.
Capture more content than you think you'll need.
Record memorable quotes.
Take photos in multiple settings and orientations
Videotape the interviews and capture B-roll
Ask permission to reuse quotes in future communications.
Save interview notes, transcripts, photos, video, and supporting materials in your content library.
Before filing the story away, identify at least five additional ways the content can be repurposed.
Final Thoughts
One of the best pieces of advice I can offer is this:
Don't create communications. Create assets.
Assets can be repurposed. Assets can be shared across departments. Assets help development officers tell better stories, provide leadership with meaningful examples, strengthen stewardship, and create more consistent donor experiences.
The next time you're preparing for a donor interview, don't ask yourself:
"What story am I writing?"
Ask yourself:
"How many meaningful communications can we create from this one conversation?"
You may discover your next great newsletter, stewardship report, donor email, social media campaign, board presentation, and annual report have all been waiting inside the same interview.
Ready to Put CORE Into Practice?
You’ve got the story. Now let’s see how many ways you can use it! DRGrader can help you CORE your content instantly. Upload a donor story or communication and ask DRGrader to help you turn it into acknowledgment copy, emails, social posts, newsletter content, talking points, and more.
And if you want to go even deeper into creating donor communications that connect, join us November 4–6 for the Four Pillars Conference in Boston. We'll spend an entire day focused entirely on donor communications, from acknowledgments and impact reporting to storytelling, strategy, and creating content that strengthens the donor experience. You’ll learn alongside other donor relations professionals, work through real examples, and leave with practical ideas you can put to work when you get home.
Written by Angie Joens
